This morning about 6:15am after a difficult night sleep (it’s always this way the first night away from home), I got up and donned my runners and headed out for a bit of a jog. The jog was useless as I kept stopping to take a photo of the wonderful sights of tropical plants, palms and ferns in the streets and to marvel at the spectacular Queensland architecture.
I decided to head towards the Roma Street Gardens nearby and on the way there cut across King Edward Park which also had various artworks and sculptures on display.
At that time, it was cool albeit a bit humid but nevertheless it was wonderful to walk around because it was cool. Brisbane is also quite hilly so it’s easy to get out of breath. The gardeners were out in force today as they chatted animatedly over what flowers they were planting: what took and what didn’t.
Through that park there were homeless people under shelters there but it didn’t feel dangerous. Some were enjoying a morning smoke and the peace and quiet of the morning. Others just watching the flocks of “bin chickens” pecking about in the ground. These are technically, the Australian White Ibis found in these parts (even in Sydney – but not where I’m from in Melbourne), called as such because they’re always around bins using their long beaks to find food.
On the way to Roma Street Garden, I stopped off to read about Brisbane’s oldest structure – the grain mill that fed the colonies with flour in the late 1820s. Later it kept time.
The Roma Street Gardens is a gathering place. In it different pavilions where people can go to for events and concerts. There’s also the Spectator Garden that was planted with plants from different climates and what I loved was the plants in containers as I’m a huge fan of container gardening. I took some photos to hopefully recreate the looks when we get our back yard done later this year.
I’m here for our work team get together and today was excellent as we talked about what’s happening in the business along with different activities around value.
One of the exercises we did was to reflect on each of our team members and then write the business values that most reflect them. It was aimed to identify how others perceive you and where any opportunity to improve could be.
The truth is, for a while now, I haven’t been feeling much for my work thinking that much of my skills aren’t really needed – or even necessary. So it was a surprise that my colleagues thought I was someone who “made impact”. That was a genuine surprise.
Later, we went for pre-dinner drinks. We walked past Macquarie Chambers which has the only McArthur museum in the Southern Hemisphere. Dedicated to this American General who visited in 1942, to work with the locals to stave off the impending Japanese threat in the region.
I’ve written a lot about the secret and incredibly important work our codebreakers (many were women) did during that time. Work unrecognised and unacknowledged by our government until 50 years later when the secrecy veil lifted. By that time, many had since passed or the honours claimed by the Americans.
Our final stop was a wonderful Thai restaurant near the Brisbane Ricer called Naga Thai. For a Wednesday night, it was PACKED! What surprised me was they had a massive bookshelf too. I had the BEST BANANA fritter I’ve ever tasted in my life. The food was delicious.
More tomorrow. I’m exhausted as I tap this out onto my phone. My eyes can’t keep open.
Here’s a short video I made with the photos from the gardens.
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