We decided to go to dinner at the Summit Restaurant at the top of Mount Coot-tha, overlooking Brisbane, because Alex had been wanting to go up there, but hadn't made it yet. It wasn't too far a drive (same side of the city as Toowong), but by the time we wound our way to the top, a rain storm had blown up, so we had to wait in the car for a little while. Then it got worse, with branches flying around and hitting the car, and the rain lashing at the windows, and very green, always a bad sign…
After sitting in the car for about 20 minutes, it settled to a simple downpour, so I dashed up the sidewalk (which ended up going all the way around the building) to check on things like reservation requirements and menu. The storm had knocked the power out, so they were running on a generator, but that only meant they couldn't do certain things on the menu, so I ran back down the sidewalk (getting even drenched-er) to tell those guys to come on. It turned out to be a delicious dinner, and we were pretty much the only ones there, since apparently a tree had fallen across the roadway up the mountain. We were having the "early bird" menu, which is a 3-course prix-fixe menu with limited selections, but all good. I had the "Giant Ravioli of Buffalo Ricotta & Spinach in Tuscan tomato and basil coulis w crisp coppa and shaved parmesan", and for dessert "Cardamon Brulee w Armagnac prunes and cinnamon tuille"
After dinner, and some espressos in the neighboring cafe, the storm had died down to a drizzle, so we gazed at the city lights under an ominous storm cloud.
(As it turned out, this was the worst storm in 20 years – major flooding, power outages, closures, etc – and it was followed by another two storms later in the week after we had headed down the coast.)
Where have the days gone? 