Mt Nebo

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On Thursday June 6, we retraced some of our paths from previous visits. Our destination is to get out of the city and head into the bushland of the nearby "mountains" of the dividing range. You can drive up to Mount Nebo, then on to Mount Glorious and come down the other side to Lake Wivenhoe which is a major reservoir for the city. We had done that before and thought we might retrace that path ... but we only made it as far as Mt Nebo this time.

We first stopped in the Spring Hills neighborhood to see City Park Apartments on Gregory Terrace. We had stayed there several times on previous visits and might have this time had there been room for us. It's a great place for a long stay in Brisbane. Convenient to the city centre, spacious well appointed apartments with balconies, parking garage, there's even a little pool and a nearby city pool. Our AirBnB in New Farm doesn't compare.

We headed west out of the city and first stopped at the Walkabout Creek Discovery Center. You're in bushland here, there's walking trails complete with warnings about snakes (sic!) and a pretty smallish reservoir made by the Enoggera Dam where people swim. Today they were sunbathing, I suspect the water might have been a little cool. I was able to take a brief walk down to the water. Some of the trail was briefly closed for a wedding under the trees. There's a spot there especially for weddings. I think there's also a special room at the cafe to host the reception after the wedding.

We stopped here because we have fond memories of a lovely little restaurant that used to be here (I think it was call the "Green Tree Frog Cafe"). It was a white table cloth hidden gem back then. These days it's a much larger open air restaurant but not fine dining. I ended up having "fish and chips" yet again. I think Kate had a salad plate with fried haloumi (the Greek cheese).

The road up to Mt Nebo is a narrow two lane affair and wanders along a mountain ridge. There's not much room for the locals to pass doddering tourists like us and there was some construction. Kate found the drive hard to stomach so we cut our trip short and turned around at Mt Nebo. That's a small town, a village really, only about 450 residents, with only a few shops. But Kate did get to do some shopping. I tried to get some international stamps at the post office but they didn't carry them. I suspect they didn't carry any stamps.

There are some scenic lookouts along the way. The picture above is from Jolly's Lookout which is very near Mt Nebo. There's a William Jolly Bridge in the city very near the GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) where we visited with Ross and I suspect this lookout is named after the same fellow (confirmed by Wikipedia).

There was a winery marked on our maps, and even some signs, but we did not find it. We had stopped in years ago but I suspect it's no longer in production. Another victim of COVID.

Motorcyclists love this road. Lots of twists and turns. That can be dangerous because there's two kinds of people who ride motor bikes: those who fallen off, those who will fall off.

BS&B, CityCat

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BS&B Lunch

I'm a member of the Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club which is based out of Australia — while most of the clubs are in Australia and New Zealand, with a few in East Asia, there is a local chapter here in St Marys where we live. Ours is the Stonetown Beefsteak and Burgundy Club (club #227) and was formed some time ago (1991) by our friend Pierre who had discovered the club while on sabbatical in Australia. I've been a member for many years and had a tenure as the chapter president (2015-2017).

Membership in the club is a passport, of sorts, to friends and events when travelling; especially in Australia where there are many clubs. Anytime we're in Australia we try to find a local club (e.g., there are lots in Brisbane; it's a big city) that is having an event that we might attend. Over the years we've been to several clubs around the country (in Perth, Melbourne and here in Brisbane) and always are welcomed. We looked for a club in Fremantle and Perth when in Western Australia earlier on this trip but there were no events that worked with our visit (there's only a few clubs in that area).

When we go to these events, sometimes just a tasting, often a gourmet dinner, we always have a good time, some good food and drink, and sometimes meet and make some long lasting friends. See our Brisbane BS&B (2006) story (a visit to "Brisbane" (club #17) at the United Service Club near the city centre) and note the photos of Murray and Baggins. Murray was a great friend, as was his wife Joan, who we met with many times outside the club. They had a very strong Canadian connection having studied here. He has passed away in 2019 and will be sadly missed.

