Brisbane

Brisbane

As I said I, the last post, Brisbane didn't stand out for us as a tourist city, but rather as a real, somewhere to live in city. The main city area was not very big, but had a good shopping area and, as previously mentioned, some great places to eat and drink, especially around Eagle Street Pier.

Brisbane

Together with the proximity of decent neighbourhoods to live in, I could see this being a nice place to call home - if you can cope with the heat and those huge spiders, that at least while we were there, confined themselves to the garden. And it was quite fun to have a possum visiting the garden - albeit that I gather they have a mean bite.

Flood indicators, Brisbane

There is a large botanical garden on the city peninsula, and that was a pleasant place to walk around. We spotted a strange thing with bits of wood sticking up at different angles, and wondered what it was. It turned out to be the flood level indicators over the years . They do clearly have problems with flooding here, with 1974 being an especially bad year.

Wheel, Brisbane

The main touristy area is probably the south bank Parklands. This is a landscaped section along the river bank, which has the Wheel of Brisbane, the Nepalese Pagoda, and various boat trip opportunities. We decided to try out the wheel; it was OK, but I suppose we have been a bit spoiled with having the London Eye, which is bigger and has fabulous views. One nice thing about it though, was if you went during the day, your ticket was also valid for a second trip after dark, and vice versa; we thought this was a really nice idea.

Lagoon beach, Brisbane

Something we were surprised to see along the river, was a lagoon and beach, complete with lifeguard's hut. I guess that in a country where most if the population lives along the coast line, and even in the cities, people expect to have a beach on their doorstep, only having a river just isn't good enough.

Brisbane

Other areas of town are largely neighbourhood suburbs, and as we were staying with friends, we didn't explore too far. And of course there are museums and the like if that takes your fancy.

Nepalese Pagoda, Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane - Friends and furry things

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

In Brisbane, we stayed with some friends, which made a lovely change. We also managed to catch up with two other people, one that Nic had worked with, and one that we met while travelling in South America.

We rather liked Brisbane, and thought it would be a great city to live in. It doesn't have a great deal in the way of tourist stuff - I'll cover that in the next post - but it is a vibrant city, with some decent shops, nice residential areas, and good places to eat and drink.

Nic at Mr and Mrs G

A couple of favourites that we tried, were the 'Queenslander' style heritage listed Regatta Hotel, and the aptly named Mr and Mrs G. The former was a beautiful looking place out in Toowong, and had a number of different areas, some with live music.

Mr and Mrs G was a great cocktail bar in the fabulous Eagle Street Pier area. The cocktails were excellent, and the food was decent too.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

The people we were staying with also took us out to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which was founded back in 1927, and is the oldest one. This was a nice little place, with other animals as well as koalas.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Duck billed Platypus, Lone Pine

We spent ages watching the strange creature that is the duck billed platypus. It took a while to come out of its hiding place, but once it did, we enjoyed watching it swimming around.

Apologies for the lousy photo - my point-and-shoot didn't cope well with the darkened room and no flash rule.

Tasmanian Devil, Lone Pine

We also managed to see a few more indigenous species, with the little Tasmanian Devil, the wombat, and the dingo.

Dingo, Lone Pine

Wombat, Lone Pine

Wedge tailed Eagle, Lone Pine

They also had a very good birds of prey show, with various birds including a wedge tailed eagle. The birds do rather swoop across the top of your head - so maybe not for anyone who has a fear of our feathered friends.

Bird show at Lone Pine

Bird show at Lone Pine

Bird show at Lone Pine

Bird show at Lone Pine

Kangaroos at Lone Pine

Of course the other animal that you couldn't be without in an Australian wildlife park is a kangaroo. The enclosure here was great, with lots of them happy to take the food that you could buy.

Kangaroo with joey at Lone Pine

Some were especially keen, and when a huge grey male decided to hold my hand with both of its front paws to make sure I didn't take the handful of food away - I didn't argue with it! It was rather nice to see one of the females with a little joey in her pouch.

