Australia
Spring Hill

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    • Day 7

      Beautiful Brisbane

      January 27, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

      Our train arrived at Brisbane’s Roma Street Station at 0950 - only 30 minutes late, which wasn’t too bad after such a long journey. We walked up through a beautiful though very steep park to our hotel - The Pacific. Hoping just to leave our luggage, we were pleasantly surprised to be allowed access to our room, even although it was only 10am. After showering and changing, we set off to explore Brisbane. Today (Monday) was a public holiday in respect of yesterday’s Australia Day. We took a pleasant (but hot) 5 minute walk down to the city centre, and visited the small city museum. We noted that the City of Brisbane was named after Sir Thomas Brisbane who was born in Largs, Ayrshire in 1773. (I remember now that we stayed at the Brisbane Hotel in Largs not so long ago). We then joined the excellent free tour of Brisbane City Hall, the main auditorium of which houses the magnificent Father Henry Willis organ which has more than 4300 pipes. To round off, we took the lift for the Clock Tower Tour, and enjoyed panoramic views of the city.

      Feeling the need to cool off, we then took advantage of the free City Hopper Ferry along the Brisbane River (so far today’s activities have cost us zero!). Seeing this beautiful city from the river was a great way to get your bearings. Visited the South Bank - an amazing complex of cultural buildings - theatres, galleries, museums, as well as beautiful riverside landscaped gardens and an extensive city beach with man-made lagoon. The place was thronged with families swimming, having picnics and generally enjoying themselves. A high quality of life does seem very important to Australians, and Brisbane seems to be a very family-friendly city. I remember our family almost emigrated here in the 1960s under the £10 scheme, and I wonder what life would have been like had we done so.

      We enjoyed a tasty dinner and cold cider at the Plough Inn on the South Bank, busy with locals celebrating Australia Day weekend. My half portion of barbecue ribs could easily have fed half a dozen and even Campbell couldn’t help me finish them off. Back to the hotel for an early night after a lovely day in this most attractive city.
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    • Day 37

      Made it to Down Under 🙌🏽

      January 23 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

      After around 25h of travelling I finally arrived in Brisbane! 🥳
      Everything went quiet well, even the visa on arrival which I had to get for my overlay in Indonesia went smooth and I was perfectly in time for my flights to and within Australia.
      At check-in (yeah, had to check out & back in in Bali 🙄) I was told that I would have to do the same in Melbourne, because my connecting flight was domestic and thus I had to enter customs at the first stop in Aussie. Looks like they recently changed that, as not even locals knew they had to do it. 😬 that made my schedule pretty tight, but I can be fast if I want to, so no need to worry I thought 😉
      Also, I was seated next to 2 really nice girls, plane started taxiing in time, so all seemed well. Until...we stopped and the captain said that we're back at the boarding gate as one passenger needs to be removed from the plane 🤣
      All in all it took 1 hour until the passenger had left, his bags were taken off the plane, every bag 5 rows before & behind his seat has been identified and we got a new starting permit 😬🙈 at that point I knew there's no way I'm gonna make it to my connecting flight - just like around 30% of that plane haha, so at least I wasn't the only one 🙆🏼‍♀️
      Finally made it to Brisbane almost 4 hours later than planned. 🙈

      It feels kind of weird to be back in a western culture...and to the prices here - a coffee is now around 5$ instead of 1,5$ 😬💸 butbat least there's nice bathrooms everywhere again 🚽😆

      I spent the afternoon walking around a bit, exploring the area around the hostel and ended up at a really nice park nearby 🦎🌴🌳🌺
      In the evening there was a nice get together ans a common dinner at the hostel, where I met super nice people and got inspirations and suggestions for the trip 🥰

      Soundtrack of the day:
      Down under - Sander W., Sönnefelt. Nick Cunningham
      https://open.spotify.com/track/6ZOuNLAbh3fKSIxr…
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    • Day 8

      Beautiful Brisbane - Day 2

      January 28, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

      Before our tasty breakfast we did a big washing in the hotel laundry - how can we have got through so many clothes in a few days? We were then joined by my former social work colleague, Kylie, who had offered to meet up with us and show us around. It was great to see her again, and since I worked with her In Glasgow, she has returned to live on the Sunshine Coast with her husband Tam from Govan and their three children. Kylie took us on a trip to Mount Coot-tha, a favourite scenic point, which had fabulous views over the city of Brisbane. We then visited the beautiful Botanic Gardens, enjoying the shade offered by the huge variety of trees in view of the heat. On return to the city, we enjoyed a late tasty Greek lunch, before bidding farewell to Kylie after a most enjoyable day.

