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Published: August 15th 2008
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Brisbane
from mt. coot-tha lookout Arriving in Brisbane along a motorway on the river, this was an innovative modern city, a young city that had studied hard and built with diversity, we exited the bus on top of the transport centre. A strange sense of home came to me, this could have gone either way, Brisbane was our stopping point, our working city and when we stepped of the bus I just felt right.
So organised it didn’t take us long to walk to our hostel, and we were soon checked in and ready to hit the city. I may not say it much but I love the way that Alice really knows me, our hostel, that she booked, stood right next to a strip club, next to a church, only in Brisvagas!
Our goal was simple, accommodation, not wanting to spend too many nights in hostels draining our funds we needed to find ourselves more cost effective living. After some phoning around and utilising of the multiple free internet shops we soon arranged a viewing and found a house share.
A traditional Queenslander, a wooden single storey shack on stilts, these houses were built by there hundreds as cheap cost effective housing
for a fast growing city at the turn of the 20th century. The height keeps them dry and cool unfortunately during the winter the wind blew through the cracks and under the doors.
The first day in our house and a change in role, the backpacks were banished to the wardrobe and it was time to find some work. Luckily we had timed it well for the job paper day. Job hunting made this city sight seeing very different, looking at the city differently from the rest, this was going to be home for the next couple of months and that added more dimensions than we had had so far on our travels.
We soon both secured jobs and with funds guaranteed we could start to enjoy this fresh new expanding city and all it had to offer. A diverse Australian city unique in the lack of sea front and close beaches. Although not without it’s beach of course, with a man made city beach there isn’t anything they won’t find a way around. Not called the sunshine state just for a name, but as on average they get 300 days of sunshine every year, we had many
Alice Street
everyone has their street sunny days out enjoying the Brisbane city life.
Taking the local bus from the end of our road took us straight to one of Brisbane’s best attractions, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Setting off early in the morning we were soon heading out of the suburbs and into the wilderness and brush. The sanctuary is not only for Koalas they also house a lot of other animals and a big family of Kangaroos to pat and feed. We felt like kids in a candy store and could have stayed there for a lifetime. Unfortunately it was all to soon to leave.
After seven hard weeks of work Alice came to the end of her contract and we took the chance to give the Gold Coast another chance. Having only passed through the towns on a wet winter morning sat for too many hours on a crowded bus we felt we probably didn’t give the place a chance. We caught the train to the coast all dressed up in our jeans and jumpers to keep us warm but we soon felt completely unprepared as the sun beat down on us as we stepped of the train. Arriving in Southport we
china town
another city another China town soon found a map to let us know that there is a difference between the town and the beach and it was about a mile, so catching another bus we went straight to the heart of Surfers Paradise.
It is the holiday resort for Australia and a lot of other nations as we soon found out too, Costa del Surfers, a pub and club central built for fun and irresponsibility. We worked our way through the arcade of boutiques and tacky gift stalls and soon found our way out onto the white sands of main beach. Breathtaking was not the word a white sand bar as far as the eye could see each way, showing that Australians really do name places after what they see, it was a paradise with waves for all surfers.
After feeling a little silly in jeans, we just embraced the moment in proper English fashion and rolled them up and christened our Pacific debut. We had met the pacific in San Francisco, Coromandel, Sydney, Port Stephens, Port Maquirie, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay but it was never warm enough or the right time to want to paddle init.
Of course it’s not
just the places we have seen and visited but also the people and after six years of only a few e-mails and face book it was very strange to come all the way around the world to meet up with Vicky. A nurse that I started University with back in London, it was great to catch up on not only the trade but also Australian travel.
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