It’s not what you know!!

For the 3 months I stayed in Brisbane I managed to make friends with quite a few local people.  I met Karen one evening at the local pub having a drink after a long day at work with my colleague Chris.  We just decided last minute to have a quick drink and went round to Byblos Bar & Restaurant. I have noticed in Australia that people do chat to each other when out & about so we started chatting to a couple ( Karen & her flatmate Chris), this turned out to be a very good decision and made my time in Brisbane absolutely fantastic. I made friends with lots of other people too who were all fantastic to spend time with.

Karen lived in the same apartment block as myself and we soon became close and had lots in common so knew we would be friends for life. We met regularly for a meal or to go out for a drink or just a coffee in each others apartments after work and at the weekends. She also introduced me to her friends, Chris, Terry & Cherry who all made me feel very welcome and invited me out every time they went anywhere. We had some really good times and I miss them dearly! I even got my doggy fix as Terry & Cherry have two adorable dogs Cooper & Ebony.

I was so pleased to have met Karen as it can be lonely when not working being there by myself. We even went on a mini cruise together but I’ll cover that on my next blog.

Luckily Karen had a car and took me shopping at the weekends which saved me money than shopping at the local convenience stores – I couldn’t thank her enough and we still speak once a week on Skype now.  I cannot wait till she can come over to the UK for a visit next year….

Not only did she look after me whilst I was there, this is where my story begins:-

I have fantastic regular customers called Rodney & Noreen Wilson ( I have had their permission to talk about this and use their photos) who were due to arrive in Brisbane Portside Wharf on 6 November 2016 after a trip to Hong Kong then an 18 nights cruise to Brisbane on Legend of the Seas.  Their cruise arrived early morning and with their flight being late in the evening, what would they do?

Well this is where the ‘It’s not what you know – but who you know’ comes into it.  I was chatting to Karen and happened to mention this thinking maybe they could leave their luggage with her whilst they went off for the day on my recommendation.

Karen went all out to assist my customers by meeting them at the port early in the morning and taking them back to her apartment for coffee.

After chatting with Rod & Noreen about what to do in Brisbane before they traveled, they wanted to go to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where I went as had seen my pictures on my Facebook Page, so we discussed options to get there without having a car.  Well Karen made it easy for them as she took them in her car which is about 40 minute drive away and dropped them off for a few hours then went back to pick them up. 

They didn’t cuddle a Koala as the queue was too long but they did see the Kangaroo’s & the Ostrich which are very friendly, this was a great place for a day out and Rod & Noreen had a lovely day by the sounds of it.

Read about my time here:-

https://goo.gl/5DfRI6

After their time at Lone Pine, they freshened up at Karen’s, showered and relaxed for a while – even watched the ship sail away again from Karen’s balcony before Karen then took them to the airport for their long flight home to UK.

A few words from Rod about their holiday:-

‘Home from the Far East -both with heavy colds (thank you Australia!). Hong Kong was wet, but we escaped Typhoon Haima by sailing round it. Manila, no thanks. Puerto Princesa, Philippines – small cathedral and fine memorial garden to 150 Americans burnt to death by Japs. Didn’t see much of Kota Kinabalu. Traffic in Bali was horrendous. Darwen, Cairns, Airlie Beach(+downpour), Brisbane thoroughly enjoyable, especially the last, where we made a new friend , Karen Cleland, who looked after us superbly. Excellent cruise,ship was quite good, (biggest cabin ever -oops, sorry, stateroom) though nearly sunk under the weight of obese, female Aussies. Back next week to Pilates (her) and pumping iron (him) – got to lose some weight in time for Christmas (are we still allowed to use that word?)

A few pictures of Rod & Noreen’s holiday:

I can’t thank Karen enough for looking after Rod & Noreen for me and when she comes over to the UK next year we are off to see them for the weekend!

I love what I do for my job and will go above & beyond to help my customers as it is so rewarding to hear how their holidays went when they return.