Stay Longer

Location: Brisbane, Australia

Introduction:

Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, has recently become world famous as the home of Bluey. It is one of the largest cities in the world by land area (over 6,000 square miles). It’s just north of the Gold Coast, think Miami Beach, and further south is the majestic Byron Bay. It’s also home to a childhood friend of Elizabeth’s whom we’ve visited here before. The focus of our visit was to spend some quality time together and catch up. The weather was pleasant the first week of June with the high temps reaching into the low 70’s. We spent four nights giving us three full days. It wasn’t nearly enough. There’s so much to see and do in Brisbane and the surrounding areas that we wished we’d stayed longer.

Sights Visited:

The Karawatha Forest Discovery Center was a great place to meet up and spend a morning. It brought back fond memories of the Trailside Nature and Science Center back when we lived in NJ. We started out in the discovery center and moved onto the hiking trails.

The Queensland Museum is free of admission. It was only a few blocks away, enabling us to pop in a couple of times for short visits. It had a lot to offer, including a touring Jurassic World Lego exhibit, that did carry an admission charge. We easily could have spent more time here if our schedule had permitted it.

The QAGOMA Modern Art Museum includes a children’s art center with some fun hands-on activities. Elizabeth and Adelaide had fun “swapping mouths” in the Natalya Hughes children’s area.

We spent an afternoon at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. While they have lots of cute koala bears, there’s so much more to see. They showcased a wide variety of indigenous Australian birds and animals along with some farm animals.

Play:

The Riverside Green Playground sits right alongside the Brisbane River, which winds through the city center. It was a popular destination that was within walking distance of where we were staying. Adelaide had so much fun there that we practically had to drag her away the first time and then she insisted upon a repeat visit the next day.

Guyatt Park Junior Playground and St Lucia Warrior Park are co-located in a nice suburban area of the city. Our daughter started out on the playground until she spotted the outdoor ninja warrior course where she had fun testing her Parkour skills.

Accommodations:

We used Airbnb to book a two-bedroom, two full-bath apartment in a high rise at 1 Cordelia Street in the city’s West End district. It was clean and comfortable with a washer and drier and an adequately stocked kitchen. The WiFi was excellent and the HVAC worked well. The amenities included a fitness center, heated pool, sauna and more. The location worked well as we could walk to parks, restaurants, cafes and museums.

Food & Drink:

The tap water was fine for drinking. Our apartment lacked a coffee-maker. Fortunately, there was a coffee kiosk directly across the street. In fact, there were countless coffee shops and cafes to choose from. They also served up lots of indulgent breakfast pastries, including some fabulous pastries at Lune Croissanterie. There’s a thriving diverse food scene here driven by the fact that over a third of Brisbane’s population is foreign-born. We found the ramen at Genkotsu Ramen Toowong outstanding and had an indulgent dinner out at SK Steak and Oyster where we had our first taste of bugs (aka Australian lobster)

Transportation System:

We rented a Mitsubishi Outlander to get around. It served us well. Our accommodations included an underground parking space. However, it was 7 floors below ground making it a bit of a chore each time we entered and exited.

Shout-Out:

Thanks to our good friends Ann & Adam for their hospitality and curation of places to dine and visit.

For Your Amusement:

It’s fun discovering Australian slang words. Scat was a new one for us.