Travel to Brisbane, Australia with Nasreen

My first trip to Brisbane was when I had to attend a convention. I work with romance books and authors, editing romance fiction and working with authors as Author Assistant.

 

So this was Australian Romance Readers Association convention, a reader/writer event held yearly. I’m a member of this association. So in 2013 Mecure Hotel in Brisbane was the venue.

 



We had friends living right in the city. Denise Covey and her husband George Covey are good friends. They picked up from the airport and took us shopping. Apparently a DFO was on the way from Brisbane Airport.

 

 

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We also had lunch at the foodhall there.

 

Then Denise dropped us at our hotel which I had booked online. It was walking distance to just about everywhere.

[caption id="attachment_228" align="alignleft" width="300"] Author Amy Andrews and me.[/caption]

As we were few days early, we had booked a different hotel than where the convention was held. So we walked all over downtown Brisbane. Went to open air markets, farmers market and did heaps of clothes shopping in malls.

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignright" width="300"] Author Anna Campbell and me[/caption]

And Denise took me to visit the State Library of Queensland. She is part of a writer’s group there and wanted me to give a talk to her writer friends. With overwhelming nerves threatening but I did manage to talk to them all as it was all informal and friendly and I liked it better when they fired questions at me so I could reply to them with the best of what I knew.

 

[caption id="attachment_234" align="alignleft" width="300"] Authors Nalini Singh, Anna Campbell and me at the awards night.[/caption]

After couple of days with Denise and George we had to move to the convention hotel for the convention. It was a great opportunity for me to meet authors and readers alike. And I attended all the workshops they offered. There was a book signing with readers meeting the authors and chatting. All very informal.

 

After the convention, Denise and her husband took us sightseeing. Right to Peregian Beach where they have a house. And then to a café their daughter had recently started. It was all organic food. Food as well as the ambience in the café was awesome. I loved it all and I was soaking up everything. We had breakfast there at the café.

 

Denise took me window shopping as it was a Sunday and shops were closed. But there was an outdoor market that we enjoyed walking through. If only I could buy and ship home everything hassle free, I would have been happier. But the customs hassle, the bio security and the freight charges are not worth it for the peace of mind of coming back with experiences only.

 

George then drove us to other nearby famous tourist spots and beaches. We went to Noosa and few other places.

[caption id="attachment_245" align="alignleft" width="300"] Denise and I at Noosa[/caption]

We had lunch at a Beachside Club type of a diner that in itself was a great experience and the food was great too.

 

Loved our stay and would love to go back.

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