The Fortitude chapter (club #138) has a regular first Wednesday of the month lunch event which would work while we were in Brisbane (we attended on June 5). I reached out to see if we could come as guests and, as expected, we were welcomed with open arms. Chris, the president, and Mick, the secretary were kind and gracious hosts to us; we shared their table. Although their club is a men only club they were happy to have Kate come as a guest. The event was a chef prepared gourmet lunch at the Royal Queensland Golf Club, in Eagle Farm, a far eastern suburb of Brisbane towards the airport and on the river at the Gateway Bridge. We took an Uber to the event and planned on riding the CityCat back along the river.

As you can see from the photos the lunch was quite a spread; a gourmet meal accented with gourmet wines. Wines were selected by the wine steward of the club; likewise for the dinner served. The many wines were all presented blind, poured from bottles wrapped to hide the label, so you did not know what you were drinking. The objective of the game is for the wine steward to call on various people from the club to have their say in evaluating the wine and what they thought the wine was that they had just tasted. This is a bit of a laugh because 9 times out of 10 the guesses were wildly off (at least beyond that was a red or white and probably from Australia, we could seldom guess the grape let alone the region, country of origin or vintage). That's interesting as all the members, like Kate and me, drink a lot of wine and should do better. Our wine club has a similar blind tasting at our January event. Kate, who is a bit of a super taster, was able to correctly identify several of the wines. She was, to my mind, the champ at this game.

Some of the wines were from their wine cellar. Brisbane is a tropical climate and wine cellars are rented space from a cold storage company as nobody has a cool basement. Some of the wines would have been recent purchases. And some wines were awarded in a draw at the end. The price for the event also included some money raised to replenish the cellar. They are a long standing club and have quite an investment in their wine cellar. So much so that they've recently, at the recommendation of the parent club, incorporated and are now insured to limit their liability.

I was called upon to speak to the main plate. As you can see it was filet of Australian beef au jus with a bit of black pudding (Kate had some fish, barramundi perhaps?), roasted cherry tomatoes, asparagus, beet greens and Hasselback potatoes all tastefully arranged. (I say fill-aye, they say fill-ette and are surprised by that dang French influence in Canada). One comment I had was on the mustard served with the beef. In Canada mustard is slathered on dishes and adds a bit of heat. Dijon mustard adds a lot of heat and is my mustard of choice. But the mustard they had absolutely cleared the sinuses and took my breath away! It seemed to have the intense kick of horse radish or wasabi paste. Really wild. "Is it always like this?" I ask. "Yup, that's normal", they say. All of the food served was great. The chef was introduced and rightly congratulated on the feast he had prepared.

There were several guests to this event beyond Kate; several wives as well some "Old Bulls". Within the BS&B club system there are "lifetime members"; a special status for long standing members who have contributed a lot. We have a couple at our club. This club had an interesting informal designation for older members who are no longer regulars. They're called "Old Bulls", an apt title as the logo for BS&B is a bull with a glass of wine, and are invited to events. This helps to make sure that friendships are maintained and they have good attendance at their events. We should do something similar at our club.

We chatted with many members. They even gave me a copy of the recently published BS&B history — quite a large tome. I am constantly surprised at how well travelled Australians are. Many we talked to had been to Canada and all were more than hospitable. When the event wrapped up we hitched a ride to the nearby CityCat landing at "Northshore Hamilton" where we caught a ferry around 3:30pm

CityCat River Tour

The Brisbane River is a distinctive feature to the city. Draining the Wivenhoe Dam in the mountainous interior and opening onto Moreton Bay, quite a few miles down river from the here (ie. Eagle Farm and the golf course), the river meanders through the city and, while there are many bridges, the river is an obstacle. The CityCats (large fast catamarans) are part of the city transit system. They're also a very good way to tour the city. We bought transit passes at a local shop in New Farm and only later discovered that we could have just used our credit cards to tap on/off the ferry.

