Brisbane Markets and Botanical Gardens

Sunday 7^th

It was our last day in Brisbane and although we had planned to take the car to Byron Bay the weather didn’t look like it was going to hold! We decided to give it a miss because we are planning to come back up and travel the coast at some point during our stay so we will definitely be going that way when the weather is a bit nicer!

Instead we made a list of some of the markets in the area and found 3 that were close to each other. We started with the Nundah market that is a realtively small markets, a few fruit and veg stalls, a few bakery and food stalls and some general stalls. We had a quick walk around but there wasn’t much to hold us and after passing a good looking café- Jam that had some tasty looking breakfasts going on, we headed back to the car and went to the Eagle Farm Market which was held in Ascot. We paid $2 each to get in and it was a good sized market with loads of different stalls! They had loads of food stalls, veg, popcorn, bakeries, pizza, goat pie, sausage, Turkish, coffee, organic tea, organic muesli, fresh orange juice etc!! Was a great place to have a wander round and the weather stayed nice but it shut at 12 so everything was beginning to wrap up, Thomas bought some ice tea (passionfruit and orange) and we bought some bruschetta chutney which had a kick but was really tasty!

We then headed to our third market, which was the Eat Street Markets down by the harbour. It was big!! Loads of people were there and it was food stalls! We paid $2 again and spent ages walking round, it was so big and everything looked so nice, people were everywhere and they had loads of eating areas and places for people to relax and enjoy the live music. It was a great market and had a really good atmosphere!! We saw a really popular crepe stall that were doing a crazy Ferrero Rocher concoction for $10!! We were starving by this time so we got some food from the gourmet fish and chip van that claimed to have the best chips in Australia!! I had sweet potato chips and Thomas had chips and snapper which was really good, it was a really tasty lunch and the chips were worth the hype!! We also stopped by the popular churros van so Thomas could restore his faith in churros- it was really good!! And watched the endless queue for the Cronut stall that had Tim Tam flavour, Peanut Butter and white chocolate and raspberry!

We left the market and headed over to Mount Coo-tha to have a wander round the Botanical Gardens which the woman by the riverside had told us was rife with lizards wandering everywhere! They were everywhere!! And they were massive!! Seeing the massive lizards is becoming quite popular- they were everywhere at Lone Pine too!! Beautiful though, would love dad to be here- he would love them too!!

It started to get dark and we headed back to New Farm after deciding that we would go and see the 5.40 showing of Predestination with our vouchers we picked up the other day! It’s such a good cinema and the normal price is just $11, wish there was one of them everywhere- normally you pay $19 for one ticket!! The film was good, we enjoyed it, bit trippy and made your head hurt but was good and the cinema was a good one!

When we left it was raining but we had to go drop off the car and then walk back to the house with the rain switching from showers to full rain but eventually it stopped and we weren’t too soaked by the time we got back to the house. We had to pack for our trip back to Sydney in the morning so it was a quiet night even with the rain thundering against the windows!! When it rains it pours in Brisbane!!

Lone Pine Sanctuary and Brisbane Planetarium

Saturday 6^th

After moving to the dungeon, which is dark because it’s right under the top level of the house we headed out to collect the car. The car was upgraded to a Camry and was spotless white, which I found worrying but I’m sure we’ll be fine! It was pretty huge and an automatic, which Thomas was pleased about since Brisbane is really hilly and hill starts do not look fun!!

We had decided to drive out to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and see some nature, since we hadn’t seen that much, other than the museums, aquarium and a dead cockroach under the bed at Double Bay! The drive out to Lone Pine went well and it was a nice way to travel around. We really enjoyed our day at Lone Pine, we watched loads of talks about Koalas, birds of prey, platapus, Tasmanian devils and snakes! The bird of prey one was good, we watched the giant falcon devouring mice smashing their skulls in their beaks and swallowing them whole and the sea eagle tearing at them with their beaks and ripping out their inards like spaghetti!! It was pretty interesting! The Tasmanian devils were amazing looking and the platapus which have stabbers on their back feet which release venom which can be really painful if you get stabbed by one, they said the venom builds up and can be uncomfortable for them so they give them a towel to stab to release it monthly! We also got to see fox bats, turkeys, snakes, monitors, kangaroos, wombats, birds, dingos, snakes, toads, turtles, crocodiles and of course loads of Koalas, which are beautiful!!!

The kangaroos are kept in a separate enclosure and roam free for people to feed with bags of pellets you buy from the shop for $2. The kangaroos were beautiful and it was amazing to see a few with baby roos in their pouches, sticking out their heads and legs!!

Towards the end of the day I was so happy to get my picture taken with a Koala!! Her name was Rose and she was absolutely beautiful!! Much heavier then I thought she would be but she was gorgeous, she felt warm and I loved her matted hair!! Love!!!

It was nearly time for the park to close by the time we left so we drove over to the Planetarium at Mount Coo-tha where Thomas bought us tickets to see two talks that were taking place at 6 (Saturday night live, the universe and taking a trip of the solar system from our position and talked about Mars, the Moon and Saturn and the further galaxies) and 7.30 which was about dark matter and looking at the furthest reaches of space and how much we have still got to find out and how many light years it takes for the information to reach us from the furthest stars! It was really interesting and the planetarium projected the show on the domed roof so it was like the most amazing IMAX, which took up your whole vision so it really felt like you were flying through space!

Had a really good day and felt like I learnt loads!! Loved Rose!!

Friday 5^th

Today we had to get the accommodation sorted for our return to Sydney! We had been looking for accommodation for ages and we just had to get it done. We sat on the balcony in the sun and eventually we sorted it out for the week, the IStay for 3 nights then a place in the suburbs, Ashfield. We also decided that since Leon was moving us downstairs for the weekend cos he had double booked us with a Hen Party, we wanted to be out the house for the weekend so Thomas booked a car which was pretty cheap so we could go exploring!

For the rest of the day we just had a wander up to Brunswick Street that is suppose to have lots of places to eat and shop…… not that many but it was an interesting walk! We made it up to Fortitude Valley and had a wander round…… not that much going on of interest to us, mostly pubs and bars, a subway, takeaway etc. We wandered through Chinatown which is pretty small but we enjoyed the supermarket where we got Panda Biscuits for 80c which was a bonus!! We hunted down Alfred’s Pizzeria which is suppose to be good but we didn’t go in, there was a cool hang out round the corner with a few places to eat and drink, but I mean a few it was tiny and we just walked past it, that was enough to check it out! We wandered back down Brunswick to Sydney Street which is also suppose to have some shops and places to go, we passed the New Farm Cinema too which looks like a good place to go for cheap! There wasn’t much going on at Sydney Street, it’s a cross roads with a cluster of things but it was more interesting than I thought it would be, there was a good looking café next to the 7Eleven that looked like it did some tasty breakfasts!! We went in a book shop that had lots of nice cards and we found more Bespoke cards!! I bought some more gift wrap with whales on!! It’s beautiful!! We wandered into the main centere where there are a few more shops in a small arcade and a Coles. We went in the greengrocer and got a good wedge of watermelon and some peaches- which were ridiculously expensive!!! A girl was handing out vouchers for the New Farm Cinema, a ticket and popcorn for $10, we had a look in when we walked back up to the house but there was nothing on so we headed back to the house. We had to pack that night to go down to the basement the next morning so we said goodbye to our comfy room and the nice guy from Amsterdam offered us some of the curry he had made which was green thai with veg which he said he got out a can from the chinese supermarket and added fish sauce, kaffir leaves, lemon and some spice!! It was really delicious, hot but really good!!