Day 10 Wednesday, August 17 Engaging Communities Conference, Brisbane
Whew, it's over. Four days of sitting and being talked at is exhausting and by the end of it I had reached the point where I didn't want to hear any more and had to force myself to go to the last session. I am glad that I did because it was one of the best speeches of the week. It was given by a professor and author from Harvard on the topic of social capital. Fascinating. The reply was given by a professor from Oxford who was equally good. When I went in for that session the main thought in my head was that the speaker was going to have to be very good to keep me awake and attentive for an hour. He managed with ease. Pf course I well have done without all of the other usual end of conference thank you speeches. I left before all of that and the final choir was complete. I didn't want to stay for the choir because everyone was given clap sticks (see my Cairns journal) when we registered and I really didn't want to sit through them being used by 2,000 people.
During the morning tea break a group was talking about the conference and the quality of the speakers. In the course of the discussion I gave my definition of an excellent speaker - make me laugh, make me cry, make me think - and said that a couple of speakers had hit two of three but no one had done them all. Others agreed. Following that I somewhat reluctantly went into a panel discussion and almost left as a Dame someone from the UK droned on and on. Good thing I didn't because the next speaker was a Maori Member of Parliament form New Zealand who told her personal story. First off she is a transsexual who had run away from home in her teen years to live on the fringes of society on the street. She worked as a stripper and a prostitute and eventually became involved in local government politics when the council started making decisions that her circle of friends didn't like. After two tries she was elected to the council and eventually elected mayor by a huge margin. Subsequently she was convinced to run for parliament and beat out a former prime minister. She had no problem at all making me laugh, think and cry. In fact the tears remained close to the surface for more than an hour afterward. She was the only speaker of the entire conference to receive a standing ovation at the conclusion of her speech. When I went out for a smoke at the next break people made a point of asking if she had met my criteria and we all agreed wholeheartedly. Fantastic.
I arrived back at the hotel around 5:15 to discover that nothing had arrived from the travel agency other than a fax saying that my package should arrive in the afternoon. It hadn't arrived because it was a local civic holiday so there was no mail delivery. Instant panic because I didn't even know when I was supposed to leave tomorrow. I ran up to the room (well, not literally) and went through all of my papers trying to find the phone number of the travel agent. I knew that the office closed at 5:15 so said a prayer that she would still be there. At first I couldn't find her direct number so called the main line and of course got an answering machine. More searching led to the discovery of the paper containing her direct number and, thank heaven, she was still there. She was as shocked and freaked as I was. We discussed various alternatives and decided that if she faxed everything to me it would probably suffice. That was done and I now seem good to go. I leave for Noosa on the Greyhound bus tomorrow morning at 9:00 and arrive in Noosa at 12:10. Friday it's another two hour bus ride to the zoo, five hours there and two hours back. Saturday is transfer day to Fraser Island - looks like about five hours by land and sea, Sunday is an all day tour of the island, Monday is a fishing trip if one can be arranged and the weather cooperates and Tuesday is the trip back to Brisbane arriving around 4:30.
Let's hope that this trip goes as smoothly as the last one. Due to lack of time she hasn't included as many details, such as pre arranged transfers to bus stops, etc., but I hope that will not be too difficult to handle. Getting to the bus station here might present a bit of problem because it isn't very far from the hotel but too far to carry a heavy suitcase so I might have a bit of a hassle with a taxi driver who doesn't want such a short trip. I'll probably have to promise to pay a bit of a premium and will do so willingly.
As tired as I was I forced myself to go down to the restaurant for dinner only to find that it was closed. I came back to the room and tried to decide whether or not I had the energy to go out to another restaurant and decided that I did not so I went back to old faithful - pizza delivered. Turns out it was a good decision because it was the best pizza I have had in a while. While I was waiting for the pizza I packed my bags so except for the last minute things (toiletries, computer cords, etc.) I am ready to go on the next leg of this adventure.