Gold and the Sunshine Coast, without the Sun!

This week we have visited both the North and South coasts from our Brisbane base.

On Sunday, we met up with Elaine and Dave who are old or rather long-time friends of Nina’s family. Strange how although travelling means you leave some family and friends behind, you can actually end up meeting with others that you may well of not seen again, which is really good.

It was probably the first time Nina had met with them in over 20 years, even though they only immigrated to Australia about 13 years ago.   We made our way to Landsbrough train station where they picked us up, once Elaine and I established that it was in fact quite easy to recognise each other and they kindly took us on a tour of the Sunshine Coast, which included lunch at Mooloolaba Surf Club.

Whilst eating lunch, we saw some action on the beach and noticed a lifeguard dragging a young girl from the sea, after a few moments pause she was put into the recovery position and we watched as no movement was made… then we all breathed easy when she thankfully came round after a few minutes of inactivity, she walked away from the beach, a little bedraggled and embarrassed but otherwise OK.  If you have the Discovery Channel and watch Bondi Rescue, then this was our very own Mooloolaba Rescue. Patrick did ask Dave if this had been setup for our benefit to show that Australia really is like the TV, but he assured us that it was not.

The location and views were stunning and full of natural coves and long beaches with great waves. Patrick was obviously really impressed and really enjoyed this area. 

(This is outside the Loo with a A View on Mooloolaba Beach)

After lunch, we headed back to Elaine and Dave’s house to meet up with their children Ellie and Ryan (and Miko and Simba – the dogs). Their house was lovely and in true Aussie style included a swimming pool!! So much space, I think our old HK apartment could have fitted in their front room.

We then headed to Moffat Beach which was a small and pretty cove with a park area and a few coffee shops, where we sat and watched the world go by – no dramas this time but it was a lovely relaxed atmosphere and everyone was enjoying the sun and surf.

Part of our plan for the week was to do some whale watching and Elaine told us that we could do this from Mooloolaba (and at a discount to Brisbane rates!) she kindly suggested we stay with them as it was about 2 hours from Brisbane, so Patrick made a booking for Thursday and we decided we could combine our other plan of visiting Noosa, which was in a similar direction.

So we bid them farewell at the train station with a view to seeing them Thursday.

On Tuesday, as Brisbane is situated between the Sunshine Coast (to the North) and Gold Coast (to the South), we decided to catch another train down to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. This was another 2 hour journey but was great to see the countryside on the way down. At Surfers Paradise, we caught the new G-Link tram (only opened on the 21^st July) and travelled to the furthest station – Broadbeach South and then walked back along the beach to the main part of the town. The town itself had a mix of shops and entertainment which was as diverse as the shops…..from Condom Kingdom to Starbucks! However, whilst pleasant, it wasn't as nice as the Sunshine Coast.

Non-Whale sightseeing.

We had planned to go Whale watching on Thursday and to visit Noosa on Friday whilst staying overnight at Elaine and Dave’s so hired a car, a Mini Cooper S no less from Hertz (I hope Helen (Patrick’s sister & Hertz manager in France) is pleased!). All ready to see the whales on Thursday afternoon, but unfortunately the weather had started to change and the wind had picked up and the Whale trip was cancelled so we re-booked for 8am Friday and decided to visit Noosa Thursday instead. At Noosa Head we parked in the country park and set out on the coastal path. The scenery was amazing and Patrick was sure he saw 2 whale fins appear in the water. I’m pretty sure he was imagining it …but no surely he would not make up such a vision!!! 

During our walk there was a point called “Hell’s Gate” and you could see why as the wind whips in from the sea channeled between two massive rocks which creates a very blustery and breath-taking scene.

However we did make the 7km walk and we were then glad to be able to take the short trip back to Elaine and Dave’s who had prepared a lovely barbie accompanied by some very nice Australian wine.

The next morning to our dismay, the weather had deteriorated further and to accompany the wind, we now had severe rainfall and early on Friday morning (actually I think it was still the middle of the night), the Whale Co. called and cancelled again. So we had to re-visit our plans and decided to visit the Sea Life Centre in Mooloolaba (I think this is such a cool name! that’s Patrick).