Kangaroos at Lone Pine

Noosa - cliffs and koalas

Noosa

Noosa was our last stop on the East Coast before we get to Brisbane, and is a pleasant enough town. We were staying in a self catering apartment in At The Sound, which was either a walk or a bus to either Noosaville or Noosa main beach, and the people there were lovely.

Koala at Noosa

We took a really scenic walk into the National Park at Noosa Heads, where we had heard there was a chance of seeing koalas in the wild. Sure enough, we didn't have to go too far before we noticed people looking up at the trees, and spotted the very sleepy koala, nestled up in the branches.

Noosa

We meandered our way along the coastline and cliff tops to Hell's Gates, where the waves come crashing in, even on a beautifully calm and sunny day like this was.

Noosa

Koala at Noosa

On our way back, we stopped to look for the koala again, and sure enough, it was still there. It did get up and move to another branch, but aside from that, it remained very lazy and idle.

Noosa isn't somewhere I could live, but it seemed to me to be one of those places where you could happily while away a relaxing week or so, with a few walks, a bit of beach time and water sports, and frequenting some decent bars and restaurants.

Noosa

Noosa

Noosa

Noosa

Noosa

Hervey Bay and Fraser Island

McKenzie Lake, Fraser Island

Our next stop was Hervey Bay, a nice, but quiet, little town, with some relativel deserted beaches to wander along and watersports options if that's your thing. Had we had longer nearby, we might have visited Bundaberg, to see the sugar plant and rum distillery, or popped in to Maryborough, the little town where P.L.Travers (author of Mary Poppins), was born and lived until she was eight.

Cat on Fraser Island ferry

The purpose of our short visit was to go to Fraser Island, a world heritage site that is 123 km long and 22 km wide, and covered in sand dunes, rainforest and freshwater lakes. It is also home to dingos which, due to the isolation of being on an island, are some of the closest to the original species, before mating with other dogs diluted the breed. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to catch a glimpse of any during our visit.

We had to get a bus and ferry out to the island. We were somewhat surprised to find that the ferry had a resident cat, which kept us amused during the short crossing. Once on the island, we picked up an all terrain truck, that would take us around the sandy tracks of the island.

McKenzie Lake, Fraser Island

McKenzie Lake, Fraser Island

Our first stop was a freshwater lake called Lake McKenzie, where once again, our lack of interest in swimming or sunbathing left us a bit adrift. But we weren't there too long, and it was pretty, so it was OK.

Rainforest, Fraser Island

Further inland, we stopped at the old logging station, Central Station. There isn't much left here now, but it provides the starting point for a guided walk through the rainforest, and along Wanggoolba Creek. Our guide pointed out edible plants along the way.

Rainforest, Fraser Island

Rainforest, Fraser Island

Rainforest, Fraser Island

75 mile beach, Fraser Island

One of the main draws here, is 75 mile beach - yes, that is how long it is - which is both a highway and a landing strip for the small aircraft that do scenic flights here. As inviting as it may look, the beach itself isn't a good place to swim, due to strong currents and the likelihood of sharks in the water.

Eli Creek, Fraser Island

A better place to swim would be the champagne pools, which we didn't visit, or Eli Creek.

Coloured sand cliffs, Fraser Island

Near to the latter, are the coloured sand cliffs, which, together with the large sand blows, form part of one of the best examples of coastal sand dune systems in the world.

Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

One of my favourite spots though, was that of the rusting hulk of the Maheno shipwreck. The was a New Zealand cruise liner, built in Scotland in 1905, which was being towed to an Oskaa shipbreaker in 1935, when an out of season cyclone snapped the tow rope.

Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

The shipped drifted off and ended up beached here. As no one wanted to go to the effort of removing it, the fittings were stripped and here it remains, gradually disintegrating. I am sure it is something of an environmental disaster, but it does look beautiful.

Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

75 mile beach, Fraser Island

Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

Fraser Island