Brisbane, Australia

It was a very good day!  I finally got on an excursion I wanted, and it was FABULOUS!  First things first…

The city of Brisbane is located in the state of Queensland and is upriver on the Brisbane River from the Coral Sea.  This area was hit hard by recent floods, but on the surface everything looked just fine except for the color of the river.  It is muddy brown and they expect it will take up to 18 months for the silt to clear out.  Many businesses, boats and docks were destroyed.  There is now a five year delay on infrastructure projects because they need the manpower and money to fix flood damage.  The population of Brisbane, Australia’s third largest city, is currently two million and growing rapidly.

Brisbane is home to some of the most English of gardens in Australia; this is because the English settlers wanted to recreate the gardens to remind them of home.  Gardens and parks are abundant here as outdoor life is very important.  The children’s play areas I saw looked to be so much fun with many types of equipment I have never seen at home.  On the way from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, we passed water parks, amusement parks, sea world, and Warner Brother’s movie studios.  We drove on the M1 freeway which encircles Australia and is 12,000 kilometers long (you can do the conversion!).  The freeway sound barriers are decorated with murals drawn by taggers; the judges figured if you can’t beat the graffiti artists, then enlist them!

We didn’t spend much time in Brisbane proper as we went to the famous Gold Coast, which is known for its dazzling white beaches, surfing, swimming, shopping, and waterways with some incredible McMansions.  It gets real hot in summer (Queensland is subtropical), but today we had a perfect day as summer is winding down and autumn is right around the corner, starting on February 28. 

The Gold Coast (this is the name of the city as well as the area) looks a lot like Miami Beach.  The ocean is on one side of a strip of land and the river/canal system is on the other.  High rise hotels and condos are crowded into the area called Surfers Paradise.  We took a sight seeing boat along the river and canals.  Boy oh boy, did we see some fancy schmacy homes that ran from $2 million to about $11 million.  All had docks and white sandy beaches along the retaining walls.  Large power boats were docked in front of most homes.  This area has one of only two six star hotels in the world (the other one is in Dubai).

Michael was escorting this tour and I was just a passenger.  I left him and went to the beach with Pepper and Jim, while Michael had to stay with the tour.  He went to the Q-Deck, a residential highrise that has a spectacular 360* viewing tower on the 77^th floor. I enjoy seeing the results of his pictures, but I hate heights so he can ride on all the high viewpoints he wants (like Dubai, Sydney, and now Brisbane).  The picture included here shows the beach where we went swimming and the river where we took the boat ride.

Now for the BEST part:  I finally, finally made it to the beach!  I got wet and sandy, and I even got all my hair wet.  Woo hoo.  After a quick lunch, the three of us headed to the beach, found a spot to lay our stuff down and ran into the water.  I was prepared for it to be cold; I was just going to go up to my knees.  But the water was so warm… since this is a surfing beach, the waves were a bit strong and there was an undertoad (oops, the undertow).  The sandy bottom was smooth and pretty shallow so we had to wade out quite a bit.  The three of us were like little kids, playing in the surf, getting knocked down or having the waves crash over our heads.  I HAD FUN!  I was a little bit worried about my back as I had to work hard to keep on my feet (most of the time), so I got out and called Michael on the walkie talkie to let him know where we were.  He finally found us and only had about 20 minutes in the water, but boy, they were a good 20 minutes.  He is ready to come back here.

We had a short tour of central Brisbane on the way back to the ship.  To end the evening, we had a romantic dinner outside on the fantail as the ship left the dock and headed out to sea.   I am exhausted and sore, but it was well worth it.