Lance & Natty are here!

From Rockhampton, we boogied south to Brisbane where we visited the headquarters for Tourism Queensland (TQ). Yes, the same TQ that rejected us for 'the Best Job in the World'!

There was only one committee member there as the rest were either on holidays or in France receiving an award for their brilliant marketing campaign (no surprise there). Megan was a doll, though, and we enjoyed our brief visit with her.

Ben (the candidate selected for the job) starts his job today. But we're not bitter about it... not bitter at all. :)

It's a good thing we free camped the nights surrounding the TQ visit because it cost us $34 to park for THREE HOURS in downtown Brisbane. For that price, the parking spot should've come with a 7-course gourmet meal on plates laced with diamonds.

Anyhoo, after Brisbane, we drove a tad further south to the Gold Coast where we eagerly awaited the arrival of LANCE & NATTY!

We were a tad bored in the 24 hours before they arrived, so we channelled our creative energy towards welcoming them here.

The sign says 'Welcome out of NZ' because this is Lance's first time out of NZ (Actually, it's basically his first trip off of the NORTH ISLAND); we jumped up and down with the 'Lance & Natty' sign and the giant Aussie finger when we met them at the airport. As previously mentioned... we were pretty excited.

Sunday morning- our first morning together- Lance & Nat were wide awake by 4am (thank you jet lag). They managed to control themselves and remain in their room until 4:45am, but then they could no longer contain themselves, and intentionally started making really loud noises so we would wake up. They got their wish! We woke up, ate breakfast, then headed into Brisbane to attend the early Hillsong church service. On our way there, we spotted an Ikea. Lance & Nat had never seen an Ikea before, and we hadn't seen one since Canada, so we were all very excited to take a trip there after church.

Lowell and I felt right at home, and Lance & Nat were a tad overwhelmed. They had never seen anything like it and were completely mesmerized by the HUGENESS and coolness (and busyness).

Lance is a sparky (aka electrician) in Auckland, so he got especially hyper in the light section.

After Ikea, we returned "home" and promptly hit the sack. Waking up at 4am then walking around a crowded household superstore for hours is taxing. Fun... but taxing.

We had a pleasant nap, met our very own backyard kookaburra, then continued planning our FUN for the week!

Oh so much fun to be had with our good friends Lance & Nat!