Brisbane – 5th Jan

Today was a day to look round Brisbane. To build up our energy for a day of sight-seeing we went to the Java Cafe for a bowl of yoghurt and granola and of course a flat white and a latte.

For the first part of our sightseeing day we walked down The Mall which was the main shopping street in Brisbane to find the Tourist Information. This didn't turn out to be that helpful so we moved on.

Our route then took us to King George Square which had an interesting statue of some kangaroos ad other bits. We then walked up Wickham Park to see a windmill. It was a really muggy day and we both found walking around quite hard going, particularly uphill. The windmill was Brisbane's oldest building and had been built by convicts in 1829 to grind corn for the early settlement.

Oldest building in Brisbane

Next we headed to the Central Business District and had a Subway lunch before heading over Victoria Bridge to the Southbank.

View of the CBD

We decided to visit the Queensland Museum which had a vast array of interesting artifacts including examples of the animals of Australia (I couldn't resist the picture with the stuffed koala for a donation), a floor on Aborigine traditions and a floor on vehicles including old cars and a tiny boat which an Italian called Serge Testa sailed around the world in covering 50,000 miles. Amazing to think he lived in a boat for all that distance which was just longer than the span off Andy's arms. It was called Acrohc Australis and Acrohc translated in Italian means 'the thing'

Does it look real?

Could you sail around the world in this?

We then took a walk along the rather impressive South Bank Parklands where there was an artifical beach and saltwater pool. There were tons of people out enjoying the water and you could forget you were in the middle of the city were it not for the high rise blocks on the other bank. I'd wished I had my cozzie with me.

Wouldn't believe we're in the centre of a city





After this we turned back and headed further up the river via the boardwalk to the Kurlipa Bridge. We crossed back over to the north side and headed back to the Youth Hostel.

Over the boardwalk

It was happy hour between 5 and 6pm so we headed down for a beer and, as it was Pizza Night, pizza and spent some time booking the flights and accommodation for a later trip to Ayres Rock. It absolutely poured down that night and so we decided to just stay in the hostel rather than head out anywhere else.

The bar in the YHA... Andy is not asleep but reading.