Brisbane

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Kate and I spent some time in Brisbane -- Kate was working with Ross on their book. We had a short stay on our way through to Perth at the start of the trip. Catching our breath with much needed rest after the long flight over from LA. After Perth we had some holiday time on Magnetic Island and from there we came back to Brisbane.

Some of the adventures in Brisbane are blogged elsewhere -- like the trip to Tangalooma and our lunch with the local Beefsteak and Burgundy Club at the Brisbane USC. This blog fills in some gaps.

We flew on Quantas airlines this time and had a deal which allowed us some in country flights. That helped a lot.

Ross and Bev have a lovely home in Indooroopilly (try saying that fast) one of many burbs in the city. Their home is built into the hillside in a forested part of the city with the usual, odd to us, Australian flora and fauna. They have a small pool you can jump into to cool off (the temperature was over 80F -- a hot spring by our standards). Ross was complaining about the wild turkeys we saw that root around in their yard making it hard to grow anything. They're pests but protected.

Queensland, and much of Austrlia, was in the middle of a drought which made growing things especially hard. Ross and Bev, like many others, were installing a water tank to catch rainfall and supplement the scarce city water.

Ross took his son Tim and us out to a very expensive dinner one evening in the CBD. We took one of the Brisbane public transit CityCats down the Brisbane River from Indooroopilly (try saying that again) to the Southbank and walked across the pedestrian bridge to our dinner. I ordered something that sounded interesting but turned out to be lamb brains. I ate them but shudder to think of it.

Surfer's Paradise and the Gold Coast is beach area south of Brisbane that we decided to check out. Ross had discouraged us -- it's sort of a Las Vegas meets Fort Lauderdale kind of place with odd things like meter maids dressed in bikinis. The picture above is from Surfer's Paradise. This places takes the name "Surfer's Paradise" in a marketing coup -- many beaches up and down the Queensland coast have equally good surfing.

Kate thought that Surfer's Paradise smelled too much of fried fast food so we headed further south to Burleigh Heads for a swim, the beach and a bit of lunch. It's all part of the Gold Coast but here it's a little less hectic. The headlands here is the Burleigh Heads National Park and a favorite hiking spot for Ross and Bev. We had a lovely lunch at a fancy beachside restaurant -- other times we've eaten at the nearby Life Savers Club. There's some pictures of a wedding couple taken on the beach. Apparently it's a favorite spot.

There's some pictures of our apartment when we returned from Maggie. We rented a one bedroom flat at the City Park Aparments on Gregory Terrace; walking distance from Fortitude Valley and the CBD. We've stayed before and really like the location. It's a walk up apartment with lots of balconies and good airflow -- Brisbane can be hot but we usually had good breezes to cool the apartment. We had a small car to roam the city and countryside. We had rented a car but then Ross's mom had a car that wasn't being used so they loaned us that.

There's some pictures of a market and music on Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley and another musical event we went to nearby on Claxton Street at the Calypso Bar & Lounge (all I can say is Ani DiFranco has a lot to answer for). There's also a picture of Kate at the "Bad Girls Platinum Club" -- you might guess what that club is about.

There's some photos from a visit to Noosa Heads which is two hours north of Brisbane on what they call the Sunshine Coast. This is another hiking and swimming spot recommended by Ross with another, but much larger, headlands national park. We've done a bit of a walk in these headland parks but not as much as Ross and Bev do. Instead we enjoyed the beach (Kate loves to swim, I float around a bit) and had a pigout on fried seafood at the Life Savers Club. It was a lovely warm spring day and that had brought out the crowds.

The Brisbane Powerhouse is an event space in New Farm down river from the CBD in what used to be a powerhouse. We caught some music there. There's some pictures of Jacaranda trees in bloom in our neighborhood and at the university campus. They're quite lovely and, while not unique to Brisbane (I think they came from Brazil), a sight to see when in bloom.

We had lunch at the Oxley on the river with Beefsteak and Burgundy friends. There's a picture of the nearby Regatta Hotel on Coronation Drive which runs along the Brisbane River in Toowong (say that twice while on your way to Indooroopilly) not too far from where we stayed. This three story hotel is subject to flooding as sometimes happens. I've seen old photos with people stranded on the second balcony (late 1800's) and first balcony (1960's) with flood waters filling the lower floors. With the current drought there's not much danger of flooding.

