Brisbane

Day 1

Well if you read the previous Surfer's Paradise post, you would have known that this was a day of hell, as I was miserably out of it from the night before. The 9 oclock bus came all too early.  I wanted to take the early bus to avoid wasting a day in Brisbane, well it would not have mattered what bus I took, I felt like hell all day long. I trekked sick with my heavy bags to my hostel once I arrived to my hostel, City Backpackers

Hostel Deck

View of city from hostel

Anyhow, I got into Brizzy around 11 oclock.  When I got to the hostel I immediately made my bed and laid down.  I was able to sleep a bit of the sickness off for an hr or two and felt a bit better when I got up.  Not wanting to completely waste the day, I walked into the city center.

I liked what I saw, no matter how sick I was feeling. 2 days here I could tell would be enough but i got a good feeling while walking thru the city center. I think it is comparable to Sydney, just on a much smaller scale.  I headed down to the main area of the city center, Queen St Mall.  One street dedicated solely to stores and eateries.  Tourists of all sorts and business men and women stopping in for bites to eat. It was definitely the happening place.

Town Hall

From the CBD, I walked to the city's botanical gardens.  Man do I love Australia's citys botanical gardens. Like Sydney's, Brisbane's botanical gardens were large, lush, and tropical.  It was a perfect place for me to lay down, turn on some tunes, and try to relax away the sickness.

After relaxing in the gardens I walked back to the hostel where I then met up with 2 German girls, Miriam and Greta, that I knew from Sydney through my work/buddy Timo.  They had recently come to Brisbane to find work and just got a job selling sunnies(sunglasses).

I met up with them and some german guys that they recently met and we decided to go to the store and make a big dinner for all of us.  Well me and the 6 germans had a feast..the best hostel cooked meal to date. We made a great salad (corn, tomato, cucumber, carrots, italian dressing) with garlic bread, and chicken breasts, wings, and drumsticks.  I was responsible for cooking all the 7 pieces of chicken, I did a great job, it came out great, even tho there were some previously applied marinade and herbs on the chicken before I cooked it, I attribute it to chef  Joe's culinary skills.

Feeling a bit better after the feast, the German guys wanted to go down to the bar here at the hostel and have a few beers since they were leaving town tomorrow. I had to pass on the alcohol but told them I would still go. The bar at the hostel had a foosball table, definitely played some good games but my skills were not up to par, I will blame it on me feeling out of it.

Anyhow around 11 I called it a night and was looking forward to hitting the bed

Day 2

I woke up feeling normal again and finally rid the sickness away.  It was now time to properly tour the city.  I started first at Southbank parklands.  A nice walk along the river and some nice scenery, including a man-made beach for families and kids to enjoy.

These water dragons frequent the walking paths

After cruisin along the Southbank, I made my way back to the Botanical Gardens where I explored more of them, since the day before I was merely looking for a place to sleep and relax.

After the gardens I walked into the central area of the city and took in the city sights again.

After walkin around the city center I made my way to yet another parkland that the city offers, The Roma Street Parklands.  These were great, and for the price of free it was unbeatable. It featured all different plant species, from a desert area to a tropical rainforest.

While walking through the rainforest sector I encountered some huge spiders.  Crikey these things were huge. I honestly was a bit scared taking pictures and walking beneath these things.  I feared one would accidentally fall and land on me.

Crikey !

Gettin tropical

After a full days walk on Joe's Brisbane walking tour I was pretty beat.  I saw all that I wanted to see and saw pretty much what the city had to offer.

Photography skills at work

I think 2 days here was a good amount of time as there really isnt that much to see. Even thought day 1 was a recovery day and did not do much, but worked out well.

Went back to the hostel after my walk and had dinner with the German girls again. Said farewell and hit the bed

Tomorrow Noosa and Sunday the Australia Zoo