Being Tourists

Yesterday was spent trying to sort out buying the van 😡

Today, we are going off to be tourists in Brisbane. It didn’t start well. Renate has lent us a couple of “GO” cards, similar to the London XXXX cards. They work on the buses, trams and water taxis. Last week we checked the balance and topped them up. Today one of them didn’t work! The buss driver told us, “It’s been cancelled” that’s a great start. Fortunately he allowed one of us to travel for free so that we could get to the city to sort it out.

A lovely warm day, blue skies and pleasant breeze made wandering around the city quite a delight. Walking through a couple of shopping malls between the bus stop and the river, well it’s not much different from any other city, expensive.

We wandered across the bridge to the south side where the arts centres and museums are. We were expecting it to be a bit like London’s south bank, but there were very few cafes or bars. There was the Brisbane Wheel, not as big as the London Eye, but you get to go around 4 times!

There was a lovely swimming area with man made beach not far from the river. After walking along the south bank we walked back over a bridge to the north side and into the botanical gardens. Approximately two weeks ago we were in the gardens outside the Petronas towers in KL, it was very wet and the gardens were pretty tired. This was so different. The gardens were immaculately manicured and the weather delightful.

As well as the plants there was the wildlife, some familiar and some not. Loved the huge eel.

Sorted the GO card - had to buy a new one! Back on the bus and home to continue to try and buy the van. I’m sure it will all work out in the end.Read more