Bloody Brilliant Brissy
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2011
1
50
289
Trip End
Sep 06, 2012
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Sunday, November 20, 2011
I was pleasantly surprised as I had a 4 bed dorm with en-suite and lockers and I was the only one in there that night. Happy days. The hostel is actually pretty cool except it doesn't really have a communal area so unless you are sat in the bar, there isn't really anywhere else to sit and meet people.
That night I had a little wander around and saw all the bars and clubs and it looks great. I am even right next to Chinatown. Hmm, maybe some good food for once may be in order. I saw a poster up on the wall for a DJ called Jaguar Skills playing that night. I really wanted to go but he wasn't going to be on until about 3 am and there's no way I could stay up that late and I also had to pay $20 to get in which I didn't have. Ah well, I'll feel better for it in the morning anyway.
Saturday - Today I was going to be meeting up with Emma and Chris. Thanks Dad for putting me in touch with Alan. His daughter is really cool!
I had a wander around the city first thing to get my bearings. I took a walk along one of the many pathways along the river, which is great. Walked all the way along to the South Bank where they have the fake beach and swimming pool. There is also a big wheel, which is a lot smalled than the London Eye but still looks pretty cool. I then crossed back over the river and walked past the Botanical Gardens which was closed as they were holding a music festival that day and guess what, Portishead where headlining. I love this place. The music scene is massive and even just walking around there were loads of little things going on like a Spanish festival by the beach amongst other things. I would have loved to have gone to the festival, however I had to meet Emma and Chris for lunch.
I walked to the restaurant that Emma had booked, which was called Tukka (www.tukkarestaurant.com.au) It serves authentic Australian cuisine and we had a share plate to start which consisted of Crocodile, Emu, Kangaroo, loads of traditional berries and herbs etc which the aboriginal people eat. I must say that the food was amazing. I really thought I might not like it as I thought the flavours would be too strong, but they were really subtle. It was awesome. Emma and Chris are wicked people. We hit it off straight away and ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the pub until we thought it was time to go home. I ended up sleeping in their spare room and I forgot what a comfortable bed feels like.
Sunday - Today, Alan (Emma's Dad) had arranged for his business partner's brother, Ian, (I know, really confusing) to take us out on his boat. We arrived at his house, just south of Brisbane, around 8.30 am and we drove the boat down to the marina where we hopped on it and went over to Moreton Island. What a day. The journey over was very bumpy which I loved. He provided us with snorkelling gear as the island has 5-6 ship wrecks to snorkel around. They were put here years ago and now it attracts loads of varieties of fish etc. It was amazing. His friend Ross also came along with his partner and they provided us with a gorgeous buffet lunch. The sun was shining, the beers were flowing, what a great way to spend a day. I can't believe how lucky I am.
We also went across to shore, and I spent my time there doing what......yes you guessed right, sunbathing!
We finally headed back at around 4 pm as it takes around an hour to get back. Oh my god, the journey over was pretty bumpy, on the way back it was even worse. I loved it as it felt as though you were on a roller coaster ride, but you did have to hang on tight and as I was sat at the front, I got soaked quite a few times.
My view on Brisbane is that it is a great place to live and work and I could see myself living here. There is so much to see and do and you have things like Moreton Island just an hour or so away.
Comments
Hi Hun,
I do love the weekly updates and coming in on a cold and wet Monday morning and hearing about sunbathing and seeing the piccies is making me a little jealous. It is defo starting to get horrid here, the good thing is , i'm a celebrity is back on so i get to see i bit of the Ozzy sunshine on the box of an evening.
I saw Graham Underhill and Pete Stables this morning as me and Jim had a meeting in Aspira so it was nice to catch up with them. in fact i sat by Graham in the meeting, it was like old times.
I am up in Edinburgh later this week, so i will need to think about even more layers as i bet its even more horrid up there at the mo weather wiese, boo!! I can't believe how close we are to Christmas now, scary in fact only 5 weeks to go, i am still hoping we can get away to Egypt for a week in January like we did last year, i am getting cold and tired here so a break would be welcome!!
You carry on having too much fun and sending the weekly updates. Love ya. XX