Friday 20th March 2015
Although we were awake quite early we had a lazy start involving lots of reading before walking into the city. Previously I'd been to a glorious exhibition at the Musuem of Brisbane that I knew Mum would love so we passed through King George Square, posing with the cheery kangaroos, and into the grand City Hall which houses the musuem.
Although we were awake quite early we had a lazy start involving lots of reading before walking into the city. Previously I'd been to a glorious exhibition at the Musuem of Brisbane that I knew Mum would love so we passed through King George Square, posing with the cheery kangaroos, and into the grand City Hall which houses the musuem.
The Costumes from the Golden Age of Hollywood exhibition (more info here) was just as enjoyable the second time round as this time I took the time to watch some wonderful singing and dacning from the film excerpts. Once we were finished, we browsed Dymocks bookstore and bought lunch from a delicious bagel shop on Adelaide Street. They were generously filled and in a shady spot of King George Square we got in a bit of a mess trying to polish them off! Mum and I unashamedly have a sweet tooth so we finished our lunch with tea and cake at the Shingle Inn - an oldy worldy tea shop inside City Hall where we had very decadent chocolate cake with ice cream.
After a rest at the hostel, which included more reading and snoozing, we walked down to the Southbank, hoping that the car wouldn't get a ticket because of the parking restrictions imposed because of the match at the local stadium. When we arrived at the southbank we stumbled across (or rather were faced with!) a chatity run where everyone was wearing budgie smugglers - it was quite a hilarious sight!
Once we'd cheered the participants on their way, we continued to the carft markets where I treated myself to a couple of new tshirts. I'd managed to book ourselves into the recommended restaurant which was closed on Sunday so when we where finished at the markets, we crossed the bridge into the city and found our way to Verve.
Again, Mum wondered where on earth I had taken her as we entered a strange building and headed down some stone steps into the basement. The restaurant was buzzing with diners, even at our 6:30pm timeslot and we enjoyed a delious Italian meal but were once again stuffed!
Luckily we had a bit of a walk through the city back to the hostel to let our dinner digest and there were various entertainers and novel sculptures to enjoy en route.
Saturday 21st March 2015
Crikey! With a limited number of full days left in Brisbane, we used today to visit Australia Zoo. I took advantage of having a passenger in the car and caught a shot of the sign showing Steve Irwin Way as we left the Bruce Highway towards the zoo.
When we arrived we marched straight to the Crocosseum for the Wildlife Warriors show - in my opinion the best part of the day, especially when the birds swoop overhead and still as stunning as the other visits.
I think half of the visitors had the same idea as us, grabbing lunch after the show so we had a rather long wait for our food. Wandering around admiring the animals, we gobsmackingly passed a wobat on a lead having a walk! We stroked kangaroos and took a trip to the newly opened Bindi's Island where we saw boa constrictors and limurs (dissapointingly they weren't singing I like to move it, move it!)
Our timing couldn't have been better because as we drove out of the zoo, it began to rain, including lightening. On the way back to Brisbane we stopped in to see the Byrnes where everyone was pleased to see us. We caught up on our news for around an hour before heading back to the city. The drive wasn't the most pleasant - dark raining and lightening so we didn't fancy going back out for tea so instead had toast and Tim Tams!
Sunday 22nd March 2015
Driving out of Brisbane today was easy peasy and straight onto the M1, this time heading south. We stopped at Coolangatta which was just over halfway to Byron Bay and as we pulled onto the sea front street we sae a large camouflaged koala statue. After a short drive down the main road along the front we found an interesting looking market so found a parking spot where we had initially driven. On our way to the market, we found a whole selection of decorated koala sculptures, each with a different theme, similar to the Wenlock and Mandaville statues which were in London during the Olympics.
Driving out of Brisbane today was easy peasy and straight onto the M1, this time heading south. We stopped at Coolangatta which was just over halfway to Byron Bay and as we pulled onto the sea front street we sae a large camouflaged koala statue. After a short drive down the main road along the front we found an interesting looking market so found a parking spot where we had initially driven. On our way to the market, we found a whole selection of decorated koala sculptures, each with a different theme, similar to the Wenlock and Mandaville statues which were in London during the Olympics.
Looking back over the ocean we could pick out the tall buildings of Surfers Paradise. As you can see, the weather wasn't fantastic and we just managed to browse the market stalls before diving into Grill'd for lunch and avoiding the rain.
Back on the highway we drove through some very heavy showers and there was heavy rain when we arrived at Byron Bay. We checked into the Beachcomber which wasn't as fancy as our apartment in Noosa and parked underneath. Concerned it was going to rain further, we drove round to the beach front and had dinner at Miss Margaritas. Now, I'd been raving about how this was the bes place I'd been in Australia and although it was nice, it wasn't as good as I'd remembered! The evening was finished off with some card games and ciders back at the apartment.
Yeah, I'm a thrill seeker, but crikey, education's the most important thing. - Steve Irwin
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