Lazy Days...Brisbane. 4th - 8th Jan

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Spent three very relaxing days at Matt and Natt and Jacob's house in The Gap, a lovely part of Brisbane up in the hills.
The house is HUGE and a real luxury to have all to ourselves although the lack permanent residents was sad as it would have been so much nicer with them in it.

It was very bizarre having a swimming pool, a house, a fridge, a TV, a front door key, a bed and a bathroom that we could however briefly call our own again. I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a safe place; to live in a real home!

The weather wasn't great but we amused ourselves with morning swims, trekking for food (naturally!) and watching 'Disneys' finest offerings with thanks to Jacob's collection of classics.

There was however one day in which we ventured out into the big wide world. We wanted to explore Southbank; an area in Brisbane which runs along side the river much like London. Here you will find night markets full of trinkets, jewellery and goodies. A fun place to explore if you have money!
If you pass the markets and continue on a little further down the river you pass cute little seafood restaurants and Italian bistros whilst walking beneath a canopy of fuchsia trellis flowers that are strung up and wound around a twisted organic looking metal archway that runs the length of the path. Very beautiful but difficult to describe! See photos once they are up!
Eventually we arrived at the Beach. Yes, a bizarre feature considering Brisbane is inland.
There is a man made beach type lagoon that sits just up from the river. Real soft yellow sand and clear turquoise water, and lots and lots and lots of people.
Was a sight definitely to see, and glad we did, but we had bigger fish to fry!
We were on a mission, a mission to go to the cheapest cinema ever found, and so we did. Watched a great film called 'Rumour has it' with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner. Shirley Maclean steals the show though, she is a funny lady.
Once out of our cinema experience, in which we all three had to sit apart due to the cinema being more rammed than we could ever imagine, we made our way back into the city. The sky had gone black from the storms and the heavens opened, and wow did it rain!
The pedestrianised walkways were flooded and waterfalls were cascading down from the buildings. Huge claps of never ending thunder and lightening that turned night into day. Very exciting.

We walked around in it for a while but eventually once soaked to the bone thought better of the idea and took shelter in a nearby Irish pub. A few nachos later we were en route to 'Fortitude Valley' apparently 'the place to be' in Brisbane, 'where it all happens'!
There was absolutely no evidence of this at all. It was a Friday night and the place was deserted. We found our holy grail in a cocktail bar but Stephanie wasn't feeling too good, having been soaked and then soaked again traipsing around the city on top of a prevailing cold. We admitted defeat, and guessed that people had taken one look at the sky and not bothered to venture out.

And so our time in Brisbane needs little more description. I feel we probably didn’t do as much as we could have done but actually just chilling out and doing very little was a welcome change to the ever moving and love (the atmosphere)/ hate (unpacking/repacking our bags) relationship we had with the way of life on the East Coast of Australia.

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