Back to Brisbane
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2007
1
53
59
Trip End
May 28, 2008
Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
One of the good things about Australia is the free BBQs in public places, and Brisbane is no exception. Iain had brought a huge range of meat including home made burgers, kangaroo, prawns, sausages, steaks and lamb chops. Infact there was far too much to eat, and the leftovers fed 4 of us for dinner the next night! South Bank also has a large lagoon for swimming in, so after dinner and a few drinks Ian, his mum and I all went swimming. It was a great evening and unsurprisingly I had a bit of a hangover in the morning.
On Saturday Sally, Iain, his mum and I headed up to the Eumundi Markets, which are famous throughout Australia for their arts and crafts. There was some interesting stuff but I avoided buying any souvenirs due to having to carry stuff around. I did eat some great salt and pepper calamari though.
We stayed overnight in a hostel in Maroochydore and then the next morning we headed to Australia Zoo, made famous by the late Steve Irwin. I was a bit worried when we realised we had arrived on (Australian) Mother's Day, but it turned out to be fairly quiet and we got free muffins and chocolates. The animal enclosures are all really nice, although at first I was disappointed with the lack of information on the animals. However, at this zoo you really have to visit certain animals during feeding time. This is when the keepers are on hand to talk about the animals and to answer any questions. All of the staff were friendly and really knowledgeable, which made the zoo so special. The show in the "Crocoseum" included snakes, well trained birds, and of course the famous crocodiles. Elsewhere we hand fed an elephant and stroked an alligator, kangaroos and koalas. I also saw tasmanian devils, wombats, tigers, a komodo dragon and many snakes (including the Fierce Snake, the world's most venomous snake). In fact I never saw a single wild snake whilst in Australia.... although I did see redback and trapdoor spiders!
On the way back home we called in at the Breakfast Creek Hotel which has a reputation for fantastic steak. I chose a dry aged steak which was very good, but nowhere near as good as the steak in Argentina! (I don't think I will find a better steak outside of Argentina). The bar also stocks XXXX lager in wooden barrels so I had to try it too. It was warmer, flatter and tasted slightly different to normal, but I wasn't particularly impressed.
It was great to stay with Iain and Sally. There was plenty of nice food and drink, not to mention time to relax and two great weekends away. It was nice to have a break from making new hostel friends everyday... after a while its gets a bit boring asking people their name, where they come from and where they have been. But I have to head home to England to start work, so it was time to leave Australia. I spent my last two days in Brisbane getting ready for my trip to Japan. I occasionally got distracted by the Wii, but I also found time to bake bread and cook dinner for everyone.