      Campbell and I then attended a small exhibition called Bittersweet, about the development of musical theatre in Australia. Although mostly obscure works we had never heard of, it included memorabilia and costumes from shows including The Boy From Oz and, of course, Priscilla. There was also mention of the latest hit musical, Muriel’s Wedding. Although it seems to have had great success here, I am not aware of any proposed productions on Broadway or the West End. The next Runway premiere perhaps? We then visited the much lauded Gallery of Modern Art, and on the way in we saw a pair of old boots on the steps outside. We wondered initially if these were actually one of the art exhibits, I have to say that the contents of the gallery were very highbrow, and we much preferred the architecture of the building to the art works themselves. Bring back Kelvingrove!

      We were planning on going to see the big show in town - The Book of Mormon - but as we both had seen the show before (Campbell twice!), and the fact that our body clock has still not quite adjusted to Australian time, we were worried we would fall asleep at the interval. Instead we settled for a walk round the old, historic quarter, viewing Parliament House, the Old Government Building and the City Botanic Gardens. By the time we walked over the pedestrian bridge over the river and caught the ferry back, it was certainly nearing our bedtime of 9pm.
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    • Day 1

      Jour J

      December 29, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

      Jour -J, c'est le départ!!
      Réveil un peu rude avec 4heures de sommeil. Partagée entre la peur et l'excitation, mais enfin c'est le départ. 😃 Valise bouclée, train vide et à l'heure (merci les cff), aéroport bondé, plus d'une heure pour poser les bagages, passer la sécurité et les passeports. 1ere étape-> Dubaï 6h20 de vol puis 2eme étape 13h50 -> Brisbane. Ensuite à moi la playa, les cocktails, les petits poissons et le surf, mais aussi les serpents, les crocodiles, les mygales 😅 j'ai hâte!!
      Mais bon avant tout ça, place aux imprévus🤣 autrement ce n'est pas drôle. Arrivée à l'hôtel, pas d'hôtel. Ils n'ont apparemment pas reçu la confirmation de l'agence, donc madame refuse de me donner ma chambre déjà payée, qui plus est. Et tout ça à 2h du mat. Les agences de voyages en Suisse sont fermées et la mienne jusqu'au 3 janvier et en Australie aussi, c'est le week-end, évidemment. Et le week-end du 31 donc....pour cette nuit j ai repayé ma nuit et suite au prochain épisode...
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    • Day 19

      Cairns -> Brisbane

      July 27, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

      Schwups, da sind wir auch schon nach Brisbane geflogen und haben eine erste Stadterkundigung samt thailändischem Essen hingelegt. Gefällt uns bis jetzt richtig gut 👍. Für Morgen haben wir schon eine private Führung der Turmuhr des Brisbane Rathauses um 12 Uhr organisiert mit anschließendem Museumsbesuch. Auch den Zoo in Brisbane wollen wir noch besuchen, wahrscheinlich morgen Nachmittag 😃. Heute gehen wir früh in unserem schönen Hotelzimmer schlafen, war ein anstrengender Tag 😴.

