October 16

 Sunday October 15

This is our (sis-in-law Julie and me) first full day in Brisbane after arriving about 1:30 p.m. yesterday from Cairns. It has been raining off-and-on (mostly on) all day, so we decided to take in the Queensland Museum, an indoor activity. While we were in the Central Business District (CBD) of Queensland, we also had lunch at a brew pub called "The Charming Squire." We split a three-course of mac-n-cheese, pulled pork sandwich, and a dessert called "Banoffee Pie" which is banana, coeur a la creme, a cinnamon crumble, and caramel. Delicious.

OK, let's back up

Friday October 13

For our final evening in Cairns, we decided on a "grill out" for dinner, since our motel had a lovely terrace area, complete with patio table/chairs, and electric grills. I walked down to the Woolworth Market and bought a slab of skirt steak, a couple of paddy plant squash, and a couple tomatoes, and a can of spray olive oil. Back at the motel, I preheated the grill and put everything on there, including a couple of slices of bread sprayed with olive oil. We enjoyed our grilled feast (medium rare on the skirt steak) as twilight and then darkness fell on Cairns. Most enjoyable. Julie cleaned the grill and patio table, and we returned the dirty dishes and utensils to our motel room kitchen. For dessert, we walked a few paces down the Esplanade to a gelato place and each got a cup ... me dark chocolate and Julie and a dark chocolate/vanilla combo. Back to our motel room, packed our suitcases, and off to bed.

Saturday October 14

We awoke about 6:30 and finished off most of the breakfast groceries we had purchased, including toast with peanut butter and jelly, banana, coffee (me) and tea (Julie). We checked out, returning our room keys, and then went out front to hail an Uber ride to the Cairns airport. This time on Virgin Air, we checked in our bags (no surcharge), cleared security, and boarded our plane. Two hours later, we were in Brisbane. A very pleasant flight, on time, and no crying babies for a change!

The Sunday forecast in Brisbane called for rain all day on Sunday, so we decided to see the Koala preserve right way. So we ditched our bags in the room (Point Brisbane Hotel (at Kangaroo Point) , and hailed an Uber ride to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for a "power run" through the park, since it closed at 5 p.m. The Uber ride cost us about $30 Australian, and we arrived about 2:30 p.m. Since they stop taking Koala photos at 4 p.m., we paid our $26 admission and made a bee line for the "Koala Corral" (my name, not theirs) where they line up you up, and put a Koala Bear in your arms, and take your photo for $25. They have a stockade of about 12 Koalas they rotate through, so as not to put any undue stress on any one Koala. They have been around humans all their lives, so they are very tame and docile, as opposed to the shy little beasts they are out in the wild that should bite and scratch you if you tried to corral one!

Me and Koala Bear

 

There were many other wonderful animal exhibits in the park, including more Koalas in one place than I have ever seen in my life! Here's one of a mother and her joey:

 

 

 

 

 

Also, the first Tasmanian Devil I have ever seen:

 

 

 

Smaller than I would have thought, about the size of a Chihuahua dog, but extremely vicious, and they make an unholy screeching sound when agitated, aggressive, mating, etc., which is how they got their name. We also learned they are an extremely endangered species that have been ravaged by a form a cancer that they acquire out in the wild that attacks their faces to the point where their mouths can no longer work, and they starve to death. The three females in the pssark are part of a "Noah's Ark" kind of herd placed in sanctuaries around the world for safe keeping until a vaccine can be invented.

 

Also, Kangaroos:

 

 

 

All in all, a wonderful place, and we really didn't have to rush through it all. We got to see everything we wanted, and even had a little snack break at their cafe of muffin and coffee. I could not raise Uber on the phone for the ride back to our hotel. Network problems with Uber or something. So "regular" taxi cabs were lined up at the park's entrance, and we grabbed the first one in the queue. It cost us $50 to get back to our hotetol, so we could see how Uber is indeed cheaper by a considerable amount. But of course, it only works if you can get through to them!

