We are staying in a neighborhood of Brisbane called New Farm. I’m not sure why it’s called that because the buildings are neither new nor farm like, but regardless it is a great neighborhood.

After some breakfast and playing we walked down to New Farm Park and headed straight to the playground. It was packed and Millie ran off to find some friends. She went up to probably 10 different kids and asked to play, and every one of them said no! Nick and I observed the demographics of the park and noticed that each child had a helicoptering or very involved adult. When we watch Bluey I often have the thought “wow these parents play with their kids a lot!” And now I’m realizing it’s maybe an Australian thing. I realize this makes us sound like boring parents. We play with her plenty, but in my opinion, the whole point of a playground is that it is a place where kids should run free and play without adults. If I was in charge I’d make them adult-free zones.

Anyway, she did eventually find a little girl to play with. Her name was Clara and her family was from Germany. Millie seems to get along great with Germans. They played for 3 hours straight. Nick and I were happy to sit quietly on a bench, enjoying our coffees, and zoning out. Millie wrangled more friends to play a game she made up until a little boy told her to stop being bossy, ugh. As we left she asked to take a selfie with Clara so they could remember each other.

We were starving and walked down to the river from the park to a nice little cafe. Nick and I both got healthy grain bowls and Millie scarfed down her entire bowl of pasta. There was a sculpture that kids were climbing on, and she made even more friends.

She played here another 2 hours while we sat and chatted. It kept feeling like we should hurry her up, and then we’d remember we had nothing to do and nowhere to be. We were happy to let her get play and socializing in after being stuck in a car with us for the last week. Every so often we’d see the bluey themed ferries pass by.

At about 4 it was threatening to rain. We walked down the riverside trail and back to the apartment, stopping to get some more snacks on the way.

Nick and Millie watched Honey I Shrunk The Kids for Sunday movie night while I played around on my computer. With the trip’s end in sight, I’ve started to think about my reentry into work. My industry has had a seismic shift and I feel like I’m playing a lot of catchup.

We haven’t seen much of the city yet, but I’m loving Brisbane so far. Today felt like the type of Sunday we’d have if we lived here. Australia is officially on the top of our “maybe we should move there someday” list.