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Published: January 17th 2009
15th January 2008 - ARRIVAL IN BRISBANE!!!
The bus journey was quick from Surfers. I got on the bus and shut my eyes....when I opened them an hour later we were just heading into Brisbane Centre....the best way to travel!! Once off the bus we phoned the hostel to come and pick us up. 20 minutes later at about 2pm we were at the hostel - Base - right in the centre of Brisbane. We had high hopes for this hostel!!! Check in was a very long process and the people behind the desk were trying a little too hard to be funny. The room was air conditioned which was amazing however there was one plug socket for the whole room, the beds were the squeakiest ever and the kitchen was not even on the same floor as us!! Maybe we had too high expectations for 'Base' but either way it wasn't all it was cracked up to be!! Still...I was sure I could manage 2 nights there!!
Once settled in and after having some lunch we got some info on what to do in Brisbane. Seems there are no landmarks which is weird for a city and very unkile
Sydney and Melbourne. Still we got some good tips on what to do and planned our adventures for the following day!! As it was about 3.30 we didn't have too much of this day left so we used it to have a stroll around the city centre, go on the net and for Hatty to try and sort the next part of her trip out once she leaves us. It was a nice and relaxed afternoon but I not sure what I think of Brisbane yet....I decided to hold judgement until I had spent a whole day here and not just an afternoon looking around the centre.
Once sorted in town we headed back to the hostel via the supermarket to get stuff for tea. Once back we cooked up a chicken stir fry with rice. Very tasty but it took a lot of doing as the rubbish hostel had no sharp knives to chop our vegetable or chicken. Hatty got on the case and after a round of fisticuffs with the reception staff we were equiped with a peeler and a sharp knife!! Well done Hats!! Tea was nice and we got chatting with a German girl (called
Iris) who was also travelling. She seemed nice and had a few stories to tell about her travels which entertained us over dinner!!!
Following tea it was too late to do the cinema as planned and so we headed upstairs to the dorm. Nat and Hat were both really tired and so they pretty much went straight to sleep. I on the other hand was a little more hard core.....I read my book for half and hour and then went to sleep!!! Go Debs!!!
16th January 2008 - SOUTHBANK THE SAVIOUR!!!
I was up fairly early at 8.30am this morning or so I thought!! Nat and Hat had both been up for an hour!! I did a spot of washing (by hand of course......machine washes are a luxury these days), had breakfast and got ready for the day. We even made a pack up to take...every little helps with the budget!! By 9.30am we were all ready to head out. Iris who we met last night wanted to come with us and once again...the more the merrier!!!
We walked down to the river front and caught the 'City Cat' along the river. The Cat only cost $5
for all day use and as well as being able to hop on and off all the day, the ticket could also be used on the trains and buses around the city.....more value than Asda!! It was a really nice ride and we managed to take in some good views of Brisbane. We headed all the way along to where the boat finished at Queensland University and then caught the Cat back and got off at Southbank. Cruising on the Cat was cool and I could have stayed on it all day going back and forth up the river. Some good views but very very hot without much breeze!! Suncream was my best friend at that point!!
Once at Southbank we got off the Cat and headed to 'Streets Beach' which is Brisbanes very own man made beach. So cool having a beach and a lagoon type pool right in the middle of a city. It was packed but really nice and chilled. It was located next to the river so the views were good, the water was nice to cool off and have a swim in and the beach was nice to lay on for a while. If
this was in England there would have been a big fence around and it would cost 20 quid to get in.......in Oz it was free with no fence!! To say it was a friday it was really busy...once again the Aussies get the work life balance spot on!!
We all chilled out there for a bit and ate our home-made sandwiches and fruit. At about 2pm Hatty, Iris and a guy called Ian left whilst Nat and I stayed on the beach for a bit. They had started playing music and then at 4pm a movie came on. Funny to see so many people sat in a lagoon watching a film surrounded by beach in the middle of a city......I would call it surreal!!! The movie was Alvin and the Chipmunks and we were tempted to stay for a while but forced ourselves to go and try and catch the bus to the lookout!!
Before we caught the City Cat we stopped for a cone of frozen strawberry yoghurt - 97% fat free and was mightily tasty!! Maybe this is the way forward to cure my ice cream addiction!!! Once eaten we had another cruise down the river
before getting off to find the bus stop on Adelaide Street. We were told to catch bus 471 from stop 40...sounded easy!!!
Once at stop 40 we waited all of 2 minutes before bus 471 came. The lookout looked like the last stop so we sat patiently until we were the last ones on the bus. Eventually the driver pulled up and shouted that the bus terminates. We walked to the front and asked her which way to the lookout. Apparently there are two 471 buses and we weren't on the right one. To make matters worse there were no more buses that day and no buses to take us back to the city. Thankfully the driver was nice and said she would give us a ride back. Phew!!! One hour out of our day riding a bus and getting on and off in exactly the same place!! We could have stayed in Southbank and watched Alvin!! It was also a shame we wouldn't have time to go to the lookout whilst in Brisbane!!
Once back in town we used the net for a short while, wandered around town and then headed back to the hostel. Once at
the hostel I had tea, sorted my stuff for tomorrow as we had 2 check out very early to get to Australia Zoo, made another pack up for tomorrow and chilled out until about 8.30pm.
We had decided to do the cinema tonight instead as we missed it last night so at 8.30pm I met with Nat, Hat and 2 guys from Surfers Paradise (Rich and Alex) to go and catch the 9pm showing of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Burton'. I was so excited to see it and had been hankering for the cinema since it came out. It didn't quite live up to expectations and I would give it about a 7 out of 10 as parts of it disturbed me a little. Brad was superb though and despite him not looking his best the whole way through the guy should still be cloned!! Overall, I still though 'Australia' was better but it did move me and was worth a viewing!! Gees....I sound like some sort of film critic!!
Following the fim we headed back to the hostel to get some kip.....pretty late and we were up very early for the zoo.....so excited to cuddle a
Koala!!!
Southbank had been the saviour of Brisbane. For a city there really wasn't much to do but the man made beach and lagoon were so novel and so nice that it kind of made up for the lack of sight seeing factors!! I still didn't like it as much as Melbourne or Sydney from a tourists point of view but I reckon that it would be a nice place to live!!
17th January 2008 - GOODBYE BRISSY!!!
My body alarm never fails...because I knew I had to be up and out of bed at 6 I woke at 5.30am. Too early but I was wide awake. I enjoyed my half hour in bed before getting up, showering and havinga quick breakfast. Once sorted and bags packed we checked out. Base hostel just got worse...on check out we learnt that Hatty and I had never even been checked in.....we were down as non-arrivals despite being at the desk for 20 minutes when we arrived!! Useless!!
After finally sorting the check-out we hauled our bags on our backs and did a short walk to the transit centre to catch our bus to the zoo.......so so excited!!!
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