Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane's skyline and the Story Bridge

We just returned from a week in "Oz" exploring Brisbane and areas around the Sunshine Coast just north of the city. It was a much-needed holiday, and although it was too short for our tastes was still very welcome. The trip marks the first time that Stacey has been out of New Zealand since our arrival two years ago (and my second, having traveled to Sydney last year).

This post is a simplified version of events, since it would take too long to recount everything, but it does give a general sense of the places we visited.

Brisbane (sometimes just called 'Brissie', pronounced brizzy) is located in the northeast corner of Australia in the state of Queensland. It's also the capital of the state, and Australia's third largest city behind Sydney and Melbourne (at around 1.8 million people). Queensland boasts some of Australia's most spectactular natural landscapes, including stunning coasts, vast deserts, lush tropical forests and the world-famous Great Barrier Reef. Queensland's economy is dominated by the tourist, natural resource and agricultural sectors. In fact, the people of Queensland are colloquially known as "Banana Benders" in reference to the large banana plantations located there.

Our itinerary had us arriving in Brisbane last Monday, and we spent the first two days in the city. One thing we noticed immediately was the temperature difference - it was warm there - and it felt like being in Atlanta again. The average temperature during our stay was 28 Celsius (84 F). To understand why this was so noticeable, remember that even at the height of summer Wellington rarely exceeds 18 C (65 F). Without delay, we were in shorts and t-shirts and looking for iced coffees!

Between the warmth and the hot donuts,
it was almost like being back in Atlanta

We strolled down the city waterfront, then over to the central business district and the touristy areas around downtown's Queen Street. There was an OMG ("Oh My God") moment when we spotted the Krispy Kreme donut shop, with the 'hot donuts now' neon sign blazing in the window. KK is an Atlanta icon, so it's very strange to see it in Australia. Of course, I had to have one of those hot glazed donuts! To our surprise, they were giving the hot donuts away for free. We even tried to pay them and they wouldn't take the money. I compared it to drug dealers giving away the first dose of cocaine in order to start an addiction.

We planned to visit many parks and reserves later in the trip where we might see Australian wildlife, but didn't want to take any chances. So, the next day we traveled to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in search of the little fuzzy guys. We were not disappointed. LPKS has over 130 koalas in the sanctuary, and they are every bit as cute and cuddly as you might imagine.

Koalas are adorable even when sleeping,
which is good since they sleep a lot!

This one was wide awake and hungry!

Although they may look like a teddy bear, Koalas aren't bears at all. They're a marsupial, a subclass of mammals that are characterised by the distinctive pouch that the mothers use to carry their young. Australia is known for its marsupial critters which include kangaroos, wallabies, platypus, wombats, possum and Tasmanian devil.

Koala are fussy eaters, dining only on leaves and bark from certain species of Eucalyptus trees, which is one of the reasons they are having such a hard time. More and more of their habitat has been lost as urban areas expand into their natural range.

Feeding a red-legged pademelon (pronounced "Paddy Melon") - a type of wallaby

The park also has a large enclosure where you can feed the kangaroos and wallabies. Not something we'd normally do but it was great fun, I have to admit. The roos reminded us of the Romans, as they lounged about waiting to be fed. The brochures billed them as "friendly" kangaroos, which was a relief considering you were occasionally surrounded by a horde of them. Very funny.

This big guy was off to the side all by himself,
so we stopped by with a bag of food. He was huge!

Kangaroos can hurt you if they want to.
That clawed hand was almost as big as mine!

Stacey feeding the roos. She had one who was greedy and growled at the others whenever they came too close.

Surrounded!

We also saw some Wombat at Lone Pine Reserve. Feisty critters - the keeper showed us a huge scar on her leg where this guy had taken a bite out of her during a cleaning. Ouch.

William, Stacey and Aunt Rosemarie

Next, we headed north for a few days on the Sunshine Coast, stopping along the way to go to the Eumundi Markets. It was a massive event, rivaling any flea market I have seen in the U.S. We did some souvenir shopping there, had a nice lunch, and also attempted to learn how to play the didjeridu.

Stacey's cousin David kindly offered to let us stay at his place in Mooloolaba while he was out of town (Thanks David!!!). While there, I finally had the chance to meet Stacey's aunt Rosemarie. We enjoyed a nice dinner out at a riverside restaurant, where we had fish & chips and enjoyed the view.

Our visit to the Sunshine Coast included a trip to Noosa National Park where we did several day-hikes. The walks are easy and well worth a visit. The coastal views are spectactular, as you can see from the photos. White sandy beaches and aquamarine blue waters were around every corner. Wildlife was elusive, but we did manage to spot goanna, frilled lizards, kookaburra (as well as many other birds I didn't know the names of) and even koala. In the late afternoon, we enjoyed a swim at Tea Tree Bay and managed to get some time for relaxation in the sun.

Stacey overlooking Alexandria Bay in Noosa National Park. We came to 'discover' upon arriving at the beach that it's an informal nudist spot.

The view from my rock on the beach.
It was so nice, I didn't want to leave.

We spent a very short amount of time in Great Sandy National Park where we enjoyed (I am being sarcastic) a canoe ride on Lake Cootharaba. It was so windy, we had the hardest time steering. There were also flashbacks to our kayaking fiasco at Abel Tasman NP in N.Z. We didn't have time to see the real wonders of Great Sandy, such as the sand blows and painted sands, nor did we have time to go to Fraser Island, but hopefully there will be an opportunity in the future. One highlight of the GSNP visit, however, was that we saw kangaroos in the wild. This was gratifying only because we didn't want the only kangaroos that we saw to be those in captivity.

Our visit to the Sunshine Coast was much too short, as the time came to head back to Brisbane. But first we to took a short detour to visit Glass House Mountains National Park. These craggy mountains are remnants of ancient volcanoes, eroded to just a pale shadow of their former selves but still impressive nonetheless. The peaks dominate the landscape of the interior sunshine coast. Not surprisingly, these mountains also had special significance to Aboriginal peoples, and were used a special places for ceremony, meeting and trade. We climbed to the top of Mount Ngungun, a challenging ascent that requires a bit of scrambling and exertion but is worth it for the view.

The view from Ngungun.
In the distance can be seen Mt. Coonowrin
(the thin spired peak) and Mt. Beerwah beyond.

Hot and sweaty but we made it!

OK, it's getting late so super-condensing this last bit...back to Brisbane we then went. Toured Chinatown and the Valley Markets weekend festival. Live music was on offer, as well as tons of food and assorted junk. Stacey even got a chair massage.

Brisbane's Chinatown entrance

Andrew Kennedy and his bandmates put on a good show.
Check them out at his MySpace page.

We did heaps of other stuff in Brisbane, too much to put down here. But one thing I wanted to mention for any others who may be thinking of going there...be sure to take a ride on one of the CityCat ferries. It's an inexpensive way to see the sights from the water and is also a very useful tool for exploring the city.

A gorgeous sunset in Brisbane.