We took a drive up to Mount Glorious for a lunch one day. The mountain range is inland only a bit. It's a nice drive to see some forests and get some views back towards the city. Back in the city we saw Noel Coward's "Private Lives" at the Queensland Performing Arts Center on the Southbank with Ross and Bev. It's a very funny play if only a little outrageous.

Byron Bay is about 2 hours south of Brisbane, past Burleigh Heads and just across the state line in New South Wales. It has the most easterly point in mainland Australia. There's also another lovely long sand beach with more good surfing. At the light house on the point you can sometimes see whales migrating in the distance. Or at least the occassional splashing and blowing. We met some whale watchers from Melbourne who come here every year just so they can spot the whales.

Redcliffe is a nearby suburb to the north of Brisbane with some passable swimming. Much of the water front around Brisbane proper is either the industrial river or mangrove swamps. At Redcliffe there's a good bike path along the shore (we were travelling with our fold up bikes) and an enclosed swimming area something like the swimming area at the Southbank (but not as grande).

On our final day in Brisbane we took our car to be washed and detailed before returning it -- we got in trouble with Ross. "Don't you know there's a drought!"

Tangalooma

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While Kate was working with Ross on their book in Brisbane we did have some holiday time together. We spent a weekend at the Tangalooma Island Resort in mid October. The picture has Kate gearing up to go snorkeling on the ship wrecks.

We had been before on a short day cruise to the resort back in 2004 and wanted to return for a couple of reasons: 1) there's an artificial reef of sunken ships nearby that's supposed to be really good for snorkeling and 2) there's a dolphin feeding where wild ones come near shore. Both are adventures we had missed on our previous trip.

First some context. Moreton Island is the largest sand island (Bribie to the north and North Stradbroke to the south are the next two largest) on Morteon Bay, at the mouth of the Brisbane River (Brisbane the city is several miles inland), in the south east corner of Queensland. The island is mostly protected forest but there's a small resort, Tangalooma Island Resort, on the Moreton Bay side. There is nothing else other than forest and sand on the island (there used to be "brumbies", ie. wild horses, but they're long gone). There are ferries that will take you to the island. We took a fast passenger ferry from Brisbane to the resort, stayed overnight and had some adventures.

The snorkeling is really quite good. They've sunken some ships a short, but substantial, walk north of the resort. They were sunk by the Queensland Government between 1963 and 1984 and form what is now known as the Tangalooma Wrecks. The idea was to provide a safe anchorage for pleasure craft on the bay. The wrecks are rusting away and coral has grown on them. It's not the colorful coral of the Great Barrier Reef; it's more drab like the fringing reefs of  Magnetic Island. They're just a few stones throw from the shore so it's easy enough to swim out to them. There's some deep water to cross but when you get out to the wrecks there's lots of fishies swimming about. Probably the best snorkeling experience we've ever had.

I find it a bit creepy swimming in deep water, over darkened caverns and rusted hulks. But it was great fun to swim with the many schools of fish. But if there's fish, there's fish to prey on those fish. After swimming around for a while Kate thought she saw a shark swimming by in the deeper water. It scared her, I'm not too keen on the idea either, so we came out to shore. We asked a ranger at the resort about sharks and they said it was extremely unlikely. When we got back to Brisbane we were telling Ross and Bev about this and they said, "Oh yes, there are sharks out in Moreton Bay. But you'd have to be extremely unlucky to be taken by one. ...[pregnant pause] ... Mind you there was a fellow taken by a shark off North Stradbroke recently."

Huh? "Taken" as in taken our on a date? It sounds so pleasant, but what an odd expression. He wasn't killed by a shark, he was just taken away .... and never to be seen again.

The idea that you'd have to be "extremely unlucky" to be "taken" by a shark, or bitten by a poisonous snake, or stung by some deadly jelly fish -- they often say that in Australia. Oh yes, they admit, there is a risk but you'd have to be extremely unlucky. It really doesn't inspire confidence.

You'll note in the pictures that there are "utes" on the beach. In Queensland there are many beaches which count as legitimate road ways. Some people bring their vehicles across on ferries and drive around the island camping where they see fit. There aren't any proper roads across or on the island. Just the beach around the island.

Ah, and there's pictures of people playing cricket on the beach. Cricket is a big deal in Australia but we've never figured it out.

