Tuesday 16th - Sunday 21st August - Brisbane
Left our hotel to catch our short flight to Brisbane…...we say ‘short’, but it is still 1 ½ hours and 1000km between Sydney and Brisnbane, which is Oz terms is just a hop up the coast……hmmmm…..we’re still trying to get used the scale of Australia.
After the chill of Sydney, we were very relieved to arrive in a pleasantly warm and sunny Brisbane to be greeted by Mark and Tiff…our hosts for the week…...Although they were both working, they took a ‘slightly extended’ lunch hour to not only pick is up from the airport but also whisk us away to a nice riverside restaurant for a cup of coffee and to recommend a afternoon ‘ramble’ for us through Brizzy.
Leaving us at the nearby jetty, they returned to work, whilst we jumped onto a City-Cat, which took us to the main city centre.
We strolled through the business district and into the botanical gardens and sat on a park bench to drink some juice and eat some fruit…..suddenly Joel was aware that not only had he just been hit by two apples, but that his orange juice was on the floor and Mel’s apple juice was all down his trousers…..the reason….a man-eating venomous spider has just dropped out of the tree and onto Mel’s arm (for clarity ‘man-eating’….means ‘small money-spider type arachnid’).
Fleeing from the gardens, we headed across the river into the South Bank area…..as with the London South Bank, it seems to be the cultural and arts centre for Brisbane and was a very nice walk......the are lots of restaurants and food waggons and also a cool man-made beach area, where you can strip off for sunbathe and a paddle.......
We finished the day by jumping back on a City-Cat and meeting up with Mark and Tiff for a few beers at a pub further up the River.
The house in Samford that we are staying at with Mark and Tiff (they are house-sitting for the owners) is lovely. By British standards it’s huge and has both a swimming pool and tennis court in the grounds….’ohhhhhh’…staying here is going to be soooo tough ;-)
Wednesday was a public holiday in Australia and so Mark and Tiff had the day off and generously took us on a drive up to Noosa and Maloolagbar on the sunshine coast to see some beaches…..on the way we passed a place called ‘Mount Mee’ (geddit), which we could not stop laughing at…heehee….we’re such children….
The coast was lovely….’picture post-card’ golden sands that stretched forever, with a plenty of surfers braving the 'winter' seas.
For the following day we had booked a day trip up the coast to ‘Fraser Island’….it is made entirely of sand and is in-fact the largest sand-bar island in the world.
With minor development and no roads it is an unspoilt haven for wildlife and vegetation. The only way to explore the island is via 4-wheel drive car / bus and, as part of journey necessitates a drive along the beach, access is limited to periods of low-tide.
During our trip we saw plenty of dingos, which roam free on the island and admired the various rain-forest terrains. We also stopped off at Lake Makenzie in the interior of the island. Lake Makenzie is a rain water lake, surrounded by some of the purest sand in the world…excellent for cleaning jewellery apparently….Joel applied some sand to his ring and it shone nicely afterwards…..fnarr…..fnarr….
Unfortunately by the time it was time to leave to the island, we were running about half and hour late…”not too bad”, I hear you cry, but with the tide coming in, this meant that out road back to the ferry stop was getting narrower by the minute and delay would mean an ‘unscheduled’ night on the island for us with the dingos….and it is not even as if you can swim to shore as the sharks that roam the waters around the island are notorious man-eaters (not joking).
And so it was, with the sea lapping under the wheels of the bus and a third of the distance still to go that we eventually ‘lost’the road and had to try to drive up a small sand hill and head inland to find another route…or so we thought…..attempting to climb the hill, the bus got stuck in the sand…”d’oh”…..another five attempts and still no joy….not panicking yet….just need to get everyone off the bus to lighten the load.
