Blogs from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

This is my first entry. One week away from flying down to Sydney to get my visa!... read more

Time for an update on australia so far. I am just over halfway through my time here and it has been amazing. I started up north in cairns. On my first night there I was sharing a room with a guy from Glasgow and eventually ended up on a night out with 5 scottish guys. Just like home apart from being out in shorts. Cairns is a really chilled place and we had a good night out. There was a barbeque organised by the hostel where I got to try Kangaroo, which is very nice - a bit like a mix of venison and beef, Emu, which was alright - a little like lamb and crocodile which was not great - more like chicken but less nice. Anyway in Cairns I also did a tour out ... read more

Things I thought of today while getting lost inexploring Brisbane! Firstly, and this is very important, I think, I’ve decided you can’t get lost while you’re exploring. It’s impossible. So yesterday I took a train from Wollongong to Wolli Creek, got off, and then took another train from Wolli Creek to the domestic airport. Took a plane from Sydney to Brisbane, and then (because it was late and none of the buses were running) paid way too much money to take a taxi from the airport to my hostel. My hostel is very nice; you get two hours of internet included in the cost of your room, which is nice, although there’s nowhere to hook up an Ethernet cord, so I can’t just use my MyEverywhere account, which is sad day. BUT I DIGRESS. Came in ... read more

La journée de samedi est consacré au van: on nettoie tout de fond en comble, Peter nous agrandi l'étagère et la structure du matelas, mine de rien ça nous fait pas mal de place en plus ; l'huile de la boite de vitesse est mise à niveau, c'est bien ça ne fait plus de bruit au démarrage à froid! Noelle quant à elle me fait de la couture, ma robe et mes 2 shorts ont un coup de jeune!! Devant tant de gentillesse on se porte volontaire pour faire le diner, Noelle a déjà prévu de faire une "pecan pie" comme elle sait que j'adore ça, du coup on n'aura qu'à gérer le plat principal. Dans l'aprèm on part faire des courses, on leur prend également 2 petits cadeaux. On avait prévu un gratin de bananes ... read more

Nearly 2 months have gone by now since I arrived in Brisbane. A number of interesting events have occured since the last post. Leaving the best for last here goes: With respect to my free time, I have gotten to know the city better. Together with some of the guys at the hostel, I went to see the public pools on South Bank which are great to relax and have a chilled out evening. From there it isn't very far to Knagaroo Point, a 200 metre long wall that used to be the source of the rocks used to build houses in the city. Now, however, it has been converted into a climbing wall for anyone with gear to use. Technically all I need now is some equipment to start climbing the around 20 metre high ... read more

Ce matin Nico se réveille en pleine forme, fait un footing puis pique une tête dans la mer. Une fois que je suis réveillée on retourne à l’aire de BBQ très sympa de la veille pour le petit déj’ puis on prend très vite la route pour se diriger vers la Gold Coast. Comme son nom l’indique, cette côte dorée par le soleil est le long de plages, plus sympa les unes que les autres. On s’arrête d’abord à Tweed Heads et Coolangatta, les 2 villes frontalières entre le New South Wales et le Queensland. Le Captain Cook Memorial s’y trouve, à cheval entre les 2 Etats, comme ça pas de jaloux ! Pour info ou rappel, Capitaine Cook est le 1er à avoir découvert en 1770 la côte Est de l’Australie, ce qui déclencha 18 ... read more

First, apologies for my thick fingers - I really can spell! Just arrived very early at Brisbane International for my flight to Paris via Singapore. It's a Code Share with Qantas - QF51 - but I can't use the Qantas Club as my level has been dropped to Silver:( I will have to rely on Aromas for my coffee fix.... read more

The Brisbane Tramway Museum is located at Fernygrove, about 30 minutes by train from Central Station. We were fortunate that a resident in our community arranged a mid week private experience riding the trams, some over 100 years old, and learning something of Brisbanes history. These trams have had to be restored and are a credit to a devoted team who demonstrate great skill in restoring these important cars from our past. The Museum runs open days where trams are working, mostly at weekends, so phone to find out when they are open. There are a couple of trams under restoration currently and several fully restored working trams to try out. The oldest was built in 1901. This is a classic tram, and we must give credit to those who have restored, maintained and kept this ... read more