 

So anyway, our place is a beautiful boutique hotel in the "Kangaroo Point" section of the city. (No, there are no kangaroos here!) The only "issue" with the place is that it's not close to the CBD of Brisbane, and you pretty much have to take a taxi/Uber to any place that you would want to see. But the pluses outweigh the minuses, as this is a tony part of the city without the usual bums and beggars hanging about. The building is round shape, so every room is like "pie slice" with a relatively narrow entrance that opens to a large sleeping/sitting area with a sweeping arc of windows overlooking the hotel grounds and cityscape. There is a wonderful restaurant on premises, and we have a pool and various other amenities. And here's the best part: the most reliable and fastest Internet I have experienced thus far! I think this is a "businessman's hotel" and we got it at a great price because most of our stay encompassed Saturday and Sunday.

 

We were tired from our day of walking, so decided on the hotel's restaurant, even though a bit spendy. Julie had sweet potato gnoche, while I ordered a garden salad, and an appetizer portion of seared sea scallops as my main course. For dessert, we each ordered the petit foures sample plate (three candies apiee) and I had a coffee. The bill came to $85 Australian. All delicious.

 

We retired to our room and both got a good night's sleep. Great bedding, and the place even has a "pillow concierge" that you can call and request four different types of pillows depending on your preferences. The "standard" is a down-filled that weighs about five pounds, and it was just fine for Julie and I!

 

Sunday October 15

 

Woke to significant rain and the forecast is calling for an all-day soaker, so we were extremely glad for visiting the koala park the day before. Our hotel stay includes breakfast all three days, so we went down to the lobby restaurant and were treated to a veritable feast. A full continental bar, and then a hot buffet consisting of scrambled eggs, ham, sausages, hash browns, and these little spinach/cheese puffs that were divine. And of course a full range of juices, and all the coffee and tea you wanted. We filled up, with the "plan" being that it would last us until dinner. Of course, that was not to be!

 

We contacted Uber for a ride downtown to the Queensland Museum, one of about 20 museums in Brisbane, but certainly the city's crown jewel. And admission is free! There was one special exhibit about Roman gladiators that cost $18, but we skipped it. There was plenty else to see, spread amongst three floors. One of the temporary exhibits was an amazing collection of space photos captured by various spacecraft and telescopes over the years. Amazing shots of Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and the Sun. Did you know that Jupiter is our solar system's largest planet? You could fit 1,300 earths inside it. There is a "red spot" on the planet that is three times the size of the earth, and scientists have determined that the spot is the location of a horrific "space hurricane" that has been raging on the planet for the past 350 years, with internal wind speeds of up to 270 miles per hour.

 

The other permanent exhibits were an eclectic collection of "stuff" ranging from precision scale model railroad cars to scientific instruments to fossils to stuffed examples of the various wildlife unique to Australia and in particular the region of Queensland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had a good example of the Platypus, which I photographed. They had a live one at Lone Pines, but it was in a very dark enclosure and I couldn't get a photo of it, so I took a photo of a stuffed one at the museum:

 

 

 

 

This is surely one of nature's strangest creatures. It is one of only two species of mammals (the other being the Echinda) to give birth to its young by laying eggs. The male platypus can reach up to 20 inches in length (smaller than I thought), with the females beings slightly smaller. They are said to be the only mammals which are venomous, injected by one of their "toes" on their rear feet. They have a duck-like bill, and a beaver-like tail, and you simply cannot look at them without wondering how in the hell an animal like this came to be evolved, let alone have survived from their estimated inception of 100,000 years ago. It's almost as if nature had a bunch of leftover parts from other creatures and decided to put them all together into this bizarre animal!

 

We stayed at the museum until 1 p.m., then broke our "vow" of nothing before dinner and headed over to the cafe down the street mentioned earlier, walking in a good amount of rain, though not pouring thank goodness. We caught a regular taxi along a taxi stand at the Performing Arts Center (right next to the museum) because we weren't sure where to position ourselves along the busy (and rainy) street for an Uber ride.

 

So all in all, a good day despite the rain. We are now relaxing in our room and will probably just have a couple of tapas from the hotel restaurant later this evening.

 

That's all for now.

 

Bruce