Middle-aged flash packers

The time had come to sort out our replacement luggage following Steve’s case disaster on arrival in Oz.
We decided to use the opportunity to explore Brisbane and booked ourselves an overnight stay in the South Bank area. This did not start well as several hours after booking an apartment, I realised I’d given the wrong dates and it was a non refundable reservation. Luckily they took pity on me and All got sorted out free of charge.
The designated luggage shop was in a suburb of Brisbane and easy to find. We had prepared ourselves for job’s worth hassle (sorry we need to make a detailed assessment, come back in 3 days) but the shop manager took one look at the case and told us to just choose another one.
It’s very annoying that particular bag got mangled as its not your run of the mill luggage and there was nothing like it in the shop. We came away with a bright blue standard case – very light, but doesn’t appear to be especially robust. We shall see.
We arrived at our apartment, parked (close call with the height of Ian’s car) and grabbed a very nice lunch in the restaurant round the corner. The area seems to be Vietnamese with lots of noodle bars etc.
We decided to walk the 12k loop around the Brisbane River. It’s part Boardwalk, part path around central Brisbane, passing Kangaroo Point and crossing Story Bridge.
What a delight. So pretty and well maintained. The university is right beside the river and close by is a “beach” , a swimming area built on the riverbank, opposite the business area. What a great idea.
We walked past gardens, leafy play areas, lizards sunning themselves and white Ibis.
After crossing the bridge, we wandered along side bars and restaurants, full of happy Australian city workers, clearly enjoying “knock off early” Friday.
Stupidly we didn’t stop for refreshments so we were baking by the time we got back. Luckily our apartment complex had a pool so we were able to cool down.
In the evening we decided to go to the Pig and Whistle down the road for a bite to eat but abandoned it as it was rammed. We ended up at “The Burrow”, a cute little place serving pizzas etc. They do a mean homemade habanero sauce.
Saturday morning was a morning of culture. We walked down to the cultural centre and started off in the museum. My favourite bit was the ground floor which was devoted to the geography and fauna of Australia. Fascinating. Some of the dinosaur remains found in Australia are unbelievable. A 6 metre tall kangaroo!
Next we went to the art gallery. The old European style Australian art was run of the mill but some of the aboriginal art was stunning. I particularly liked “morumbeeja” by Lin Onus.
We had coffee in the gallery garden which, as we’ve come to expect, was beautiful and well groomed.
On the way home we visited walk about creek to see a duck billed platypus.I don’t like seeing animals in captivity so it didn’t float my boat but Steve hadn’t seen one before.
Next it was the botanical gardens at Mount Coot-Tha. Huge and nicely laid out. The lookout had a great view over Brisbane.
Finally we were hoping to drive the coastal route back to Noosa but the traffic was too heavy so we took the short route.
All in all, a great couple of days. I was very impressed with Brizzy; clean, pretty and buzzing. I noticed there were few chain restaurants and the atmosphere was laid back. It’s a bit old fashioned but in a good way. No-one is rushing you to eat up so they can get the next lot of punters in, people in charge are allowed to use their initiative and make decisions. It’s not all about making money and the big sell.
I like it.