Two Days in Brisbane

After six fun-filled days in Sydney, we hopped on a flight north to Brisbane, Australia's third largest city and capital of the state of Queensland.  On a map of Australia, Brisbane looks like a quick skip up the coast, but it's actually over 900 kilometres.  Brisbane is a pretty city sitting just inland on the river after which it was named. [Chad: from the air, the coast between Sydney and Brisbane looked like one long, sandy, idyllic beach.  Again, no wonder Aussies do water sports.]

We stayed in the neighbourhood of New Farm, around a river bend from downtown.  This turned out to be a great place to stay; lots of cafes and restaurant, and every convenience you could want, but a great neighbourhoody feel instead of a big, downtown feel.  We spent our first afternoon in Brisbane just wandering around and checking out our 'hood.

Downtown Brisbane, with the Story Bridge in the right of the photo.

Chad dangling riverside.

Brisbane has been reclaiming its river front, and one of its big projects was its old power station.  Now the Brisbane Powerhouse, it is home to a nice restaurant, a hip waterfront bar, and several theatres.  Very cool stuff.

Inside one of the dinner theatres.

Outside the bar (we're too poor to buy drinks in it!)

The next day we took a suggestion of the host at our guesthouse and took the city ferry (a passenger-only fast catamaran) for an hour and a half long 'tour' up and down the river (i.e., on its regular route transiting to and fro).  At $2.85 each, this was our kind of tourist activity!  And we got to see a lot of the city from the river before getting off the boat and wandering around through more reclaimed riverfront area.

(A note that in December 2010 and January 2011 Queensland suffered horrible flooding, and Brisbane was very affected.  Normally you could walk along the river to downtown from New Farm on a boardwalk, but this was washed out in the floods and the rebuilding isn't yet complete.)

Many people were throwing shrimps on the barbie in New Farm Park as we walked to the ferry terminal.

Ready to ferry tour!

The murky brown waters of the Brisbane River.

It appears this house might have been somewhat attractive until someone decided to tack on the massive white columns in front.

At high tide the river laps at the pathway through the park.  No wonder there was so much flooding.

An Australian cruise ship anchored along the banks.

Power station theatres

Just as you could climb Sydney's Harbour Bridge, you can also climb the Story Bridge, though it's much smaller.  [Chad: Cliff Claven fact of the day: the new Port Mann bridge in Vancouver just took over from Sydney's Harbour Bridge as the widest in the world.]

The old Customs House downtown.  Now looks like the home to a fancy club.

Seems every city is copying the London Eye now.

After we got off the boat, we took a wander along the river front.  The first thing we came across was this pagoda:

Which we then learned was built by Nepalese craftsmen as a tribute to peace for the 1988 World Expo, hosted in Brisbane just two years after Vancouver's Expo '86.  It appears that both expos kick-started waterfront reclamations.

Because we're so cultured, we went to both the Queensland Museum and the Queensland Art Gallery (the fact that they were both free and both air conditioned on this hot, sunny day had nothing to do with it... I swear...)  Both were actually really good.

The view from the Art Gallery.

This dragon sculpture was really cool, and part of a regular Asian art exhibit/exchange.

We then wandered back through downtown, busy with Christmas shoppers everywhere, and made our way back to New Farm.

Outside town hall.

Also walking along the path...

Back in New Farm, we treated ourselves and went out to dinner at Brisbane's very own Alibi Room!  Not as good as our Alibi Room by far, but in an expensive town they have happy hour and serve cheap and decent meals.  We'll take it.

Yes, We Are Still Here...

Apologies for the lack of new posts lately - we have been to Brisbane, Coolangatta, Murwillumbah, Mooloolaba and now Rainbow Beach. Unfortunately, Australia is a perfect example of the inverse relationship between free/reliable Internet access and the technical development of a country. Turkey, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Uruguay - every hostel and cheap pension has free, usable wifi. Australia? Accomodations either don't have wifi or - more likely - charge you $8+/hour for it. Our blogging is predicated on free Internet access at the places we stay, so blame the profiteering Australian innkeepers!

When we finally get better Internet access, we'll try to catch up. Fingers crossed it will be over Christmas. Quick highlights of what we've been up to:

- river exploration of downtown Brisbane, for cheap
- surf lessons for Chad; getting-knocked-over-by-dumping-waves education for Sarah
- driving a manual transmission car on the left side of the road
- feeling excessively old among the beach hostel crowds
- lightning storms over the caldera near Mt Warning
- acclimatizing to high humidity, in preparation for Cairns
- proud that the new Port Mann bridge had taken over from the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge as (reportedly) the widest in the world; embarrassed that falling ice from the new Port Mann is injuring people and ruining cars
- touring a North America-style Christmas light display in a beachside trailer park in shorts and t-shirts

We can report that the world did NOT end on the 21st. So a merry Christmas to all from down under!

Flora and Fauna, Food and Drink

[More from Sarah]  Okay, these topics don't exactly go together, but my last post was already overloaded with photos.

Of course, we managed to find some craft beer in Australia, though it is sounding more and more like New Zealand will be the place to go in that regard.  Our first stop was Redoak Beer Cafe, which was recommended as a place to go, particularly for beer and food pairing.

Pretty tasty beers.  No IPAs or stouts on the menu at all.

