Blogs from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 8

Some holidays should never end, and Cruising P & O is one of those. Rooms made up daily, lots of activities every day, places to discover, new people to meet, not to mention a chocolate on the pillow in the evening, all made up to a great 10 day cruise. The journey from Doini Island PNG back to Brisbane has two days at sea before arriving early Saturday morning in Morton Bay and then on up the Brisbane River to the Portside Terminal. So what do you do for a couple of days at sea? Once again, there are many activities each day both educational and physical as advertised in the daily news. I had won a Titanic Experience in a competition to have photos taken on the bow sprite the first day on the way ... read more

Exactly 5 years to the day after having a triple bypass operation (Rob), Marg and I set out on a less traumatic adventure. The bright white of a cruise ship is much more inviting than the adventure 5 years previously! Mary and David were travelling with us as well as their son John, and for them this was a case of revisiting a country where they had worked for several years, and John had visited some of the areas that the cruise would visit as a PNG school boy on an excursion. So they had an expectation, and we had an a real sense of adventure. One of my Father's cousins (Bev Sundgren) worked for many years in PNG, producing reading material for use in the primary schools of PNG, so we have also had an ... read more

Just hanging around the lounge waiting for our call to board. We are both now travelling 1st class - the instant upgrade at the check in was about $200 cheaper than what we paid in the first round. I left the office today at 2.30 and find that I have only just given it a thought. That is what I call letting go of work and really relaxing into the holiday.... read more

In general I’m not one for weddings which involve international travel. In this case, I had to make an exception for two reasons- the first being the groom, the second being the location. I had met both the bride and groom about five years prior, while participating in an exchange program through my university. I had not returned to Australia since, so when the invitation came I quickly booked the twenty-four hour plus trip to Brisbane. The capitol of Queensland, the eastern coastal city of Brisbane is named for the Brisbane river which runs through it. The most populated city in Queensland, it is also the third largest city in Australia, though often overshadowed by Sydney and Melbourne, whose residents refer to Brisbane as ‘sleepy country town’ or a ‘poor cousin’ to the larger cities and ... read more

I only spent a day in Brisbane to bridge the gap between staying in Gold Coast and flying to Melbourne. I arrived in the late afternoon on an 18 AUD, 1 hour train from Gold Coast and walked to Chill Hostel, another enormous hostel. Coming across a bridge into the city, I could see a network of trails along the rivers, including an unconventional, spiralling pedestrian walking bridge that serves as a centerpiece for the city. The way the evening light plays on this bridge and the building behind it, and the uninterrupted trails that continue for miles along the river, made for a nice run. Then to the supermarket, cooking in a crowded kitchen with no plates or cutlery, then drinks on the rooftop, and an early night making use of my free upgrade of ... read more