With night falling and the tide still coming in, the bus hurtles passenger-less at the hill…..and grinds to a halt….stuck in the sand……double d’oh…is that the sound of a pack of dingoes getting closer ????…..another few attempts (by now the bus is having to reverse back into the sea up the its wheel arches in order to get a good run up)…still no joy…..panicking slightly….but, as if in a Hollywood movie with sharks chewing on the bus tyres and dingoes trying to kidnap the driver, the bus finally crawled up the beach to safety…where we all jumped back on board and made it back to the ferry port just in time and headed to the mainland….
Joel celebrated our ‘brush with death’ by ordering kangaroo steak at the local restaurant, before we jumped back on our coach and headed back to Brisbane.
On Friday, we had the loan of Mark and Tiff’s car so we decided to do some local exploring….we first headed to the ‘Australian Woolshed’ a nearby farm / open zoo, where you can feed Kangaroos and cuddle Koalas…..naturally Mel could not resist a cuddle and had her picture taken with a very cute Koala named Eukie.
After picking up some food for a picnic, we headed up to Mount Glorious, one of the highest peaks in the area where we sat and listened to the sounds of the wildlife......then, to work off our lunch we headed into the rainforest for a nature trail walk to admire the greenery.
Finished the day with a drive through the spectacular countryside, before taking Mark and Tiff out for dinner at a very nice pub in Samford as a ‘thankyou’ for their kind hospitality, where unsurprisingly….Joel had more steak…
On Saturday, as Mark and Tiff were at a Wedding, so we drove to the station and caught the train into Brisbane city for some sightseeing, shopping and another stroll around the South-Bank (Saturday is when they hold a craft market). We perused the local craft stalls and Mel treated herself to a tattoo….albeit a temporary one.
That night we found ourselves at the pub……again….and yes…..Joel had steak…..again……
Sunday was the day of our departure from Brisbane to Hong Kong and we were quite sad to leave.....it was really nice staying with Mark and Tiff, not only because they were such fantastic hosts, but also because it was really nice to stay in an Australian home......our hotels have been fantastic, but I do think that nice to see a country through the eyes of the people who live and work there....
Given the nuptual celebrations the previous night, we did however feel a little guilty dragging our host out of bed on Sunday, to take us to the airport.
After the chill of Sydney, we were very relieved to arrive in a pleasantly warm and sunny Brisbane to be greeted by Mark and Tiff…our hosts for the week…...Although they were both working, they took a ‘slightly extended’ lunch hour to not only pick is up from the airport but also whisk us away to a nice riverside restaurant for a cup of coffee and to recommend a afternoon ‘ramble’ for us through Brizzy.
Leaving us at the nearby jetty, they returned to work, whilst we jumped onto a City-Cat, which took us to the main city centre.
We strolled through the business district and into the botanical gardens and sat on a park bench to drink some juice and eat some fruit…..suddenly Joel was aware that not only had he just been hit by two apples, but that his orange juice was on the floor and Mel’s apple juice was all down his trousers…..the reason….a man-eating venomous spider has just dropped out of the tree and onto Mel’s arm (for clarity ‘man-eating’….means ‘small money-spider type arachnid’).
Fleeing from the gardens, we headed across the river into the South Bank area…..as with the London South Bank, it seems to be the cultural and arts centre for Brisbane and was a very nice walk......the are lots of restaurants and food waggons and also a cool man-made beach area, where you can strip off for sunbathe and a paddle.......
We finished the day by jumping back on a City-Cat and meeting up with Mark and Tiff for a few beers at a pub further up the River.
The house in Samford that we are staying at with Mark and Tiff (they are house-sitting for the owners) is lovely. By British standards it’s huge and has both a swimming pool and tennis court in the grounds….’ohhhhhh’…staying here is going to be soooo tough ;-)
Wednesday was a public holiday in Australia and so Mark and Tiff had the day off and generously took us on a drive up to Noosa and Maloolagbar on the sunshine coast to see some beaches…..on the way we passed a place called ‘Mount Mee’ (geddit), which we could not stop laughing at…heehee….we’re such children….
The coast was lovely….’picture post-card’ golden sands that stretched forever, with a plenty of surfers braving the 'winter' seas.
