The Other Sunshine State

Another year with the short November break from school, so again this year we’re headed somewhere very interesting (2023 – Brazil; 2024 – Japan). It’s an evening flight for us so no need to rush out from school and work. We had a little bite to eat at the Maple Leaf Lounge in the Calgary airport – the sliders here are some of the best food in the MLL network!

A quick hop over to Vancouver brought us to our 3 hour layover, which we spent in the Air Canada Signature Suite, with a nice view, and a delicious dinner. I had the spicy wontons as a starter; then duck confit; and Ellie had the venison before our lovely desserts. A great way to be totally satisfied and simply go to sleep on board.

Which we both did. I was already starting to fall asleep before we took off, and only stayed awake until the seatbelt sign turned off so I could settle in comfortably for a few zzzz’s. Ellie slept for 9 hours solid. I had my pre-ordered meal about 9 hours into the flight, a coq au vin dish.

6 hours after eating, we approached the coast of southeast Queensland – G’day to Australia! Ellie’s finally visited all 6 inhabited continents!

Outside the exit from the customs hall at Brisbane Airport, there were some Christmas decorations up that I was unable to capture without a quintessential Australian in the way, complete with mullet, moustache, singlet, and barefoot.

Our hotel, the Royal on the Park, very kindly allowed us to check in 4 hours early, very much appreciated. We took a quick rest in the room and then headed out for a walk into the Brisbane CBD and located the nearest Macca’s.

Sadly, they didn’t have too many different things than back home at this time, except some Frank’s Red Hot themed chicken items. We did get frozen drinks though, which are always great.

Especially on a 2nd floor patio overlooking a lively pedestrian intersection at Queen and Albert Streets.

After lunch, we walked back down towards the river and rented some Lime scooters to cruise (at slow speed!!) around the beautiful, lush City Botanic Gardens, which were right across the street from our hotel.

Amongst other interesting things there was a large banyan tree, some of which was encroaching on the sidewalk outside the fence. These trees are about 150 years old.

We crossed the Kangaroo Point bridge, which is for pedestrians and personal mobility devices (bikes, scooters), and has been open for less than a year at this point. There were interesting views of the skyline from the other side. Would be very nice at night!

Ellie wanted to hit the pool at the hotel, it was a bit cooler now as it had clouded over but she still had a lot of fun.

The next morning we headed out to meet some old friends from Medicine Hat, who had been living in Australia for the last 10+ years. Of course we had to take a pic of Ellie by the Elizabeth Street bus stop sign (she wasn’t impressed).

The bus stop for us was right across the open plaza in front of Brisbane City Hall.

Our destination for the morning was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, a large wildlife park just outside the urban environment, easily accessible by the 50 cent bus with a bit of planning.

We saw kangaroos.

Some farm animals.

Guinea pigs.

And of course the stars, the cute and cuddly koalas.

Then the 4 of us headed down into the city for lunch and hopefully a walk along the river.

We stopped at one of the many pubs on the South Bank. I had an Aussie classic, a schnitty.

It started to rain while we were having lunch, so we popped into the Queensland Museum Kurilpa. It was very nice that the general exhibition areas were free entry. We paid to enter the special exhibit – CROC! – all about crocodiles. It was pretty cool and a great respite from the rain!

We saw a break in the rain so headed back down into the South Bank Parklands, passing the Brisbane sign.

And had a nice view of the new casino across the river, with the Neville Bonner pedestrian bridge connecting the two riverbanks.

It started to rain again. We had a quick peek at the Nepalese Peace Pagoda.

And ducked into the Rainforest Walk for some cover and a group photo. Here’s our hosts for today, Trina and Kelly!

Before heading back to the room, it continued raining, but Ellie was promised ice cream so we stopped at one of the shops in the pedestrian area, but not before passing by a Korean snack outlet where Bluey was getting fueled up.

I had to go out and pick up a rental car for our next part of the adventure, Ellie stayed in the room, but the rain stopped so I was able to have a nice walk retracing our steps from the rainy afternoon, to see some of it lit up at night. Very nice.

And finished off the evening with the Best Kebab in Brisbane which was right around the corner from our hotel. What a fun, but short stay in Brisbane!