Chain migration

We drove to the airport to collect C's mum, who was arriving, for the first time, on an Australian resident's visa rather than as a tourist. En route, C got a call on her mobile to confirm she would be offered a 24 month contract with Brisbane City council.
We spent the day in brissie, and had dinner with Marina, who had set up a barbie in the back yard. Our ex-downstairs neighbour John was moving out, so the occasion was really a farewell for John (who has only moved about 1km towards Hill End). C will move into John's old digs midweek while she works her contract, and commute back to Nimbin for the weekends. Fairly silly, but there doesn't seem to be a sensible option.
Nej was very happy t see K again, and she took her away for ages, being "mum", which was even more fun for us than for Nej.
The following weekend was Mardi Grass. It was low-key compared to '09, which was probably terrible for the stallholders and shops, but made for a great weekend for ordinary festivalgoers: There were no queues, it was easy to sit down when you wanted to, and I was able to get to the front row to watch the Kombi convoy. With no plan defined, and this being our fifth Mardi Grass (and therefore lacking any sense of pressure to try to see everything), we simply wandered around for two days, soaking up the atomosphere, and enjoying the music, talks, live shows and carnival floats, with that particular smugness that comes from not having to sleep in a tent and use communal toilets, and having a "Local" sticker on your dashboard.