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Katie's Travels
Arrived in Brisbane and had to catch a train from the transit centre in town out to Fortitude "The Valley" Valley, 2 stops away, as this is where my accommodation would be for the next week.
I was staying at the Prince Consort Backpacker Hostel, situated above the Elephant & Wheelbarrow british pub - serving Tennents would you believe, amongst many other british favourites. Checked in and was upgraded to a 'Blush' all girls room at no extra cost. Unfortunately for me, this place had no lift, so I had to haul my beast of a bag up 3 flights of stairs to get to my room. Upon entering, I met Lizzy - an English girl - and we got chatting about what each of us was planning whilst in Brisbane. She was here working, but as I only had a week, she told me some of the best things to see and do.
First things first, I took a walk to Woolworths to pick up some groceries for the week. Was amazed how friendly the check-out boy was, although when I told him my plan for the day was to just walk about and try to "get my bearings" he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, so he was clearly rather 'special'.
Anyway back at the hostel, I went on the internet for a while, watched a bit of tv and then had an early night. Next day was spent updating my website (which always takes ages!) and generally just hanging around the hostel taking it easy. A new girl checked in - Lucie - from Milton Keynes and she was really nice.
Next day, I just went for a leisurely stroll around the city. What a lovely place this is! So relaxed - much more so than Sydney if that's possible. I walked down around the river, past lots of lovely little restaurants and eateries and through the city botanic gardens, where all the workers were taking their lunch break and just relaxing out on the lawns under the big shady trees. I then crossed the bridge over to the South Bank and walked up to see panoramic views of the city from across the river. Stopped off at the fake "Streets" (aka Walls the ice-cream people) Beach. A man-made lagoon complete with sandy beach and lifeguards, and dipped my toes in the water. Then walked back to the Valley via the city centre and the famous Myer Centre - supposedly the best shopping mall in Australia and it was indeed a great place. Also had a quick browse in the window of Tiffany & Co (as far as I know the only one in Oz).
Next day, Lucie and I packed a lunch and walked into the city to catch a bus up to the Mt. Cootha lookout. From up here you get amazing views of Brisbane and the surrounding areas, all the way out to the coast and Moreton Island and right back to the mountains and the hinterland behind. Quite spectacular! We then attempted a walk but went wrong somewhere and after walking for around 20 minutes, realized we'd gone wrong somewhere and gave up on that idea. Instead, we headed back down the hill to the Mt. Cootha Botanic Gardens and sat by a lovely big pond to eat our lunch. From here, we could watch all these lovely birds and ducks having a lovely time on the water as well as share our disgust at some bratty child as she took great delight in terrorising this poor water dragon as it tried to sleep in the sun. We were praying that the thing would just turn around and bite her, but sadly it didn't. Soon we had to head back to catch our bus back to the city, where our plan had been to jump on the city cat ferry for a short cruise, but as darkness was already setting in when we arrived, we decided to be naughty and headed for coffee & cake instead, yum! That night I got a load of laundry done, and rather than pay for the dryers, I erected a makeshift washing line in the room out of string. Proved to be quite popular with everyone else using it from that moment on. Decided to leave it up for future roomies, nice person that I am.
Next day, I was up with the lark and off on a day trip to Lamington National Park and Mt. Tamborine. Back down towards the Gold Coast, it was a good hour's drive but once we got up there we had spectacular views of Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast. We actually visited 5 or 6 National Parks during the day and had morning tea and chocolate cake at Binna Burra and then a delicious lunch atop Mt. Tamborine before a few different walks, totalling 9km, through the rainforest, where we spotted parrots, bush wallabies, a kookaburra (my first one!) and some trapdoor spider nests - very cool. We also came across this 2000 year old tree that was so huge that our guide - Hayden - said his record of fitting people inside the trunk was 22!!!! Only one of our small group went in - Claire from St Andrews and she had quite a struggle trying to get out again! In the afternoon, we stopped off at a winery and sampled a few fine wines!
On the way home that night, we saw the most amazing sunset - pinks and reds and oranges. Had an early night that night, as was exhausted - but not before watching the penultimate Lost of course!
On the Friday, Lucie and I just went into town and shopped - or virtual shopped in my case - and then went for more coffee & cake (that's getting to be somewhat of a habit with me!). On the Saturday I had wanted to visit the XXXX Brewery as I'd heard they offer a very good tour, but sadly they don't offer the tours on Saturdays :( So instead I just visited City Hall and climbed the clock tower, just in time to hear the 1 o'clock chimes (very loud!). Then I wandered around and took lots of photos of various points of interest. Said goodbye to Lucie today, as she was heading north to spend a couple of days with friends. We had agreed to meet again in Noosa though and spend a further few days together.
On the Sunday I checked out and lugged my huge bag back to the station to catch the train to the transit centre. Just as I was struggling up the street, a (young and good looking chap) leapt of the bench he was sharing with his mate and grabbed my bag of me. "I'll take that for you" he said and then proceeded to walk with me all the way to the station, carrying my bag for me! As I bought my ticket, he said "I've been drinking can you tell?!" He was laughing. I said I couldn't tell and then said goodbye and thank you. As I walked through the gate and handed my ticket to the attendant, he started saying "I love you, I'll miss you"! I was so mortified. The attendant must have thought we were a couple because he said to him "You can go down to the platform with her mate" and this guy just replied with "I can't mate - it's too hard to say goodbye". ARGH!! I must have gone sooo red! Then as I walked away down the ramp, he started shouting at the top of his voice "I LOVE YOU!!!!" Everyone was staring - I felt like dying! Hahahaha.
So that was Brisbane - had a great week, but was now onto the next place - Noosa. Where I felt lucky to be spending another few days with Lucie.
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