Living Like Locals (Brisbane)

As we checked into our respective flights, Don's to New Jersey, and mine to Sydney, Don declared he was ready to go home. I knew I wasn't ready to go home. We made the right decisions.

The weather was not going to be the typical Brisbane summery day, and none of us wanted a long car ride, so we scrapped the beach day and instead had what was probably the most fun day of our trip: we lived like locals. 

On one of our earlier flights Don learned about the Bunnings Snag. So, that was top of our list. Andrew had more basic goals: grocery shopping, the fish market, the weekly farmers market, and the fruit stand. Bunnings was a bonus just for us.

The grocery store, fish market, farmers market, and fruit stand were similar enough to ones in the states. There were a few surprises, such as to Australians what I call a butternut squash, they consider a pumpkin, and they have at least six different types of bananas.

The visuals helped.

Then we moved on to the main event: the Bunnings Snag!

Bunnings is a big box retail store along the lines of Home Depot, but with a lot more out door stuff (after all, they have summer most of the year), plus a play area for kids, and their own café.

A snag is a sausage sandwich. Australians like to truncate words.

In simplest terms, a Bunnings Snag then is a sausage sandwich purchased at Bunnings.

If that was the end of the story, I wouldn't care to try it.

To me what makes the story special is that it is a fundraiser. Every weekend Bunnings sets up a tent in their parking lot with grills. They donate the bread, sausages, fixings, and drinks. A different organization each week sends volunteers to man the grills and sell the sausages. The organization keeps 100% of the proceeds. Around here, that would mean one week it is the Girl Scouts, then the Boy Scouts, a Veterans group, an animal shelter, a local school, etc. etc. I did not notice who we were supporting.

Last summer it was big news when the snag's price was raised from the $2.50 ($1.63 US) it had been for 15 years to $3.50 ($2.28). It also became big news in 2018 when they were forced to put the onions below the sausage for safety reasons -- wouldn't want people slipping on stray onion bits. There are YouTubes on how to make the perfect Bunnings Snag at home.

We walked around the store a few minutes eating our snag so we didn't ooze onions or sauce into Andrew's clean car, and because we wanted to see what a Bunnings looked like. Had we been closer to home, or not traveling with carry-ons only, we would have been more tempted to buy things. Had we visited one earlier in the trip I would have bought a nightlight that could work in an Australian or New Zealand outlet (they use the same plugs), but I only had one hotel left, and I can't use it in many other places around the world, so I didn't even look.

After a lunch of delicious leftovers (the preferred food of adults who have to cook for themselves), we went to the Westfield Chermside mall to visit the LEGO store so Don could get another stamp, and Andrew and Jo could run some errands. 

As a surprise bonus the T2 tea shop was offering free samples of their New York blend that Jo was telling us is one of her favorites, but that they were out of. As the store sells dozens of different types of teas, it was serendipitous they were offering samples of the only one we wanted to taste. The New York blend is pancake-inspired. We think of anything that contains maple syrup as Canadian, or maybe Vermont, but not New York City. This labeling includes yellow taxi cabs. Interesting how things are perceived in different parts of the world.

The mall was on the scale of King of Prussia's enormity rather than Quaker Bridge Mall's quaintness, so after looking at the store listing, we only covered a small part of it.

On the way home Jo and Andrew dropped us off in the middle of Brisbane so we could continue exploring the city while they ran errands. It was a Sunday and the city lacked the worker crowds, but still had much more life than Trenton does on a Sunday afternoon.

Love the shadows this piece creates

At Andrew's recommendation we went to GOMA, their modern art museum. We spent most of our time on the upper floor, which was dedicated to indigenous art. I studied a fishing net filled with trash, a gentle reminder that when we throw things out, they often end up in the oceans. The other half of the floor had Pacific art, including a giant fish filled with flowers made out of wire scraps by seven women working together. The rooms were vast with high ceilings and lots of blank spaces, making it easier to appreciate each unique piece (a direct contrast to Philadelphia's Barnes Foundation Museum). 

The fishing net filled with trash

The giant fish

 

Mostly we walked around Brisbane, across two more bridges, alongside the Brisbane River, watched the sunset over the art museum, walked through Queens Mall, an open air pedestrian street, to Central Station. Had we realized this would increase our trip to their house by 10 minutes, we would have walked the 15 minutes in the other direction to the South Bank Station, but going to Central Station helped us to see more of the city. Brisbane is a lot larger than it appeared to be when we first arrived. By staying in the suburbs, and not having a plan, we only scratched the surface. As they prepare for the 2032 Summer Olympics the city is destined to grow.

Jo picked us up from the train station so we could all eat dinner sooner. Andrew made us chicken and potatoes, plus a green salad with prawns (shrimp). Yes, Andrew got us to try seafood. Andrew and Don made pavlova for dessert. Andrew baked it. Don decorated the cake using fruit we picked up earlier in the day.

After dinner I lightened my load by cramming as much as I could into Don's suitcase. I could see him mentally shifting from vacation mood to being in an airplane for nearly a day mood, followed by returning to work mood. I wasn't personally ready for that transformation.

We had a great time with Andrew and Jo, but it was time to let them return to their regular lives, and for us to continue with our journey.