Chad had a tasting flight with food pairings, while I had the delicious veggie dish across the table.  The food (mine at least) tasted as good as it looks.

[Chad: let's see if I can remember the pairings, from the left.  1) Lemongrass spiced thai-style ground chicken "popsicle" with a white beer.  2) Pork belly and fresh mushy peas with a German wheat (not really to style). 3) Mini beef pot pie with an Irish red ale. 4) Lamb croquettes with mushrooms and a strong, malty English bitter.]

On a walk around North Sydney, we encountered some swank office buildings of our old friends at Diageo (of Guinness, Bushmills, and Oban fame).  [Chad: and by friends, we mean enemies.]

The Lord Nelson is another famous brewpub, so of course we had to try it out.  (Dean, the brewer at Lighthouse Brewing on Vancouver Island, once brewed there.)

Pretty good - especially on a hot summer's day!

And in the category of crafty but more main stream (like Granville Island Brewing) is James Squire.

In the food world, Chad especially has been loving the fresh fruit options!

Mango, lady finger banana, white nectarine, passion fruit!  Oh my!

And finally, flora and fauna (partly just an excuse for me to post some flower shots I've taken.  Maybe it's just because it's a novelty to see them in December, but I'm loving the flowers here.)

Saving the best for last, though, are some of the "ordinary" birds we've seen.  Definitely more exotic than seagulls and crows.

A wacky looking, pink breasted galah.

Kookaburras!  They are not sitting in the old gum tree, but it was pretty cool to see them.

Ibises eat worms of out of the ground with their long beaks.  But also garbage and food scraps - they're considered pests, not much above a pigeon.  So are the common white Cockatoos, which can apparently rip parts of your house apart with their strong beaks!

More Sydney

After reading my last post, you may think that we didn't see anything in Sydney other than the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.  That definitely was not the case, as you will soon see from the huge number of photos in this post (no wonder Google is making us pay for more storage!)

We explored Sydney.  A lot.

A typical house with wrought iron on the balconies and windows in the Kings Cross area, where we stayed with Gemma.

We found this beer ambulance.

The Anzac memorial in Hyde Park.  Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Core.   We learned about Anzac Day earlier this year while we were in Ireland and Turkey, so this was an interesting memorial to visit.

We visited Queen Victoria, who looked quite grim despite the very upscale shopping mall in the building bearing her name that is right behind her.

After staying with Gemma for a couple nights, we went to stay with Bill, an uncle of Chad's good friend Peter from Salmon Arm.  Bill was kind enough to spend a day touring us around north Sydney, including places difficult to access via transit or tours.  We started at North Head, whipped by winds up on the headlands.

[Chad: For those who haven't visited, Sydney is centered around a big harbour with a relatively narrow opening but very extensive bays and inlets, etc.  North Head is the north side of the opening to the ocean.  Botany Bay (where James Cook landed) is just south of this harbour, and is where most of the commercial shipping seems to go.]

A bulk carrier heads for busy Sydney Harbour.

Bill and Chad contemplate the city skyline.

Sandstone cliffs.

One of many weird sandstone formations.

We then surveyed a number of beaches, including Manly and Dee Why and Balmoral.

Manly Beach - normally a short ferry ride across the harbour from the Opera House

If the tide comes in too quickly, you can either take your chances with this life buoy or run up the stairs carved into the sandstone.  Rogue waves have been known to take fisherman off from time to time.

About the fourth gorgeous beach of the day with sand, surf and boardwalk - and that was just in the NE harbour, and wasn't nearly all of them!

View from the fort toward downtown

We had coffee at Burnt Orange, with a view overlooking downtown across the harbour

We had drinks and dinners with friends, old and new.

With Shaun and Allie, who we met on our boat cruise in Turkey earlier this year.

With Bill, Leanne, Jacqui and Bob.

On a particularly sunny weekday, we headed out to the famous Bondi Beach to see what the fuss is all about.

[Chad: OK, these photos don't really do it justice.  Bondi might be super-popular, but it's also absolutely gorgeous and only a few minutes from the downtown core.  They've prevented over-development, so it's not filled with high-rises and chain stores, just a little parking, then lawn, then sand.  Fine white sand and cool, crystal blue water, perfect for swimming or surfing - so I went for a dip after lying in the sun for a while.  It was hard not to feel just a little inadequate around the Aussies - a huge percentage of them (and nearly all of the beach goers) look like either Olympic athletes or pro surfers, with the same confident grace whether moving or stationary.  Pasty white, soft-fleshed Chad sticks out a bit with his shirt off...]

I can't even imagine how busy this place gets on a sunny Saturday!

When you've inhaled enough sand, you can sit in the grass above the beach or walk along the coastline and gape at the jaw dropping views.

Bondi from above.

More crazy sandstone makes for some interesting rocks along the way.

Another, quieter beach a few minutes away

And ANOTHER great beach around the next corner.  No wonder Aussies can surf!

We hit up a grocery store to see what the locals eat...

And on our way out of town we visited the University of New South Wales, where Bill has been a professor for many years.  He toured around campus.

Affectionately known as the campus's Champes d'Elysee.

In front of the university's sun dial (which Bill helped to have installed) - the center piece weighs 900 pounds!

Sydney definitely won us over, and we will visit again before we head to New Zealand next month!