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Published: November 17th 2013
Monday 11th
We drive a few minutes up the road to the Noosa National Park where it's possible to see wild Koala bears. We take a pleasant walk of about 4 k through the trees looking everywhere but to no avail. All we get for our troubles is a stiff neck from looking up.
We then drive on for about 45 miles and pull in at our next site in Landsborough and book in. After a quick lunch break we're off to the Glass House National Park just down the road. We decide to climb to the top of Mount Ngungun. It's a straight climb of 253 m to the top and over rocks at the top but we are rewarded with a tremendous 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. We take a slower walk back and look forward to our nightly glass of wine !
Tuesday 12th
A 5 min drive this morning down the road to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. A place Christine and has been looking forward to visiting.
The place is very well set out and looks more like a botanical garden with animals than a zoo. There are zoo keepers
all round handling small animals and it's really interactive. The small water dragons running round everywhere.
We follow the signs round and see all the Australian resident animals and some from further a field. They are all in immaculate enclosures most can be easily seen.
At 12 we go into the suitable named crocoseum, a place that looks like a football stadium for the crocodile show. It's very glizty and first off is a very impressive bird flying demonstration. Then comes the main event with a huge crocodile swimming in. He's lured out of the water with food and we are shown how powerful crocs are when lunging for prey. He's a big powerful boy !
Later we see two tiger cubs only 12 weeks old and then two fully grown ones being trained so that they can be easily handled and be used for breeding.
At times the place is a mixture of zoo and circus.
Nevertheless the place is impressive and the animals look very well looked after. It was well worth visiting.
After a long day walking round we're pretty hot and slide, no jumping allowed, into the site's pool. It's
freezing !
Wednesday 13th
A short 45 min drive this morning to Redcliffe. A pretty seaside town on the out skirts of Brisbane. Lots of coffee bars and a nice beach. But we're not here to look at that, but to see where Christine's pop idols lived. There's a new walkway dedicated to the Bee Gees with photographs and plaques lining the wall and a bronze statute of them. Christine snaps away with the camera and has her photo taken with the statute. She's in her element !
After calming her down we set Satnav Kate for our Brisbane caravan site which is only 20 miles away.
All goes well as we enter the city until Kate takes us into a long long long tunnel. Suddenly she's loses her signal and her voice ! We trundle on through the tunnel without a clue where we are or where to go. The exits come------- and go ! we don't know which one to take and so in desperation and not wanting to go into the very city centre I take an exit. After a few minutes Kate regains her composure and sense of direction and we find
we're only 3 miles away. Ten minutes later we arrive !
We take a quick lunch and then hop on a bus into Brisbane city centre. Our bus ticket is valid for two hours and is linked to the trains and ferry. So on arrival we jump on a ferry and take a two hour trip down the river and back. It shows us the buildings along the water frontage and is quite a nice way to spend the afternoon.
Back at our starting point we take a short walk along the river in the opposite direction from the ferry trip and then catch the bus back to the 'van.
Thursday 14th
We catch the bus into the city centre and again hop on the ferry, taking us in the opposite direction from yesterday and we intend to get off at the Botanical gardens. However by then it's pouring with rain, good job we have our waterproof jackets, it's a pity we left them in the 'van !
We get off and shelter before getting back on the next ferry which lets us off in the business district. Still sheltering we decide to have lunch
with the office workers at a food court. A really good lunch as the rain eases off and we walk along the river board walk to the Botanical Gardens. They're ok but not the best we've seen by a long way.
We walk on into the main shopping malls and Christine loses me as she darts into the shops. Fortunately I'm holding the money ! I remind her we don't have room for any purchases and she loses interest.
We walk over the river to the South Bank. An area of well laid out gardens, ponds, swimming lagoons, an impressive arbor and riverside restaurants. It's a very nice area and well worth visiting.
Feeling weary we catch the bus back and drop in at the supermarket for a few things. We emerge to see the sky very dark and threatening. We just get back to the 'van before there is a tremendous thunderstorm. A night in the van beckons !
Friday 15th
Off on the bus again this morning to Central in Brisbane where we change and catch another bus to Mount Coot-tha, the highest point around Brisbane and about 5 k outside the city.
It gives us a stunning view of the city and surrounding area.
After waiting an hour we catch the bus down to the Botanic Gardens.
We've visited so many by now that even I can recognise a cactus from a Bonsai ! The gardens are really well laid out with some beautiful trees and were worth visiting for a couple of hours.
We catch the bus back into the city and walk along the South Bank looking for the Friday night market stalls to be set up. There's no sign of them and after enquiring at Tourist Information we are told that the Friday night market that happens every week is now cancelled !We catch the bus back to the site for another early night !
Saturday 16th
We pack up ready to move on and my neighbour gives me a route through the tunnel out of the city. No need to use "kate". The journey through the city goes smoothly and as we emerge from the tunnel we stop in a traffic jamb. We have chosen the worst possible day for driving down the coast. All the senior schools have broken up and all
the kids are heading to surfers paradise. It's like driving on the M25 in rush hour.
The 100 miles takes us about 3 hours and when we arrive at Bryon Bay we are greeted with a thunder storm. After a quick lunch we put on our waterproofs and venture into town. It all clears up 20 mins later and we're looking pretty silly dressed as we are !
Byron Bay is still a surfers beach and the place is for cool kids. We've arrived 40 years too late ! There are youngsters carrying surf boards or skate boarding whilst holding them or even tied to their bikes. The beach is fantastic and stretches for miles. It's a lovely section of coast.
I suggest to Christine that we should take lessons but she's suddenly not available.
We have a good walk around and the place is really lively with kids drinking and having fun. It could be noisy later.
As we prepare to go to the camp kitchen to make dinner the sky darkens and the temperature drops. Minutes later we have the most tremendous hailstorm. They are the size of golf balls and we think
the windscreen will shatter. It's at this point we find the camper van's not waterproof as water pours through the top of the sliding door and around the windows !
After mopping up we go over to the camp kitchen and find all the campers there trying to dry out all their belongings as they've been washed out ! The roads are flooded and covered in ice. Not what we were expecting in Australia in late spring !
We decide to go to the cinema for the rest of the evening.
Sunday 17th
We make sure we're up in time to Skype all our friends who are at our friends John & Jeff's 60th birthday party. Unfortunately the connection is poor and we have to make do with a couple of minutes on the phone. It's the first time we've missed a "big event" between us all since we were 12 !
We then go to the Sunday street market. It's got lots of interesting things to see but it's like stepping back to the late 60's and 70'. All joss sticks, scented candles and tie dyed clothes. We're a bit out of it as
we don't have dread locks and tattoos ! Some of the live music isn't bad, but some is ! Christine buys a Christmas card for her mum and I buy a new hat, to blend in with the natives !
We then take a 4 K walk around the coast line to the lighthouse and look down on various beaches where people are surfing. There's great beaches just everywhere.
As we walk back the sky darkens again and another thunderstorm breaks out. We have to take shelter in the shops which pleases Christine no end. She doesn't buy anything which pleases me no end !
A quiet evening putting together our weekly blog for release.
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Janet and Roger
non-member comment
All Hail Brisbane
Glad to see you are coming in from the cold! Your kagools are obviously worth every penny!