Day 15 - Australia Day in Brisbane

Trip Start Jan 10, 2011

221

Trip End Jan 08, 2012

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Where I stayed

Explorer Hotel

Flag of Australia Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Wednesday, January 26, 2011

We woke up to a beautiful cloudless sunny day and after a quick breakfast, hooked up with Andrew and Annie, our Brisbane hosts. It was nice to see an old friend and to hang out with some locals on a holiday. We got to see their house, which had been affected by the floods. Thank goodness they had full warning and were able to remove their belongings before the waters rose. Because they were on a hill, the backyard and their shed were covered, but their house got about 1 metre of water in the back and half a metre in the front. Through the help of gracious volunteers, they were able to clean the remnants from the floodwaters and stay with friends.

While driving out of the city we were amazed with the recount of where the flood waters had been including first hand pictures. We headed south west of Brisbane to the rural community of Tamborine. We gained considerable elevation (for Australia) and enjoyed a number of lookouts onto the valley and then on the other side of the plateau a view out to the Gold Coast (where we had been yesterday)

Happy Australia Day

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Tamborine was lively this Australia Day, many flags about and lots of activity (music, shops, incense and fudge) which we perused while enjoying a nice walk around the village. It was pleasant though the contrast between their hippy origins and commercial adaption provided a humorous undertone.

We returned to city and stopped for a snack of coconut Gelato for Mia while Eli tasted skewers of Crocodile (rubber chicken) and Kangaroo (venison). As the sun set we made our way to a final lookout over the city of Brisbane. Always nice to have perspective on the city and surroundings as we enjoyed a beer watching the sun slide deceptively behind the silhouettes of the 'mountain' range that divides Queensland and New South Wales.

We ended the night with a nice dinner at a Greek restaurant. In Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, they have a BYO (Bring your own) booze policy and Andrew nipped around the corner for a bottle of wine. We said goodbye to Andrew & Annie hoping to see them soon. They dropped us off in South Brisbane and we savoured our last day in the land of OZ while meandering through the rambunctious Australia Day streets.

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