Near Eagle Farm and the wine event the river is quite wide with the Gateway Bridge, the last bridge on the river, immediately downriver. The next bridge up river is the Story Bridge which crosses from Kangaroo Point to Fortitude Valley and nearby New Farm where we are staying. On the CityCat ferry it's about an hour up to the Story Bridge with many stops on each side of the river in between.

We continue on the ferry past the city center with it's many towering high rise buildings, the Botanic Gardens with it's quiet green space, the glossy Star Casino Center and across from that the South Bank park with the GOMA, on to the Milton stop where we got off and turned around on the next CityCat to head back towards New Farm as the day was ending and the sun had set. We returned down river and got off at New Farm Walk (there are several stops in New Farm) and called a Uber to take us home.

When we started at Northshore Hamilton there was a fellow waiting with us obviously dressed to serve on the boat. He said we needn't worry, that the boat wouldn't leave without him (hence us as well). It turns out he was the captain. Jeff was an incredibly friendly fellow, a real ambassador for the CityCats and the city of Brisbane. He posed several times for pictures with us and other tourists. He even had me come up to the wheel house to see things from that vantage point. He's our age, I would guess, and has been working on the river transit for many years. He obviously enjoys his work and the social aspect of meeting people. Not everyone wants to retire early. In the selfie above that's Jeff with Kate and me.

The river floods on a fairly irregular basis (see Historical Flooding in Brisbane). In our time there was a serious flood in 2011 and another in 2022. The 2011 flood happened, when after torrential rains (they have cyclones, we have hurricanes), water was released from the Wivenhoe Dam causing extensive flooding. At the time our friend Murray, who lived far up river in Chelmer (across the river from Indooroopilly where Ross and Bev live), had a home on a high bank of the river where we had visited a few times. He had a boat and dock on the river. It must have been 20' or so above the water with stairs down to the river but with that flood they had water to their doorstep. 

We had turned around on our CityCat tour at Milton. This has a flood connection as well. The first time we met Murray's wife Joan was at a lovely floating restaurant tied to the north bank at Milton. The flood of 2011 washed that restaurant away along with much more. There's a walkway/bicycle path on the river under the Story Bridge at the Howard Smith Wharves that I had explored before that flood. I know that much of that was wiped away in the flood of 2011. I can recall watching the news back then and seeing the damage that flooding caused. See for example Decade-long Drift restaurant debate (2022). Oddly I don't recall the flood of 2022 (that would have been during the pandemic) but should:

 "Thirteen people in total lost their lives in the 2022 floods, with 23,400 properties flood-affected in all but 11 of Brisbane’s 188 suburbs." — from Why was Brisbane’s 2022 flood different? (Griffith University)

From the CityCat there are many very posh homes along the river front especially from Kangaroo Point on down the river. I wonder how they survived past floods and what will happen to them at the next.

However, enough about flooding and catastrophes; the city is resilient and seems to take these in stride. The point here is the CityCat is an excellent way to see the city. There's lots of interesting places to jump off along the way. We enjoyed the trip, the captain was a treat, the weather was great and we would highly recommend the CityCat to anyone visiting Brisbane.

Ps. as well as the large CityCats which run the entire length of the ferry system there are also smaller "KittyCats" which provide a free shuttle service within the city core! See CityCat and ferry services.

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Notes composed Nov 21, '24

GOMA, South Bank

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Tuesday June 4, we met Ross on the South Bank, toured the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). and learned about "bin chickens".

The South Bank Parklands is an important green space, entertainment and cultural district across the river from the city center. We were here for a dinner with Ross and Bev when we first arrived in Australia on this trip (see Brisbane Briefly) and have been many times over the years. Much of the current configuration is the result of a big development for the World Expo 88; more changes are likely for the Brisbane Summer Olympics in 2032. And there have been lots of changes since we last visited years ago.

Across the river from the parklands is the city center dominated by a huge glass modern hotel/entertainment/casino — the Star Brisbane. It's a new building for us and seems to be still under construction. In front that is the old Treasury Casino which has now been merged into the Star Brisbane. We're told the development has been controversial with some dubious money involved. Several pedestrian bridges cross the river to provide access to the city on one side and the parkland on the other.