I mentioned the park rangers. A couple of times the rangers gave an informal talk while they fed the wild Kookaburras. The Kookaburra is a largeish bird, unique to Australia, with a distinctive call, almost a laugh. You'll recognize it the first time you ever hear one. They're carnivores preying on lizards, snakes and other land animals. They look like large and dangerous king fishers like we have in Canada but, apparently, don't or only rarely catch any fish. The ranger fed them bits of raw meat and a regular bunch arrives for the feeding. Interesting birds. You can sing along to them: Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry little king of the bush is he, laugh kookaburra, laugh.

On the second day Kate persuaded me that it would be a fun adventure to try Parasailing at Tangalooma. This looks very scary. They lash you into a parachute tethered to a speed boat and race around the bay with you dangling far above the water. I was not keen on the idea and had sent Kate up first (hey, it was her idea!). She survived so I tried it as well. It was fun, even exciting, but not dangerous at all. You simply cannot descend quickly when you're in a parachute. You get some views of the island and resort from a good altitude.

On our final night we were able to catch the dolphin feeding. Dolphins come in from the bay every night at sunset for a feeding. Some guests like us are invited out of the audience to get in the water and feed them. We were called upon and even have the photo to prove it! It's interesting to see these large mammals (they're not fish) up close and near the wild.

Well, that's about it. Another series of fun adventurea at Tangalooma near Brisbane.

Brisbane BS&B

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Kate and I attended a Beefsteak and Burgundy (BS&B) Wine Club lunch while in Brisbane. The event was held in the United Service Club (USC) which is an easy walk just down the hill towards the CBD from our place on Gregory Terrace.

BS&B is an international wine club and I'm a member of the local club back home in St Marys, Ontario. When travelling I often take time to discover if there's a local club where I'm visiting.

We had attended a similar event here back in 2004 and made friends with several members including Baggins and Murray pictured at left. We met Murray and his wife Joan earlier during this stay at a dinner on the Oxley (a floating restaurant on the river). They're a fine couple and it's a pleasure to know them both.

This BS&B club is a mens' club, many are men only, that meets once a month here at the USC. The dress code has relaxed somewhat in the intervening years (the last time we had arrived in summer beach wear when full dress was expected). So to have the rules about guests -- many wives were present today. At our last event Kate and another lady visiting from South Africa were the only women present. Today it's a full house. The joke they told us before was that wives were allowed at dinner events but lunches were reserved for mistresses and girl friends.

We had a "gourmet" lunch -- toad in the hole! And lots of wines, and after dinner drinks, and discussions about food and wine. And lots of laughs too! We had fun, renewed old friendships and look forward to seeing some of these guys at our next visit. Or perhaps on their travels should they ever come to Canada (Murray and Joan have a connection to Canada having studied here).

Magnetic Is.

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We spent a week on Magnetic Island -- late September through early October. The "spring" season down under. Magnetic Island is a short ferry boat ride from Townsville in Queensland. We rented a beach side condo apartment at the "Beachside Palms" in the town of Nelly Bay where the ferry arrives. We flew in and out of Townsville but never really saw any of that town.

Kate had researched interesting places to swim and snorkel. Magnetic Island has quite a bit of fringing reef (less colorful but close to shore) and you can take a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef if you wish -- we did both. We explored lots of lovely bays and swam every day. It was a restful place to be.

There are some stories we can share....

That Thieving Kookaburra

The first night in our unit we were having some bread, feta and olives on our sea side patio watched closely by a kookaburra and a crow (the crows that make that Siamese cry just like our cat Painter). The two birds fought and tried to run one another off. Suddenly, the kookaburra swooped down, landed on our table and stole some bread. He seemed gigantic! We were pretty frightened but laughed it off. But then he took us by surprise and did it again. He startled us so much that Kate screamed -- this brought out the lady from the apartment next door to find out who was being murdered.

The "poor" kids

When Kate was sitting at a table at the currie takeaway in Nelly Bay and Reg was shopping, three boys (about 11 years of age) joined her and told her how they were so poor and didn't have any shoes or clothes and worked for the young woman who owned the currie place because she gave them treats. The kids were really funny, the story too silly and Kate was egging them on, joined shortly after by Reg.

We bumped into them on the beach a couple of days later with their parents. The parents appeared to be hippies -- but that's Maggie for you. Anyways, these "poor" kids all had expensive wet suits and were very capable swimmers.