      Ausbeute des Tages: 11.500 Schritte, 9 km
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    • Day 19

      Tag 17

      March 15, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      Soo die Reise geht weiter wir fühlen uns wieder Fit. Angekommen in Brisbane, wo wir Johanns Freund getroffen haben der uns die nächsten 2 Tage durch Brisbane führen wird. Wahnsinns Stadt Wahnsinns Leute. Es ist Traumhaft hier. Das Wetter ist auch wieder auf unserer Seite.Read more

    • Day 89

      Noosa + Fraser Island

      February 25 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      Ich habe einen Tag in Noosa verbracht bevor es nach Fraser Island ging. Unsere Tour ging über 3 Tage und 2 Nächte.
      Fraser Island (K'gari - der ursprüngliche Name der Ureinwohner) ist mit einer Länge von über 120 km die größte Sandinsel der Welt. Mit der Fähre sind wir vom Festland Australien auf die Insel gekommen. An unserem ersten Tag waren wir im Lake McKenzie schwimmen und konnten uns abkühlen. An Tag 2 besuchten wir Eli Creek und die Champagne Pools. An unserem letzten Tag waren wir am Lake Allom baden und konnten Schildkröten beobachten, die im See leben. Nach 2 weiteren Tagen in Noosa geht es für mich jetzt weiter nach Airlie Beach.Read more

    • Day 20

      Letzter Abend

      July 28, 2022 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

      Ja, meine lieben Freunde. Jetzt kommt langsam das Ende, wir haben den letzten Abend hier in Australien angebrochen. Ein schöner Sonnenuntergang versüßt uns den Schluss und auch das Essen (ein Geheimtipp im französischen Restaurant) passte sehr gut 👍. Natürlich durften ein paar Austern 🦪 nicht fehlen 😁.Read more

    • Day 198

      Wiedersehen mit Caro & Freddy!

      April 14, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      Heute Morgen ging es mir etwas besser, aber noch nicht so wirklich :( es zieht sich auf jeden Fall total…
      Danach habe ich beschlossen mich etwas zu bewegen und bin in die Stadt gegangen, um einige Erledigungen zu machen bzw. um Tabletten zu kaufen :)
      Danach ging es noch einkaufen. Besser spät als nie, habe ich mir einen Schokohasen gekauft und Hot Cross Buns, die man zu Ostern ist. Sehr lecker :) und natürlich auch normales Essen :D
      Dann hatte ich noch etwas Zeit und habe mir eine heiße Zitrone gemacht und Netflix geguckt.
      Später ging es für mich dann zum Wilson’s Outlook Reserve, wo ich Caro und Freddy wiedergetroffen habe!
      Es war super cool, mal wieder etwas deutsch zu reden haha. Wir saßen auf einer Bank, haben auf die Skyline geguckt und super lange geredet. Über unsere Zeit in Australien, was wir alles erlebt haben, über Zuhause und was wir so vermissen, aber auch wie es nach Australien weitergehen wird.
      Später haben wir noch etwas bei Bettys Burger gegessen, was Caro und Freddy vorher noch nicht ausprobiert haben - sie fanden es aber supi!
      Danach sind wir dann zu dem Apartment gegangen, welches sich die beiden mit Isabell im Moment teilen. Wir saßen dann da noch etwas und haben gequatscht!
      Die 4. Schaumburger vereint in Australien :D
      Dann bin ich zurück zum Hostel gegangen und meine Karte für das Zimmer hat nicht funktioniert… zum Glück hat Adele das gehört und wurde davon wach, so konnte sie mir auf machen!!
      Bin super müde und gehe jetzt schlafen.
      Gute Nacht!
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    • Day 356

      Walking tour

      September 15, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

      I last minute booked (as in 12hrs before) a walking tour of Brisbane. Its run by the City Council and I got lucky and managed to book in on the free tour.

      We spent 3 hrs walking around the city and learning about the history and little quirks of the city. We visited the newest building with a little jungle walk going through the bottom level. Then to the oldest building, a windmill that was previously used as a punishment for the convicts centuries ago.

      We walked through roma street parkland which was full of flowers and lizards. Then found some of the art work in the city. There is an artist called the blue ninja who dresses in a blue nija outfit and creates tiny blue sculptures and hides them in the city. There are a few laneways with art in the city which we walked down before finding a bench with kangaroos on it. They are made from scrap metal and we're surprisingly cute.
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