Beautiful, Bright Brisbane!

We were warmly welcomed to Australia on Friday, October 9, by beautiful sunny, summer-like weather in Brisbane. The city is gorgeous and though we were a bit groggy the first day with a 7:00 am (Brisbane time) arrival we managed to make a great tour of the City until we could check into our downtown hotel at 2:00. We followed a walking tour of downtown highlighted by the war memorial and tomb of the unknown soldier and city botanic gardens before crossing one of the 15 bridges that span the curvy-quey Brisbane River to the tree and park-lined South Bank to see Street Beach (an urban, outdoor beach/pool) and many of the city’s museums. We got our first of many views of the city with a ride on the narrated Wheel of Brisbane (Ferris wheel).  We  also found a local grocery store (Coles) in an underground mall off of a pedestrian-only walkway a couple of blocks from our hotel.

After doing a bit of laundry in our room Saturday morning, we continued exploring more of the central city area, including the gorgeous Roma Parklands and a visit to the Brisbane museum in City Hall — lots of info on the history of the Brisbane River which is a vital component to the character of this town, before heading back across the river. This time we walked the opposite direction from South Bank along the lovely, lengthy hike and bike path along the river to the area of town called Kangaroo Point.  For our 2nd good view of Brisbane, we completed the world’s trifecta of urban bridge climbs by climbing the Story Bridge. (The other 2 bridge climbs are in Sydney and Auckland which we did on our initial trips to Australia and New Zealand.). We celebrated with dinner at Bincho in Fortitude Valley (across the Story Bridge from Kangaroo Point) before heading back to our hotel.

View #3 of Brisbane and the surrounding area came on Sunday from the lookout atop Mt. Coot-tha. We caught a city bus out there and then hiked down the mountain to the Mt. Coot-tha botanic gardens at the base (also managed, along with the city botanic gardens by the Brisbane city council).  Lovely area, though I think I prefer the Roma Parklands in the CBD. Once we figured out that it would only be about an hour to walk back into town, we decided to do that. It was a lovely, easy walk that had us back on the hike and bike trail again for much of it. By the time we were back in town I had managed to quit kicking myself for listening to the tourist book about taking the bus there.

Monday we had an excursion to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Bob humored me with this request, as I have been enamored with koalas since having had a stuffed toy one as a child. We made it a good half-day trip (10-3) by getting a combined ticket which provided a narrated 1.25 hour boat cruise along the Brisbane River to the sanctuary. The narration was great and provided good information on the river, the many subdivisions that we passed, some of the more impressive houses, etc. One item of note for us Yanks was a boys academy along the river that was used by Gen McArthur during WWII as the command center for the Pacific operations. BUT, the highlight of the trip for me was getting my photo taken with Victory, a sweet female koala. We listened to a presentation on koalas while we were there and learned that their numbers were nearly decimated when they were being hunted for their fur. As these beautiful creatures sleep up to 20 hours/day I wasn’t terribly impressed with the individuals who would choose to “hunt” them. Along with koalas, we saw a wombat, Tasmanian devil, cassowaries, lots of kangaroos, and a dog showing off his (her?) ability to herd sheep. We shared the walkways and picnic areas with lots of sizable iguanas and Australian bush turkeys.

Before being picked up by our 2nd house sitting couple at 2:30 on Tuesday, we walked back through Fortitude Valley to an area called New Farm to see the old Brisbane Power Station which has been remade into an event venue with cafes and restaurants. Really nice! While we were there, moms and their “littlies” were queuing for a children’s show in the open auditorium on the main level. Returning to the city via Fortitude Valley we stopped in at the Contemporary Art Museum, but it wasn’t open. We did check out a little gourmet food store called Black Pearl where Bob talked cheese with the friendly merchant, including discussing some cheeses that are made in Tasmania which will be our next stop in Australia after our house sit.

We again have reliable, and super fast!, wifi access so should be more in touch — lucky you!