I had a few friends that I wanted to catch up with when I was in Brisbane but with only a limited time it meant short sweet visits! And as I don’t really drink – it meant catch ups over meals 😉 First up was a catch up with Teesh over lunch. We went to an favourite haunt of mine – Jo-Jo’s in the middle of the Queen Street Mall. I couldn’t go past having the Chips with Mushroom Sauce. Simple but gorgeous and a great venue for a summer lunch.

Lana was up next with dinner at Aria. More on that later but it was good to see her and share a good meal with her. Shame that Mikey couldn’t join us – though I caught up with him briefly when he came to pick us up after dinner.

The following day I had a quick catch up with Jen over breakfast. The lovely hotel I was staying at (the kind of hotel that has a Pillow Menu (!), that gives you a bottle of Moet) also had a great buffet breakfast for two so it seemed a waste to keep it to myself. Jen and Rita had actually planned a whole weekend of activities and events for me so I would be seeing Jen a bit later on too.

After I sent Jen off for a day of work, heh heh, Juanita came to pick me up at the train station and I spent the day with her and her kids. After some wii and Juanita’s infamous Spaghetti Pizza we took a dip in her pool.

Fittingly named Opulence it comes with a cute little water feature, which Ryan enjoyed getting under, and a spa. It was a little warm to be getting the spa going – but it was nice just getting in the pool and relaxing. After a dip we then headed over to pick up Hayden from school. It was all very domestic but I kind of liked it as its not something I would normally do when I’m in London!

For the rest of the weekend I was the mercy of Jen and Rita … but first the Aria experience.