In these parklands the artificial beach is probably one of the more well known, we've gone swimming there when visiting in their summer months. There's also a big ferris wheel, The Wheel of Brisbane, that dominates the skyline and is again new to us. It's big, but not as big as The London Eye. The cultural buildings are just as interesting. At the far north end of the parkland is the GOMA but there's also the State Library of Queensland, Performing Arts Center and more. I recall visiting the Queensland Art Gallery here many years ago and was quite impressed by the collection of more traditional artworks. We had not been to the modern art gallery and, with Ross, are curious.

We drove there and met up with Ross. Google maps took us by what we thought of as a very circuitous route (perhaps it's the "fastest"; certainly not the most direct) and we got mucked up crossing the William Joly Bridge missing our turn into the gallery. After much circling about I was able to drop Kate at the gallery and ended up parking underground some distance away under the Performing Arts Center. It's worth noting that all of this area along the river, and especially the underground parking, would have been flooded recently in 2022 and before (See Brisbane's history of  flooding). 

The GOMA is a modern building on the river bank. There's a pedestrian bridge over the river, the Kurilpa Bridge is itself a piece of modern piece of art!, and an outdoor patio/lunch area. We three have a brief conducted tour of the gallery focusing on the galleries of indigenous art. Some of that was traditional (like the feathered Digging Sticks (Wapitja) and baskets). Others were quirky like the Smurfs hidden in a traditional black and white art piece. Some of the exhibits were painful and heartbreaking like the pile of sugar skulls (see above) to commemorate those who died as slaves in the sugar fields. After the tour, another gallery was an exhibit of recent juried high school pieces. All were quite good, many challenging and thought provoking: "Pardon Me For Being Born Into A Nation of Bigots". As in Canada, there's a lot of ground to mend with those who were here first.

Afterwards we had lunch on an outdoor patio overlooking the river. There were several Australian Australian Ibis (a really lovely bird, think of Egypt and the Nile) wandering around on the patio, green space and when not wanted, onto the tables. They had learned that there would be food scraps they might get if they were patient and fast enough. Ross tells us that in Australia they are seen as pests and called "Bin Chickens". "Bin" as in "garbage bin".

The gallery was certainly worth a visit. I actually prefer the traditional art in the Queensland Art Gallery which is just next door. Much of modern art I do not understand or appreciate. But it was good to go and visit with Ross. It was an interesting and challenging experience. I was worried about Kate and her ankle problems but fortunately we were able to use a wheel chair to keep her off her feet.

— these notes composed Nov 24, '24.

Howard Smith Wharves

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Tuesday June 4, Sunset at Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane.

Under the Story Bridge, which connects Kangaroo Point to Fortitude Valley, there's an entertainment district on the river front — the Howard Smith Wharves. We have decided to have our dinner there at one of the many restaurants; I'm interested in getting some views of the Story Bridge as the evening comes.

At each end of the bridge there's a high steep cliff, I'd estimate about 50' or so. There's the Wilson Outlook, a small greenspace at the top of the cliff on our side of the river which should have some good views. We take an Uber to the overlook and are disappointed to discover that there's a project underway to stabilize the cliff face so most of the viewing area is fenced off — you can't get there. But the elevator access from the overlook to the waterfront gives us a view of the work. At the foot of the cliff is some green space and the Bougainvillea House (a tea house and patio closed with the cliff remediation project). Immediately up river is the entertainment area, down river is the riverwalk to New Farm.

At the river side Kate settles into a table at Ciao Papi, as pictured above, while I go explore the New Farm Riverwalk. This is a pedestrian/bike way that wanders on the river side anchored by pilings. The steep cliffs mean there is no shoreline here, where we are, for the walkway. This is fairly new, I suspect that the previous walkway was washed away in the floods of 2022 (See 7News video of Brisbane flood 2022). I'd guess that much of this entertainment district was under water as well! But it's all been restored and reclaimed. 