The Spanish Prince and the Princess

On the cruise out to the reef. The cruise starts in Townsville but stops on Maggie to pick up a few like us.

This petite couple found the deisel exhaust fumes from the back of the boat quite sickening (which they were) and were up on the top level where we were. Below on the main deck there were several kids throwing up in yellow pails kindly supplied for just that purpose. The young woman, who we'll call the "princess", was half Spanish, half Australian and was probably okay but the "prince" was a spoiled petulant brat. Eg. at one point he decided he wanted to sit where she was sitting so she had to move for him. They were sick on the way out and then cold and sleepy on the way back. Kate was sitting with Reg on a seat up top side at the front by the captain which was protected from the wind. When Kate got up to go to the "head" the prince lept into her spot and promptly fell asleep so Kate had to find a seat elsewhere when she returned. That's when Kate met Dennis who as a pleasant chap and helped pass the time.

We saw the prince and princess on the beach at Arthur/Florence Bay another day. The prince was still being a bit of a sissy but they were friendly enough with us on that occasion.

Dennis - who motorcycled across Australia

After the Spanish prince stole Kate's seat, she sat between the princess and another young fellow, Dennis, who was proably in his mid to late 20's. Kate and Dennis struck up a conversation. He was from Townsville and was showing his Kiwi friend around -- including Maggie and the Reef. He had lived in London, England for 3 years (with the Kiwi who he met there) and in other parts of Australia. He was trying out different places but figured he was going to end up in Townsville -- it still seemed like the best place. He worked for a department store chain and was shortly going to be moving to Darwin (to try out that town for a while) where the store would employ him.

Kate told him that we had driven across Australia in 2004. But he went one better on that -- he and a mate had ridden motorcycles across the red center. They got trapped for two days 100 kilometers from Alice Springs when a rain storm washed out the roads. He said they were really lucky -- they got to see the dessert blooming with flowers, Ayer's Rock when it turned purple and stuff like that. He seemed like a really nice guy. He chatted a bit with the princess when she roused herself as we came close to land in Nelly Bay.

Boarding School in Charters Towers

We met a young 17 year old boy who went to a boarding school in the town of Charters Towers. He was one of those with us on the upper deck with the captain. His large friend was also with us on the way out. They both dozed off with the younger boy sprawled out on the large fellow -- kind of using him as a giant cushion. On the way back we talked a bit to the younger (smaller) boy who told us he was just graduating from school this year. He went to a boarding school in Charters Towers (about 1.5 hrs from Townsville and we think our friend Ross' mum is from there). He said he was at the boarding school "to keep him under control". He also said he had travelled a lot and liked going to Thailand (I think it was). He said, with a bit of a smirk, that his dad has a girlfriend there. The larger boy was a friend of his mother's. His mum had asked him to go with the younger boy to the Reef and since it was a free trip for him he figured, why not?

What boat?

We were on our way out to the Reef when a large ship appeared on the horizon. We watched for a while as it looked like our trajectories were going to meet, or at least come very close to one another. It became fairly clear that the larger ship was going to pass in front of us when the Spanish/Australian Princess (partner of the petulant Prince of Spain) looked up and panicked. She got the captain's attention (he was sitting calmly at the wheel, keeping his eye on things and letting the computer take us to the Reef). She asks him whether he saw the boat in front of us. The droll captain did a double-take and replied, "What boat?" He got quite a chuckle out of it, as did we.

Coitus Interruptus

The captain on our cruise to the Reef spotted a pair of turtles mating and brought the boat around so we could see them. The male is clinging to the back of the female. We interrupted their session. Were she to tire she'd just dive deep until he'd run out of air and have to let go.

In Queensland we treat all citizens as children

We were just leaving the docks on our fold up travel bikes after returning from the Reef when a police officer, in what passes for a paddy wagon in OZ (a small "ute" with a box on the back that is far too small for humans) motioned Kate over. He said that even on our little bikes it is the law in Queensland that you must wear a bicycle helmet (we were bare headed). Kate remembered that Bev had told us, on our last visit, that if we were ever stopped for not wearing helmets we should make sure to tell them that we're Canadians and not American (they apparently don't like the Americans). So Kate apologizes to the officer and tells him that in Canada the helmet law only requires that children wear helmets. He said that in Queensland they care about all their citizens.

