So I’m out of Quarantine and into the bit of Australia with the snakes (the rest of Australia). I was a little worried that coming out of the hotel might be similar to that Planet Earth II scene where the little iguana get's chased by hundreds of snakes. Fortunately, I've not seen any yet.
I’ve been out for roughly three weeks now. The Australian’s have been very kind to me, and making me feel at home by having a bit of rain and a COVID lockdown.
Lockdown was originally just three days and then got extended by a further 24 hours. It was lifted at 6pm on Saturday. Lockdowns aren't like in the UK, the moment there's a couple of cases in Queensland, everyone is made to basically just have a long weekend. When it ended, it just finished - no relaxing or easing of the rules. Although scaling down the times that would probably mean about half an hour of the rule-of-six. The rule-of-six here is probably more a cricketing term.
The masks are staying in place for the time being. You even have to wear masks when just walking around on the street which seems a bit much in the open air. However, I’m keeping quiet about that as the last person the Aussies probably want advice from about tackling Covid is a Brit.
Speaking of being a Brit Abroad, it looks like football might come home, typically just after I’ve left, so a neighbour will have to sign for it (hopefully Scotland). Tomorrow morning at 5am I hope to be sat in the Pig N Whistle, British-themed pub watching England play Denmark.
Me and Rach did a recce there the other day and to my horror they have stopped serving Old Speckled Hen, probably my favourite beer, on draught. They’ve replaced it with Old Peculiar which is very delicious too but far too strong. Possibly good news that for the time in the morning that the game is on tomorrow, the pub isn’t licensed, meaning that sober I’ll be refused service in a pub for the first time since I was 17 and tried using my brother’s ID at the Toby Carvery in Eden Park (the barman managed to figure out I wasn’t the same person who sat next to him in school for three years).
Have discovered a couple of Aussie takes on British real ale here. One was at the Brewhouse and far too fizzy to come close. The second was at a bar called the Cave Inn, the beer being called ‘Doom’. I was told I was “like the third person ever” to ask if it was an attempt to taste like Doombar, which feels like an early achievement in a new city. It tasted pretty close to be fair to them.
Anyway I realise that I haven’t shared too much about the Australian culture or sights or anything, but it’s hard to describe what Brisbane is like when I’m constantly looking at the floor for snakes. Everything looks like a snake here. You’ll even see from the picture at the end, some rogue piping, plumbed to the side of a tree that runs out, there for no reason other than presumably to take the piss out of me.
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