For the following day we had booked a day trip up the coast to ‘Fraser Island’….it is made entirely of sand and is in-fact the largest sand-bar island in the world.
With minor development and no roads it is an unspoilt haven for wildlife and vegetation. The only way to explore the island is via 4-wheel drive car / bus and, as part of journey necessitates a drive along the beach, access is limited to periods of low-tide.
During our trip we saw plenty of dingos, which roam free on the island and admired the various rain-forest terrains. We also stopped off at Lake Makenzie in the interior of the island. Lake Makenzie is a rain water lake, surrounded by some of the purest sand in the world…excellent for cleaning jewellery apparently….Joel applied some sand to his ring and it shone nicely afterwards…..fnarr…..fnarr….
Unfortunately by the time it was time to leave to the island, we were running about half and hour late…”not too bad”, I hear you cry, but with the tide coming in, this meant that out road back to the ferry stop was getting narrower by the minute and delay would mean an ‘unscheduled’ night on the island for us with the dingos….and it is not even as if you can swim to shore as the sharks that roam the waters around the island are notorious man-eaters (not joking).
And so it was, with the sea lapping under the wheels of the bus and a third of the distance still to go that we eventually ‘lost’the road and had to try to drive up a small sand hill and head inland to find another route…or so we thought…..attempting to climb the hill, the bus got stuck in the sand…”d’oh”…..another five attempts and still no joy….not panicking yet….just need to get everyone off the bus to lighten the load.
With night falling and the tide still coming in, the bus hurtles passenger-less at the hill…..and grinds to a halt….stuck in the sand……double d’oh…is that the sound of a pack of dingoes getting closer ????…..another few attempts (by now the bus is having to reverse back into the sea up the its wheel arches in order to get a good run up)…still no joy…..panicking slightly….but, as if in a Hollywood movie with sharks chewing on the bus tyres and dingoes trying to kidnap the driver, the bus finally crawled up the beach to safety…where we all jumped back on board and made it back to the ferry port just in time and headed to the mainland….
Joel celebrated our ‘brush with death’ by ordering kangaroo steak at the local restaurant, before we jumped back on our coach and headed back to Brisbane.
On Friday, we had the loan of Mark and Tiff’s car so we decided to do some local exploring….we first headed to the ‘Australian Woolshed’ a nearby farm / open zoo, where you can feed Kangaroos and cuddle Koalas…..naturally Mel could not resist a cuddle and had her picture taken with a very cute Koala named Eukie.
After picking up some food for a picnic, we headed up to Mount Glorious, one of the highest peaks in the area where we sat and listened to the sounds of the wildlife......then, to work off our lunch we headed into the rainforest for a nature trail walk to admire the greenery.
Finished the day with a drive through the spectacular countryside, before taking Mark and Tiff out for dinner at a very nice pub in Samford as a ‘thankyou’ for their kind hospitality, where unsurprisingly….Joel had more steak…
On Saturday, as Mark and Tiff were at a Wedding, so we drove to the station and caught the train into Brisbane city for some sightseeing, shopping and another stroll around the South-Bank (Saturday is when they hold a craft market). We perused the local craft stalls and Mel treated herself to a tattoo….albeit a temporary one.
That night we found ourselves at the pub……again….and yes…..Joel had steak…..again……
Sunday was the day of our departure from Brisbane to Hong Kong and we were quite sad to leave.....it was really nice staying with Mark and Tiff, not only because they were such fantastic hosts, but also because it was really nice to stay in an Australian home......our hotels have been fantastic, but I do think that nice to see a country through the eyes of the people who live and work there....
Given the nuptual celebrations the previous night, we did however feel a little guilty dragging our host out of bed on Sunday, to take us to the airport.
posted by Joel and Melly @ 6:34 PM
1 Comments:
At 3:14 AM,
Mat & Kat said…
You weren't worried about finding poisonous spiders in Oz by any chance Mel? ;) We left loads in Wendover for you as a welcome home present.
Post a Comment
<< Home