02/09/2012
Our week of mooching around the mountains of northern N S W and southern Queensland is done, we have now trundled up the coast to the big city of Brisbane and Marions house. We arrived mid afternoon after an unplanned tour of some of the northern suburbs, places we may never see again.
The challenge of navigating to Marions in the daylight turned out to be a doddle considering we had to find it again in the dark after dropping Marion off at the airport, she had a late evening flight.
So, here we are, billeted in this lovely old Queensland house for a couple of weeks, or longer if we wish with a list of minor jobs that need doing. We also have a list of things to do and places to see. Looking forward to it.
03/-9/2012
Strange feeling to wake up in a house after so long in the van, apart from three nights when we were guests at Jims. Even when we were in the unit at Clifton there wasn’t a lot of space, not like this. The house is built on a very steep hill ( one leg shorter than the other would be ideal) with all the living quarters and deck on one level and the garage and storage space beneath. I can see us spending most of our time out on the deck as we are at tree top level with birds and possums as visitors. Also, from the deck we can see Brisbane city centre a few K’s away, it’s lovely at night, all lit up …….just like Blackpool Illuminations!
We have spent the day pottering about doing jobs and a walk to the nearest shopping centre, which is at the bottom of this extremely steep hill, it’s a hell of a pull coming back! Tonight we are BBQing on the deck then tomorrow we may try something a bit more adventurous, like taking the train into the city!
04/09/2012
Our first look around Brisbane, having had no dramas getting there by train, which is cheap for us pensioners. Like all cities Brisbane is busy but it’s easy to get around on foot as there are many subways and overpasses.
From the station (Central) we made our way to the river and to the South Bank where there is a Streets Beach. This is a manmade lagoon with a beautiful sandy beach complete with lifeguards. You can swim or sunbathe in the heart of the city!
Brisbane has a wheel similar to the London Eye but I don’t think it is quite as big (60 metres). We had a pod to ourselves and the views over the city and along the river are superb. There is a commentary going on in the pod explaining what’s what as you whiz round. It’s much faster than the Eye but you go round about 5 times, taking over 15 minutes in all. It just had to be done.
Next, after the worst lunch of crappy fish and chips imaginable we went for a river trip. There are catamarans that go up and down the river at a cost but we found there is a free ferry service that dodges about so we went on that and saw quite a lot of the river. The Cats go a lot further so we will do that another day.
We had a super day but it’s really exhausting being a tourist ( we are travellers, not really on holiday!!) So back to our house on the top of this bloody hill, a few beers, supper and a bit of tele.
05/09/2012
Back to reality after yesterdays jolly as the first task this morning was an appointment with the local Doctor as I have an ear infection. 180 bucks later and I have stuff to shove in ever orifice in my head. I will get some money back through Medicare but it’s no good getting crook in Australia.
Shopping next which means tangling with lots of traffic. Not like shopping in the outback or country towns where you can pull up at the shop front door or park in a huge carpark with lots of space. Here it’s a mass of metal hurtling around. We set off to find a budget chemist and god old Dan Murphys but due to some more inglorious navigational skills we went round in a big circle, paid top whack for prescriptions and never saw Dan! We will try to find Dan another day. We gave up the day in the end and returned to altitude here on Edris street!
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