Anyways, it was school break and they had a helmet campaign on. How could he tell the kids that they had to wear a helmet it they let us off? He gave us a warning and drove away. We walked our bikes until we were sure he wasn't around and then rode them again.

The next day, we found the bus system was pretty infrequent and not that satisfactory, plus we were told that snorkeling was best at Arthur and Florence Bays. You'd have to walk several kilometers in and out of those bays so we decided to rent a car. We rode our bikes down to the Moke car rental in Nelly Bay only to discover that you weren't allowed to take their rental cars off the main roads -- i.e. we still wouldn't be able to get into those bays. As we were leaving the car rental we met up with the same cop and he was pretty pissed with us (here we were again on our bikes with no helmets). After explaining that we were looking for a car, etc. etc. he let us off with a final warning.

We ended up renting a Toyota Echo at a place in Picnic Bay (the next bay to ours). They didn't advertise as much as the Moke place but were pretty much the same price and you could go where every  you wanted! We found a hippie bicycle shop at Horseshoe Bay and bought a couple of used helmets form $5 each. .... Of course we never bumped into the constable again!

"Controlled" Burn

We were watching the smoke on the nearby mountain top when we were hiking up to the old fort and then again when we we swimming in Arthur Bay. We started to worry -- the smoke was increasing, a lot! By the time we got out of Arthur Bay the smoke was down to the road. However, other than a sign saying "caution smoke", no one seemed to be too worried about it. We drove back to our apartment in Nelly Bay and couldn't see the smoke any more. Later, when we were taking the bus back home after dropping the car in Picnic Bay, we asked the bus driver about all the smoke. He said it was a "controlled" burn. We said it seemed to be out of control. He replied, "Yeah, that's usually what happens. An it kills a lot of animals as well."

Caught by low tide

On our last full day on Maggie we decided to snorkely the reef in front of our apartment in Nelly Bay. The tide was low so we figured this would be a good time to go out -- you would be closer to the coral reef with low water. Although, it was a bit windy and rough. We thought we might swim toward Xbase (the backpacker place towards Picnic Bay) where the reef is apparently quite close to the shore and climb in there. 

However, on the way there we noticed that the water was getting shallower and shallower on us. So we decided to head for shore. Unfortunately there was a lot of coral and rock we'd have to walk across to get to shore. When we had entered the water it was deep enough to swim across the rocks but now the tide was further out, the water was lower and the rocks were exposed.

So we decided to swim back to the jetty where we believed there was less rock to cross (actually brave tough soled Reg was willing to cross the rocks but gimpy tender-footed Kate wouldn't do that). So we swam, and we swam. And the water got shallower and shallower. We we reached the jetty, there was still a lot of rock and coral to cross (although not as much) but also some really disgusting muck. We did make it in though -- although we collapsed, exhausted, for the rest of the day.

The retired couple from Hawaii

A single girl was in the unit next to ours for the first few days but then a couple moved in. We were sitting at our table out front when they arrived on the bus. As tehy were climbing off the bus, they chatted with us and Kate asked the man if he was from Texas. He laughed and looked amazed. Close, he said. He was from Oklahoma but had been living in Hawaii for 20 or so years and thought he had lost his accent. They were our age and had recently retired. Their plan was to travel around the world for the next five years! That sounded like an awful idea to us, but it was their dream.

They agreed with the property caretaker that the weather was pretty "nippy". This was days of 25-30C with lows at night of mayber 16C -- paradise for us. The lady, who was Hawaiian, said there was no chance that she was going into the water -- too cold. The water wasn't cold for us but we did wear our light wetsuits when we snorkeled because you do tend to cool if when in the water for long periods.

Caning and Compulsory Service

The taxi driver who took us from our apartment at "Beachside Palms" back to the ferry terminal in Nelly Bay told us that he had almost settled in Revelstoke, B.C. and wished he had. He noted that people were more "mature" in Canada. "Not all of Australia is as bad as Queensland", he hastened to add. "Queensland has some rough edges".

He then informed us that the problem was that young people have no discipline. He said, "They should bring back caning and compulsory military service". He was raised that way and said it did him a world of good -- apparently it did not make him more broad minded. We asked him where he was raised. "Rhodesia". He did his military service there but but got out and continued his military career in South Africa after the Africans had the nerve to take back and rename Rhodesia. Sadly, I guess he liked the Apartheid system.

You meet all kinds when you travel ...