All day Friday, the rain continued, not that we were too bothered as we were inside with many other drowned out families and touring pensioners. However, the Sea Life centre was really interesting with several shows and talks which included sealions, otters and jelly fish. The otters were funny and very inventive. Their keepers used to keep them inside at night but one morning, the otters were found in the outside enclosure which surprised and confounded the keepers so they setup surveillance and watched as the otters would put their claws underneath the door and lift it up for the other otters to go through. Having seen this the keepers adjusted the door to make sure there was no gap at the bottom to stop the otters…..this worked for 4 days but then the same situation occurred again. During the 4 days, the keepers noticed that when the otters returned to the inside enclosure, they were limping but not always the same leg and all checks of the otters could not identify a physical reason. So with a little more surveillance, they discovered the otters were collecting pebbles under their feet (hence the limp) and dragging them to just under the door so that when it closed….hey presto….there was still a gap and they could get out at night and have their fun!!  I’m sure there is a teenager or two that has done something similar, in fact I’m sure I remember a similar story with a window being left ‘on the latch’ by my sister for my brothers, I’m sure it must have cost them a fortune!

Anyway back to Oz.

(The Otter Brothers - Chaos, Mayhem & Lou a.k.a Mooloolaba Escapologists)

After our day’s entertainment, we returned to Elaine and Dave’s for an Indian takeaway – which was lovely and very tasty – really appreciated their hospitality, especially Ryan who was bumped out of his room for us, thanks Ryan!

Weather wise it rained all Friday night and continued into Saturday morning when we returned to Brisbane, seems more like England I have to say, but I’m sure it won’t last.

Whilst the rain could have been quite depressing, for one resident on the Sunshine Coast, the world has become a much brighter place as they have won half of the AUD 70million Powerball Lottery Jackpot which is the largest win in Australia’s lottery history! (The other half was won by a syndicate in New South Wales)

 (Another happy Queenslander - a "smiling" stingray)

Our next two days will be spent packing and getting ready for our trip up to Port Douglas with a drive of 1700+ km, stopping at Rockhampton for a night and then Airlie Beach for four, hopefully with some nice beach weather, before going on to Port Douglas.

The EKKA and Zonta-ing

Wow….the EKKA was amazing and we had a really good day out. There was a mixture of funfair rides, agricultural shows and an amazing array of animals from cattle to cats. We did wonder what the day had in stall for us as we left Roma Station with crowds of people, similar to the HK rush hour, but then the penny dropped and we realized we had chosen to visit this annual show on a public holiday! We have all the time to plan but still manage to choose one of the busiest days in Brisbane, heading out with 60,000 residents doing the same thing.

On arriving via the EKKA express (a train journey of about 5mins from our departure at Roma Street), we negotiated the funfair and fast food outlets which by the way were amazing. At most events, your fast food options are usually an over-priced burger or an even more over-priced cheeseburger! Not in Oz, you could have half a roast chicken, lamb shank or a “Dagwood” – which is a very large battered sausage on a stick that has typically been dunked in tomato ketchup, Hmmm!

Anyway, back to the show and our first visit was to the cattle sheds. We were able to walk through the sheds and the cows looked in very good health, large and nearly all munching their food (just like most people). The only disconcerting part was that they were all facing the other way ……and we had to walk through the middle – which felt like running the gauntlet past the backend of approximately 150 cows. I know my maths is not that brilliant, but I understood the rules of probability enough not to hang around!

After the cattle, we entered into the main arena in time to watch the Annual parade which was a showcase of every animal at the EKKA. This included racing horses which were fun to watch as they didn’t really understand what was going on and just wanted to be let loose and run riot, which provided a challenge for their riders.

Throughout the day, there were various shows and entertainment and we were lucky enough to come across a tap dancing show by a group called “Those Tap Guys”.  5 guys who put on a show which amalgamated all the genres of tap dance from the classics e.g. Singing in the Rain to modern songs e.g. Beyoncé – Put a finger on it! It was a really brilliant and included some humor and fun – they were clearly enjoying it as much as the audience.

From dancing to diving, where a group of stunt divers were plunging into a 2.4metre pool from 80feet up…including one which set himself alight before diving into the pool, but not before we could all feel the heat from the fire down on the ground….so I’m sure he was glad to hit the water and put out the fire.

