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!"