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Published: April 22nd 2010
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Photo 6
The graceful Story Bridge My trip to Brisbane started with an interesting encounter in a McDonald's (I know I know, but they have free wi-fi!). There was a used newspaper on the table next to me. A man came up, read the cover, and banged his fists on it, then went away and returned with a pen, drawing two big crosses through the front cover. I moved over to see what the cover story was... a photo of two Sri Lankan refugees, who'd been caught on one of the many boats trying to enter Australia from the north. Immigration is a sensitive issue in Australia, and provokes a lot of feeling in some people.
I was only planning a brief visit to Brissy, a city known for it's year-round good climate, lifestyle and gambling. But my short stay was going to be full of reunions, the first of which happened on the first evening, when I met up with Drew, a Brisbanian from a circle of friends in London, for drinks. Seeing familiar faces in foreign places is still good fun, and it was nice to catch up. The next day I headed out from the hostel for a walk into Brisbane city. It's
Photo 9
Big city Birisbane a more compact city centre than Melbourne or Sydney, with some nice buildings and a lot of public art. After a bit of shopping to get an underwater housing for my digital camera, I headed over to Fortitude Valley for my second reunion, with a friend I'd worked with in London. Another Brisbanian, we chatted over lunch and I got a few more tips on what to see and do in Bris Vegas. One of the tips was a walk along the floating walkway, underneath Story Bridge, so that's how I spent the afternoon. Story Bridge was designed by JC Bradfield, the same architect as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it's the second of three bridges in the world with a licensed bridge climb (Auckland is the third). It's less showy than Sydney's, and as it was built by an Australian company rather than a British one, it's also more genuinely Australian!
After more walking round, I headed out for drinks and dinner with two couples I'd met in Africa - Rich and Jean, and Paul and Emilie. It was strange to see them all after what seems like such a long time... it was in Cape Town at
Photo 3
Hyena reunion #2! the end of August, and the intervening period for me has been filled with an amazing amount of experiences whereas for Rich and Jean it's been back to work and no travel! A few drinks and some tasty noodles later, we said our farewells and hoped to meet up again in London.
With the last reunion through, I left Brisbane the next morning and headed north along the Sunshine Coast. I drove first to the Glass House Mountains, a series of volcanic plugs placed randomnly in the landscape and with some fantastic names like Tibrogargan and Beerwah. A lookout affords a panoramic view, and the Queensland heat put me off attempting to climb any of them! I drove instead to Caloundra, a small town on the coast with a series of large, sparsely populated beaches. I chose Dicky Beach, named for the wreck of the Dicky (the only beach in the world named for a wreck, apparently) and spent a few hours having lunch and swimming in the surf. After that it was a short drive north to Noosa Heads, my next stop. I'd been recommended to visit Noosa by Brisbanian friends back home, to I stayed there for
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The Glass House Mountains a few nights relaxing around the hostel (a lovely heritage home set in leafy grounds) and on the beach. Unlike most of the other beaches I'd been to, Noosa is clearly targeted at the higher end of the market, so the main street is lined with designer boutiques and expensive home furnishing shops. Plus some great restaurants, which is torture when all you can afford is sausage pasta to cook back in the hostel! The weather also turned, so at times I was on the beach in bright sunshine with rain lashing down... time to move on!
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Kylie O'Driscoll
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woo hoo
Yeah - Glad you enjoyed Dicky Beach - one of my childhood favourites.. Looks like you had an awesome visit.. shame you weren't coming back to Brissie... See ya in London soon for a hello. Kyles