Our last show was the log-cutting competition where 2 teams compete to chop a number of logs. It sounds easy but the speed and skill of these teams was incredible – one false move and it would have been the self-amputising competition. The climax was for 2 loggers to climb their trunks using a set of planks, these were wedged into cuts which they made as they climbed to the top. To do this they had to do the same procedure twice each side of the log. To add spice to the competition, the two finalists were father and son – so it was evident that it meant more than just winning the event.

The show carried on into the evening and we left about 7pm, with achy feet and rather chilly as the heat from the sun had disappeared and a cold wind whipped up from nowhere, so we headed for the train after purchasing a big (cannot buy anything less than half a kilo) bag of macadamia nuts and covered in a nice sticky sweet toffee to take home and replenish after having had a really enjoyable day.

Zonta International.

As we have been in Brisbane for 3 weeks, we decided that it would be good to do some volunteering and we found an opportunity to support the Zonta International organization in assembling birthing kits!

Sounds a bit odd I know but we got up early (7 am) which felt like being back at work and used our super City Cycles to get to the venue – a school on the South Bank and offered our services!

The target was to assemble 12,000 birthing kits which comprised of 1 x plastic sheet, 5 x gauze's, 3 x pieces of string, 1 surgical blade, 1 bar of soap and 1 pair of latex gloves, all inside a small plastic bag with a self-sealing top similar to a sandwich bag. These kits were destined for Papua New Guinea where the local services and care is very limited and 1 in 12 women encounter issues during childbirth.

Surprisingly, we started at 8 am and were finished by 11.30 am – so I think they had a good number of volunteers, but I’m sure the organization and preparation for the event took much longer.

So we did our bit while here and it felt very productive, although Patrick decided he was not very dexterous at some of the tasks and remarked that he thought a chimpanzee may have been more efficient. But that’s not true as he did do well in between chatting up the local ladies!

Joking aside we did meet a few nice people and it was good to find out a little more about life in Brisbane and Australia in general and see if there was anything else we should do while here.  

Next stage is to plan our journey for the following weeks when we will be travelling north, hopefully to more warm weather and staying at a few places along the Sunshine coast.

Crikey….the Zoo and the Gabba!

Well, we made it to the Zoo last week and it was amazing. The animals were well looked after, as you can see by some of the photos below, and the ethos of the zoo was really impressive and a fitting legacy to Steve Irwin. 

The zoo focused on practical conservation of the animals and for a balance to be struck between human and animal needs when it came to natural habitats. All of the keepers had a passion for their chosen species and were keen to show them off……even the tigers! At various points in the day, the keepers would take their animals for a walk…..think..koala’s, wombats, parrots not crocs!. We watched the crocodile “demonstration”, you couldn’t call it a show as it was more informative than pure entertainment and showed that crocodiles are not man-eating predator’s but if you stray into their kingdom, then you have put yourself on the menu. In fact, they tried to show off the crocodile’s ability to take food from above the water….but the crocodile decided he wasn’t going to perform like some “circus” dummy, rock the croc!

Another nice surprise at the Zoo was the ability to walk through the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure and actually touch them, they were all very relaxed.

Nina’s favourite animal was the tiger but mine was the Koala’s…..they sleep for 20 hours a day and then wake to eat leaves for the other 4.....seems my kind of life. Although in the wild, they do have to look out for domestic predators and more importantly cars!

However, if an animal is injured it can be taken to the Wildlife Zoo Hospital which was setup by Steve Irwin’s mum in the grounds of the zoo, with the mission to allow people to bring injured animals without facing a large vet bill. For example, one koala was admitted because he had fallen down a chimney…..this might not have been too bad in itself, if only someone had not lit the fire! So the poor chap needed treatment for burnt hands and feet.

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To the Gabba!

After the sights of the zoo, I managed to convince Nina that there would be plenty of action to view at the world famous Brisbane Cricket Ground – a.k.a. The Gabba.

So on Sunday, we ventured off to see the Brisbane Lions v the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Rules football.

Apart from the score line, Brisbane lost by their largest ever defeat to the Crows by 105 points, it was an entertaining afternoon in the sunshine of the Gabba. In fact Nina was spotted cheering on the Lions with her “noise sticks”….although I’m not sure if she was cheering the team or No.23 in particular!

