We're on the final flight of the trip, en-route back to Indianapolis from L.A. Wheels up at 10:20 a.m., actually two minutes before we took off from Sydney "earlier" this morning. Anyone reading this must be rolling their eyes at me rambling on about food, but we spent most of our time either working or eating, so this seems like a good non-chronological way to reflect on some aspects of the trip. Also, since the food culture in Brisbane doesn't seem particularly unique, I'm writing about the meals to help me remember some of the interesting things I had and to help me remember my experiences and feelings throughout the trip.
Our trip itinerary included a number of days where we were supposed to have "lunch on your own" or "dinner on your own." This didn't turn out to be the case more often than not.
I received a travel advance from the University in case a need for cash came up related to group expenses. But since the MacArthur Museum accepted a credit card payment for the student entry fees, I had no need for cash other than my own expenses. We had very generous hosts, though, so our meals were frequently covered and I'm expecting that I will need to pay back IU for unused per diem.
Our first lunch was provided at the hotel. The first night I went out to dinner with Roberto to a place near the hotel called Santa Monica, and he was kind enough to pay. (I had a nice craft beer with my dinner, Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, from southern Australia.)
On the second day we grabbed a quick Vietnamese baguette sandwich (actually on our own) at Thao's suggestion, which we ate on a bench on the Queen Street Mall while people watching in the pleasant sunshine.
On the third day, though, the leadership team joined Rumintha and Mako for a very nice lunch at the Gardens Cafe near campus, hosted by QUT Assistant Dean, International Andrew Paltridge. Once again the weather was perfect and we sat outside overlooking the beautiful gardens. I had a good salad and a lemon lime bitters, but in hindsight I should have had the Barramundi "burger."
The next day, Tuesday, we had a full day of business visits and the intent was to grab lunch on our own at the Queen Street Mall. Naturally, Rumintha offered to buy lunch for the leadership team at one of his favorite places. I had two errands to run and needed some alone time, so I passed on the opportunity. Thao kindly offered to bring me a take-away meal, however. My errands complete, I returned to the meeting spot and waited. And waited. Rumintha's quick spot was busier than anticipated, so the meal generously purchased for me arrived just as we began our walk to Boeing. Thao carted it around for me the rest of the day and I took it back to my hotel room to the fridge, but I never had the opportunity to eat it. I suspect housekeeping threw out a perfectly good, complete Singaporean meal this morning.
On Wednesday we had more business visits, this time away from the CBD so we had a coach for the day. For this "lunch on our own," Rumintha took the leadership team and Mako to his absolute favorite place: Glamorous Wok. Set in suburban Sunnybank, Glamorous Wok was situated near a busy intersection with several strip malls filled with Asian food restaurants of all types, as well as McDonalds, KFC, Woolworth's, and Aldi. Thao and I had some giggles as we sat in the booth and watched some of our students walk back and forth looking for a suitable place to eat. Our food was fine, and I think all of the students eventually got something to eat, as well. I had to duck out of lunch early to go across the busy intersection to the liquor store, where Rumintha correctly predicted I would be able to find Patricia, the wine he recommended I pick up to take home.
Wednesday night Thao, Roberto, and I were invited to dinner by Rob Webb from Cook. Our reservation was at 6:00, but by the time we returned to the hotel on the bus and completed our very long class meeting in the lounge, Rob had come to the hotel to meet us and we didn't leave for the restaurant until 6:45. We had a pleasant walk across the bridge to the Southbank and on to the restaurant which we had seen on our first-day walking tour: Stokehouse. It was a sleek, upscale place right on the riverbank with beautiful views of QUT and the CBD. We started with a beer (Kosciusko Pale Ale) before moving on to two bottles of an excellent Shiraz from New Zealand. We shared some chili chips with "aeoli" as a starter... <if this guy next to me on the plane rattles the ice in his empty drink cup one more time, I am liable to smack him> ...before moving on to entrees and mains. I had a crab meat ravioli before my entire of venison. The food was quite nice and very tastefully presented, with smallish portions on oversized plates. I think we had desserts, too. In any case, it was a very good, very fancy, and very expensive meal, so it was very generous of Rob to treat us. But it was a long meal. Not only is Rob very talkative, but the laid-back culture in Australia means the wait staff does not rush things. We finally received the bill at 11:10 p.m., long after the other patrons had left the restaurant. We made it back to the hotel at Midnight, our 16.5 hour day finally complete.
Thursday and Friday we actually got to get lunch on our own in the QUT food court, which had some really good options (Greek, Mexican, sushi...).
Last night was our closing dinner. We left the hotel at 4:30 p.m. to catch the City Cat ferry downstream to Eagle Street Pier for the 5:30 reservation at George's Paragon. There we sat at two long tables with an overflow table for Roberto, Rumintha, and Rob Webb. The place had gorgeous views of the river and the Story Bridge, lit in blue, but it was very loud which made conversation challenging and any celebratory remarks impossible. We had a four course meal (I had snapper) and once again the staff was pretty casual about delivering each course. The long dinner gave me time for nice conversations with Rob O'Donovan and some of the students seated near me, but it was probably a bit more time than any of us needed. As soon as the desserts had been mostly consumed I requested the drink checks so we could pay and depart.
Thao and I walked back to the hotel together, taking the slightly longer route along the river and we accidentally ended up going through the City Gardens (which we had been advised to avoid after dark), and past the Gardens Cafe. We found the path through the Gardens to be well-lit, so it was fine, but while we were walking along the river in a relatively dark spot we looked up and noticed the Southern Cross in the sky. It was a nice and unexpected treat to see on our final night in Australia. We made it back to the hotel at 10:30 p.m., merely 6 hours after the dinner excursion began, and 4.5 hours before our designated meeting time to head to the airport.
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