Paul and Janet's Travel Stories

Sunday 5th April Brisbane

UNITED KINGDOM | Sunday, 5 April 2009 | Views [133] | Comments [2]

We returned to the City Centre for a very good meal and bottle of wine at Jimmy's Restaurant on Saturday evening.

Sunday morning again the sun was shining, but we were sorry to hear that Ipswich Town lost their Saturday Football match away to Sheffield United. We walked the five minute walk into the City Centre and purchased tickets for the City Sights Tour. This is a 1 1/2 hour circular tour with commentary of Brisbane and the surrounding areas. Our driver/guide told us many interesting facts about Brisbane and showed us sights such as home of The Castelmaine XXXX Brewery and the factory that builds a new bus every 3 working days. The tour took us through 2 Botanical Gardens and to the top of Mt Coot-Tha where we stopped for 5 minutes to take photographs of the magnificent views over Brisbane. We saw road signs to Ipswich which took us by surprise!! We learnt that Brisbane started as a penal colony in 1872 and the convicts built many of the buildings that are still standing today. Today it is the 3rd largest city in Australia with 1.8 million people living here and is, at the moment, still in a drought period, as it has been for the last 7 years!! We saw many "Queensland" type houses. These are houses built on stilts to allow the air to flow underneath them. This means that they do not need air conditioning when the temperatures reach 40 degrees C in summer.

We left the bus for a coffee by the river, and a look round the Sunday Market before boarding the City Cat Ferry, which also comes in the ticket price of the City Sights Tour. We had a 90 minute journey up the Brisbane River calling at many stops on the way, as this was also a hop on, hop off ferry. This was a great way of seeing the City from the water, and seeing it from another aspect. Another very hot and humid day here in Brisbane, who said it was Autumn here at the moment.

For more information about our tours see http://www.citysights.com.au/home/default.asp

Today's Australian Fact - The Great Barrier Reef covers over 280,000 square kms. and stretches 1,200 miles which is the same as the distance from London to Moscow. The Great Barrier Reef contains at least 1,500 species of fish, 400 types of coral and 4,000 varieties of molluscs.

Plughole report - The water here in Brisbane spirals clockwise. More checks will be made at our next destination.!!

Comments

1

Hi Paul and Jan, Sorry we have not been keeping up to date as often as we should - cannot believe all that's happened! Glad that your bad experience seems well behind you now and that you are having a great time. Paul, I am beginning to look like a hippy so you must come back soon!! Look forward to catching up. Love Kathy and Guy

Guy and Kathy Hillyard Apr 7, 2009 5:43 AM

2

Hi Paul & Janet,

Sorry we haven't added to your blog for a while. Brenda had a slight stroke shortly after you left the U.S. and spent several days in an assisted living facility getting therapy.

Unfortunately, it looks like she's going to have to move into assisted living full time as she just is no longer able to take care of herself or be alone.

Luckily, Diane, Charlene & Phillip were able to find one a block from our office,so that is going to be very convenient.

She'll be moving in on April 15th.

Anyway, it sounds like you're having a very, very good time. We're glad your hearing is back and all is well.

Take care.

Love, Diane & Steve

Steve & Diane Apr 7, 2009 2:25 PM