Back to Cardiac Hill

 21/09/2012
  That was a nice couple of days doing nothing but now we are back on cardiac hill, Brisbane. We tried to book a few more days for next week up at Rainbow Beach but the place is booked out because of school holidays. They start today, shouldn’t they be at home studying??!! Anyway the weather has broken and we are in for a short period of rain storms, so Brizzy is a good place to be.
  We made 3 stops on the way back down to the city, the first being a book exchange shop that we remembered in Gympie, where we  did a good deal and found 5 books we have been searching for for ages.
  Next we took a short detour off the motorway to a small town called Eumundi, which has a daily market, except Fridays…..and it’s Friday today! Eumundi (strange name) is a really nice , quaint old town with some typical old Australian buildings but with a 1960s hippie feel. If there had been a caravan park there we may well have gone back there in the near future, but there isn’t, so we won’t.
  On the way up on the motorway we had spotted a sign for Wild Horse Mountain Lookout, which you can actually see, perched on top of the hill. We were looking for somewhere to stop and have lunch so the lookout seemed a good place.  Except, …..the road finished 700 metres below the lookout. The track up is the nearest thing to vertical you could imagine and we were knackered by the time we eventually reached the top. It was well worth the effort as we could see the pacific ocean on one side and on the other the Glass House Mountains with the motor way below going north/south. We got some good pictures we think, but it could have been a bit clearer, there being rain in the air.
 So here we are back at Marions house where we will stay for  a few days to make a plan.

 22/09/2012
  A totally buggered up day after a chat on skype with the family. When we went out, intending to spend the day in Brisbane, we found we had a puncture. Changing a wheel on the steep slope of cardiac hill was a bit dodgy, but I got away with it without any mishaps. Then of course we had get the tyre repaired and do a bit of shopping so that was most of the day gone. If we were going to get a puncture anywhere, Brisbane, as one of the bigger towns is probably the best place for it to happen. Many outback  and smaller towns close down for the weekend and it’s virtually impossible to get anything done until Monday morning. So, no real dramas, we just lost a day, we will try again tomorrow.

 23/09/2012
  We have seen a bit more of Brisbane today, tho most of it through the window of Gillhooleys Irish pub, where we took shelter from the heat of the day. We like Irish pubs but why are they so expensive? The cheapest beer in Gillhooleys was amazingly the Guinness at $8 a pint ( £5.20) whereas the aussie draught was $9.50 ( £6.17). We only had the one and a plate of wedges, then we spotted that the Guinness was cheaper! The Irish pubs in Perth and Cairns are similarly priced.
 Before the pub we had found our way to the botanical gardens, set by the river. It’s a nice peaceful place considering it’s so close to the city centre and right now all the spring flowers are in full bloom. It was a shame the whole park had temporary fencing everywhere, getting ready for the climax of the Brisbane festival next Saturday. There is going to be a spectacular light and firework display on the river. Unfortunately we will miss it as we are leaving Brizzy in the week……..time to move on!