Brisbane

Deep into winter, I was eagerly awaiting our trip to Brisbane with the hope that I would see some sunshine and feel some warmth. I was not disappointed. We stayed in a colleague’s extra apartment in the West End. One of the Queensland universities hosted us to entice DH2 to move there so while he was off being feted, I explored as usual.

Day 1

After walking around the university campus, I went to Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha. I was surprised by the bold water dragons and fearless curlews. In the evening, we went to the Mt Coot-tha Summit restaurant. The views were stunning.

Day 2

I wanted to go to Australia Zoo so I left the apartment at 5:20am to take 3 busses and 1 train to the reach the zoo by 9am. OK, sometimes public transportation is a bit painful.

I feel an affinity with the Irwin family. Steve was a year older than me, Terry is a year younger. They got married the same year as I did and Bindi is the same as as my son. I started following Robert on Instagram around 2022 and had considered visiting the zoo in 2023 when we visited Queensland. I was impressed that every sign had some message of conservation and some connection with the family. The zoo seems to be very thoughtful in its choice of animals, care, and habitats.

There were two paddocks filled with kangaroo and wallaby and I was thrilled to be able to pet a kangaroo. When I started petting one, he rolled over on his back so I could scratch his tummy! The fur was much softer than expected and it was the perfect experience. Supervised by staff, I got to pet a koala that was sitting in its tree! The koala fur had an undercoat which I wasn’t expecting and he too was very soft.

Day 3

Our hosts took us to North Stradbroke Island via ferry. They had a 4wd vehicle so we drove on the sand for over an hour before the tide rolled in. We hiked 3k to Blue Lake and DH2 tried a foil board on Brown Lake. The lake’s unique brown color comes from tannins in surrounding melaleuca and tea-tree bushland. Up on a cliff, we watched grey humpback whales in the ocean below. A mama was showing her bub how to do fin slaps and tail flips. A school of maybe twenty eagle rays were spotted in the water too. Glorious day

Day 4

We did the city, with the goal of visiting our favorite Turkish restaurant that we fell in love with in 2023. We walked through the city botanic garden, though the city to the Roma Street Parklands. Wow, was that an amazing public space! It’s hard to believe such a lovely park is free. There was a waterfall, a lake with fountains, and elevated walkways through the trees. We love Sunday mornings in any city but this was special. Our Turkish lunch did not disappoint.

Unfortunately our flight back to Melbourne was delayed 3 hours so we didn’t get to the apartment until 12:30am. Ugh. But it was a great trip.