We enjoy our Italian dinner, our views of the Story Bridge and the City Center. We enjoyed watching the busy CityCats ferrying people around on the river, there's a terminal here at the wharves, and decide that we should take a tour on the CityCats another day. See BS&B, CityCats later in this blog.

There are many restaurants in the area. There's also a Pirate Ship Playground for children with ships to clamber around on. But the area is more for the night life, I wouldn't say it was kiddie friendly.

There's another elevator nearer to the Story Bridge (the Petrie Point/Story Bridge Lookout & Elevator) that takes us up to the top of the cliff where I'm looking for more photo opportunities. When we're ready to go we call for an Uber but there's some confusion about where we are to be picked up. They keep coming to the entertainment district at the waterfront, nearby but we're at the top of the cliff. We ultimately get a driver who is patient with us and explains that they can't come to where we are, we must come down the elevator to meet her. With Uber you have to be exacting about the pickup location; I suppose we must have got a couple of bad reviews as a result of the confusion.

Howard Smith Wharves is an interesting area to explore. Lots of fine restaurants and great views.Pirate Ship Playground

— these notes composed Nov 24, '24

Manly Harbor

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Monday June 3, Ross took us out to Manly, an eastern suburb on Moreton Bay, for lunch. We ate at the Manly Harbor Boat Club and sat outside on the deck in the sun overlooking the harbor of pleasure boats.

The club, like the surf clubs, has a membership and we, as guests, just need to sign in. It's a very nice restaurant with an attached casino. There's an ATM, for those who are losing at the slots, so we get some cash here. Not that we need a lot of cash.

Ross picked us up at our AirBnB in his new car. He recently got a Tesla, there was a government incentive that he couldn't resist, and he's just figuring it out. He leans to the left, like us, but is willing to overlook the obvious — Elon Musk is an asshole (and even worse now that Trump has won the election and he's a major advisor to the Mara-Lardo gang). Ross says it's probably the only option in Australia if you want an electric vehicle. He's quite happy with the car but has noted one downside is the glass roof. In a hot sunny country like Australia it's not an asset.

There was an event on the harbor with many little sail boats. There's a small Moreton Bay Discovery Center at the harbor where we learn a bit about the wild life in the waters. All along the Moreton Bay the shoreline is fairly shallow, muddy and mangrove swamp. Here there's a pleasure boat harbor and the Brisbane Coast Guard.

Manly Harbor is due west of our place in New Farm but across the river and a bit over a half hour away. We cross the Story Bridge and Ross navigates us towards the water (or rather the onboard Tesla and Google maps takes us). We didn't have a particular destination in mind, we were just heading to the seaside. We had never been to this harbor before, nor explored this part of the coast. Further south along the coast is Cleveland where you catch the ferry over to North Stradbroke Island and we've been there a few times.

We enjoyed our lunch and our visit with Ross at the Manly Harbor.

Caloundra

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Sunday June 2, we take an Uber out to the airport and pick up our car at 10:30 or so. Flight delays got us in last night, the car rental was closed and we took an Uber into New Farm for our AirBnB rental on Merthyr Road near Brunswick. It's a small car, I would have preferred a smaller car, but that's what they had for us.

It's a sunny day and we're thinking that we'd like to see one or some of our favorite beaches. To the north is Caloundra, even farther north is the Sunshine Coast and Noosa Heads. We opt for Caloundra as it's only an hour north.

Brisbane is a city on a river. On the coast it's shallow muddy mangrove swamps. Not the idyllic beaches you might imagine (although there is a man-made beach like that on the South Bank within the city). Surfers' Paradise to the south is an idyllic sandy beach with too many young people and too much night life — not to our liking. Caloundra is more our speed.

Bribie Island (say "Bry-Bee") is a large, coastal sand island; mostly a nature reserve; with a tidal channel behind it that flows out to the sea at either end. The north end is Caloundra and I can recall being here before basking in the warm waters of that channel as the tide changed. Of course that was summer, this is winter and we're not likely to go swimming. Our recollections of Caloundra are of a quiet coastal town; I recall that our friends Murray and Joan had a summer home here. It has changed. There are high rises, condos, coffee shops, street side Cafes, and what looks like an expensive restaurant row along the channel. We're looking for a nice lunch; but not that nice!