The game was attended by nearly 20,000 and was a real family occasion with both sets of fans, a diverse mix of ages, all sat together around the stadium, sharing food, drinks and laughter without any sign of trouble or aggression.  

Moving on to this week our plan is to visit the EKKA – which is Queensland’s largest agricultural show….I think it will be like the New Forest Show on steroids!

Breaking News:

On Monday, we went to Ipswich just to see what was there….and to be honest….Paul Daniels springs to mind….”not a lot”. But on the train home, we were diverted to another line due to a bomb scare at one of the stations…..a school science project was left on the platform and resulted in disrupted train services for 4 hours – and meant we were late home but in true Aussie style, the Police response was “no worries, better safe than sorry and good practice for when the G20 comes to Brisbane!”. Tell it as it is.

Hello to BrrrrrBrisbane

We have landed in Australia and based ourselves in Brisbane for the next month.

The Meriton Apartments are nearly new and well located near the central part of the city, being the tallest building in Brisbane – this helps when navigating our way around!

From our 21^st floor apartment we have stunning views across north Brisbane and all along the river, which is quite spectacular.

Our first week has been spent in a familiar pattern of sorting out phones and transport (well at least Patrick’s has, he does it so well!) and generally familiarizing ourselves with the city. It is  very clean and bright but the temperature is a little on the low side, however, we have to keep reminding ourselves it is winter here. Although around 21C it creates a dilemma in the mornings….is it a shorts or jeans day? This has taken a little while to get used to after the last 2 months of very warm, shorts all the way weather, but it has clarified, as if we didn’t know already, that we both prefer to spend our time in a more relaxing warm weather climate!

Still it has been a good excuse to go out and buy a new jumper, somewhat annoying when I have a number now stored in various locations around the world from UK to HK!

Getting around Brisbane is relatively easy, we have a GoCard similar to the HK Octopus card but it is limited to Buses and Ferries….and doesn't include 7-Elevens.  However our best find has been the CityCycles which are essentially, the same as London’s Boris Bike’s and can be taken and left at over 150 locations within the city. The only challenge is to make sure that our journey is less than 30 minutes at a time which is free and Patrick gets grumpy if we exceed this…..he is so ……tight economical. J.  However you can actually just park your bike, wait 2 mins and take it off again so it’s pretty good and obviously helps to keep track of where the bikes are, really good way to see more of the suburbs.

The cycling coupled with walking and the gym/swimming (now and then) does mean we both feel healthier than when working and even more importantly we can indulge in all of the lovely goodies they have to offer here, lots of tempting patisseries, juice bars, the biggest sandwiches you have ever seen, vegetarian, French, Italian, etc., cuisines to sort all tastes.

But really the bikes are a great way to explore the river paths and one of our favorites so far has been the South Bank which is the cultural center of Brisbane, where the Theatres and Museums are located and is a lovely place to relax by the beach, Yes, the beach…..they have created the only man-made beach in Australia and it is a great place to just sit and enjoy the sunshine and people watch. It is a bit bizarre as you have people in bikini’s and swim-shorts on the beach with people in overcoats walking past….like the early days of a UK summer!

We went out to dinner to a place along the busy waterfront that had a Brazilian buffet, all new to us as it was as much as you could eat, but the chefs came round to the table with all the different meats on skewers and carved you as much as you wanted, there were some additional side dishes and healthy(ish) options such as hot pineapple basted in coconut, yum! Tasty baked polenta slices, garlic toast and Chinese greens, we passed on this option! This particular restaurant had the meat cooking on rotating skewers in the window during the day and we’d walked past it thinking “that looks good and would be nice to try” and then in the evening whilst on our way to another restaurant, we somehow found ourselves back here, so it was obviously meant to be!

The cafes and restaurants are all quite amazing and the challenge is to choose which one as they all look so good! Plus we have found the “Bottle Shops” and quite literally, wine is cheaper than water…..hallelujah!

There is plenty to do and see here and our task for this week is to work out which day to go to …..Australia Zoo, which is on the cards. This is the zoo Steve Irwin set up and it was in the news last week as a Tiger decided to have an extra supplement of Zookeeper with his dinner….

So if there is any monkey business this could become a blog for 1…..haha…..

Catch up next time….and feel free to email or add any comments….