Category: Brisbane

Curtis watched hockey this morning then we went out with Jake again to South Bank where we visited the Christmas market. There is a man made beach which was put there due to a vote from the public on what they want there. It is also an outdoor beach cinema, too!

We walked around the Christmas market and then we went into the city centre, just over the bridge, then we walked around some shops just having a browse.

We found a place to grab some food and we went for dinner! We got the pub called ‘The Guilty Rogue’ and it was rather loud, but looked like the food was good!

We each got a burger and it was well made and not bad quality! Curtis got a pulled pork burger and Kim got a chicken burger.

We went for a bit of a walk around again and saw some sights… We saw a napalese temple and the Christmas market at night which was beautiful. We also went to the botanical gardens at night. 

Bye! 

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

We woke early to get on a train to the centre to meet with Hayley one last time before she heads up the coast!

We found a cafe and went for breakfast there. Curtis had a big breakfast which had onion rings with it for some reason and, we later noticed, a fried bug also, which looked delicious! (though we did get the meal free because of it!) Kim had french toast which also came with scrambled egg. There was a lot of food (and a cappuccino each, of course) and it was very nice!

We ssat had chatted for a while and then we took Hayley back to her hostel and got back home for about 10:45. Curtis watched hockey and Kim relaxed and went in the pool.

We then met with another friend who was over from England, Jake, and he had a car so he drove us to Cleveland Point, about. 30 minute drive from us and we sat and had a drink and just chatted about life and caught up with what he was doing. We were with him for a good few hours and had a great time!

We got back home and had leftover stir fry for dinner whilst watching the apprentice and then we watched the film ‘Why Him?’.

Not long left in Brisbane!

Bye!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

We went to Australia Zoo!

We were up at 06:30 and then realised it was a bit too late so we had to run to the train station!

We took the train to the centre and got a greyhound bus to the zoo and got there about 15 minutes before it opened.

We waited around patiently for the zoo to open and then we were one of the first through the gates!

We met a really nice guy who worked at the zoo who told us the best route, so we walked all the way to the ‘Africa’ area, which took about 15 minutes.

We got to the area and were informed that part of the walkway was closed but we would get driven to the other part. 

We saw giraffes, zebra and rhino’s in the Africa part. These giraffes were especially huge!

We then were taken to the meerkats which were sponsored by CompareTheMarket! Incredibly hilarious! They were inquisitive as ever and were fun to watch!

Fairly close to the Africa area was ‘Bindi’s Island’. This had roaming lemurs & some other animals. We saw the lemurs as well as a rather large turtle!

We left this area and went and saw some koalas and kangaroos. We were able to stroke them too!

We stopped by to see the Tigers after this and they were incredibly fun to watch! They were playing a lot of the time and we got some great photos!

We saw the crocodiles and then went and got some lunch and sat waiting for the main show at the zoo!

The show is in a 5000 seat stadium and showcased birds, snakes and of course, the crocodile!

This crocodile was absolutely huge! This show is the very same the Steve Irwin used to perform. The crocodile was fed as well as the handler showing the crocodile’s reaction to getting in the water etc. It was a great show that lasted around 35-40 minutes!

We left the show and looked at some other animals whilst we waited.

We got to the tiger area for the tiger show nice and early, which was lucky as the place filled up fast! This was a similar show to the crocodile show, where the tiger was fed but they also got him to do some cool different things, one of which was him running up a tree!

We saw a few more animals and then went to the animal hospital. We paid for the $2 sneak peak which allows you to see through some windows into the hospital and see animals being treated as well see some of the sick animals. They have film playing too from TV shows that Steve Irwin did so we sat and watched those for a bit.

We got the free bus back to the train station and then took the train to central. That wasn’t before not having enough money on our cards, which we knew, so we had to top up. We got one done but the other wouldn’t accept $50 notes so we had to run to the service station to change the note up! We managed to get back and top up just in time, though the machine had changed to Vietnamese for some reason!

We got to central and planned to grab a train home, but we decided to go out for dinner instead! We went to Nando’s and it was tasty…And much cheaper than the UK too!

We finished up our food and came home, then watched a movie called ‘Girl’s Night’.. This was a typical girl comedy thing…It was adequate.

Looking forward to our lay in tomorrow!

Bye!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

We had some other plans for this morning but then realised that it may not be as straight forward as we planned, but we had already woken up early so we had to make the most of the day!

Kim found a sanctuary to visit, so we grabbed an UBER to the place.

We got there and it turns out to be the first ever Koala Sanctuary in Australia!

We went in and there turns out to be a lot of different animals within the park! There are different birds as well as koalas. The koalas are just chilling on trees but you can get pretty close to them! 

We looked at koalas for a bit and then found some other animals. There were dingos, crocodiles, a platapus and wombats. 

We then were going to hold a koala but there was a huge queue and an extortionate price, so we went into the kangaroo area!

There was a lot of kangaroos of all sizes and they were there to feed and stroke!

There were also some emus there, which are super ugly. 

We left the kangaroo area after spending a while there and went to the sheepdog show. This just showed how a sheepdog does its job and was actually quite interesting. Plus, we got to meet the animals after of course!

We caught a bus to get to the city centre and once we arrived there we went to a Churro place where we had a fondu with chocolate covered pretzels, marshmallows, bananas, strawberries, brownie and cinnamon churros. 

We caught the train home and were surprisingly tired!

We had a relaxed evening and Kim made pesto and cheese pasta for dinner. 

We are sleeping early today as we are up early tomorrow!

Bye!

– Mr & Mrs Hale 

We woke up later than we planned but it was very nice!

Curtis watched hockey again and then we got ready and headed out. 

We first had to buy a ‘go’ card which is the travel card here in Brisbane. When we got our card, the guy at the station that we got it from was kind enough to explain the train lines and how things work, which was great! 

We got on the train to the city and we’re there in about 20 minutes. We got off the train an went for a bit of a wander in the city. There is a walking and bike track which is directly next to the Brisbane River so we walked on the for a little bit. This gave amazing views of the cityscape!

Shortly after, we found a coffee shop and grabbed a coffee and a cake!

We went from here to a few shops just to browse around.

We went to the Botanic garden after this. It seems to be a theme in Australia that all cities have Botanic gardens, but it was good! There were a lot of fountains and wildlife. We saw what we think was an eel in one of the lakes and there were a lot of lizards. There was also a random turtle!

To get back, we walked through ANZAC Park which had some cool elements.

We stopped at the shop for dinner items and then headed back on the train.

We got back and watched some TV then Kim made chicken and mushroom pasta with a creamy sauce. It was delicious!

We sat and watched a film, The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ which was fairly good but not amazing. 

We have awesome plans for tomorrow!

Bye!

– Mr & Mrs Hale