We find the Kings Beach Surf Club a little north of the channel where we grab some drinks and a bit of lunch (I had too many meals of fish and chips while in Australia). This is one of those Australian Life Saving Clubs which helps to raise funds to support the local volunteer life savers. Locals are often members while visitors, like us, only need to sign in as guests. There is a sunny patio area outside where people are enjoying the day but it's busy and full. We end up inside. We're a little past their better "Sunday Lunch" service and limited as to what we can have; hence the ubiquitous Fish and Chips. It's a nice, informal place, we enjoy our lunch together and the views of the sea.

We have been to this beach before. There's a beach side pool in front of the club where people are swimming, I assume it's salt water filled from the sea, there's a rough rocky beach area, and the wide sweep of a sandy beach south towards the channel and Bribe Island. On the beach it's off season, the surf is up as are the warning flags, and there aren't any life savers in sight although we do see some swimmers in the water and some life saving boats on the beach. There are also some "Utes" and fishing boats on the sand. Nearby is a carnival like area with a large Skyline Ferris Wheel (cf. the Tourist Wheel in Fremantle, the Wheel of Brisbane in the South Bank, all a take on the massive London Eye).

We are admiring the flora and fauna and spot some birds including an Australian White Ibis. A few days later we learn, while at the GOMA with Ross, that these are considered a bit of a pest and are derisively called "Bin Chickens" for their habit of rubbishing around in garbage bins. Of course Australians, when visiting Canada, are fascinated by our squirrels and racoons which we might call "bin rats". 

On the way home we stop at the Caloundra Dan Murphy's to stock up on some clean skin wine. Back at our AirBnB we discover that although there is a parking space under the building allocated to our apartment it's far too small and awkward for our small car. We should have insisted on a smaller car! We end up parking on the street, always within a block. A bit of a worry for us but it worked well enough for the duration of our stay.

Al in all, an interesting first day back in Brisbane and Queensland.

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Notes composed Nov 22, '24

Flight Delays

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Saturday, June 1. Our flight from Perth to Brisbane is delayed, it's chaos at the airport. See WAToday Article

The day starts with some confusion. My calendar says we're flying out in the morning but we have mail confirmation for a different time? What the heck is going on, is it just time zone confusions (EST vs Australia time)? We are flying business class on Virgin Australia so we are not expecting delays. If there are delays, they ought to be handled quickly.

Apparently there was some problem with the fueling system at the airport. Planes couldn't get fueled which meant those on the ground couldn't leave and likewise for those arriving. Perth is an international airport, the largest within the state, and an important hub. This has a ripple effect throughout the system. We hear about an international flight landing in smaller regional airports like Geraldton (population 40K, over 4 hours to the north) and Kalgoorlie (population 40K, over 6 hours to the east) with passengers being bussed into Perth. Further, that these international flight have refueled at the these regional airports and headed back leaving little fuel for others. It's a real muck up and surely heads will roll. How can this happen?

We understand that techs are brought in to solve the problem (I recall it being an airlock in the undergound pipes that caused pressure to drop) and we are at the airport by 1pm and camped out in the Virgin Lounge where there's lots of food, snacks, beer and wine to while away the afternoon. The flight we've been moved to does leave on time but we won't get into Brisbane until around midnight.

We were able to get out of Perth on the same day. Many of our friends from the conference will have had an unplanned extra day because of the interruption at the airport.

When we had thing figured out I called the car rental to find out if they would be open that late. Unfortunately not, but fortunately we have not prepaid so they just move our reservation to the next day. We arrive around midnight and take an Uber to our apartment in the New Farm suburb of Brisbane a short half hour away. We'll come back tomorrow and pick up our car.

Flight delays? That's just part of travel.