When we arrived in Australia we had no idea what was going on. We had
no jobs, no home and no bloody clue about anything that was going
on….at least they speak English here though.
Almost 9 months later and we are happy to say that Australia was
definitely the right choice for us. So much so that when we got offended
the opportunity of staying in Australia for a while longer, we jumped
at the chance.
So it seems long over due that we would make a Brisbane bucket list.
Here are a few things we are excited to get around to while we are in
the sunshine capital of Australia.
.
Hold a Koala at Lone Pine Zoo – We did this..her name was Tinkerbell and I wanted to steal her.
.
See a Kangaroo – We did this at Lone Pine Zoo too and it was fantastic. ROO’s and KANGA’s as far as the eye could see.
.Go to Fraser Island – The reason I was excited to move to Australia was when I saw some friends pictures of Fraser Island. I can’t wait to go.
.Go Whale Watching – We did this and loved it. The Whales jumped around like crazy. I felt like we were meeting a celebrity.
.
Go to Moreton Island – This beautiful island has shipwrecks off the beach, perfect for scuba diving (if I wasn’t terrified of sharks).
.
Eat Korean food in Fortitude Valley – I do this most weeks since I work in the Valley. I’d recommend the singing rooms too. NOREABANG!!
.
Go on the XXXX beer tour – People from Brisbane mock me for wanting to do this traditional tourist thing. This only makes me want to do it more.
.
Take a boat trip down the Brisbane river – We get to do this quite a lot because our house is near the river. It’s insane to take a boat home and it be a normal thing.
. Go to Eat Street Markets –
We have just moved into a new flat that is a stones throw away from
these beautiful markets. I’m not going to say that we moved there just
for the incredible food but ….that would be a lie.
.
Watch some cricket at the Gabba – Lee is a massive
cricket fan so we have arrived in the right country. I have loved
learning about it over the years. Having an excuse to sit in the
sunshine and drink beer is also good.
.Visit Kangaroo point – Kangaroo point is a really pretty park area looking out to the Story Bridge. A perfect picnic spot.
.Go inside the town hall – The town hall is a beautiful building in the center of the city . I’d like the excuse to see more of it.
.Visit the top of Mount Coot-tra – This big mountain is said to have some of the best views of the city. I’m excited to see if it’s true.
.Watch Brisbane RiverFire (a fireworks display) – We
saw the River Fire display from over the tops of skyscrapers on our
first few days in Brisbane and had no idea what was going on. This time
i’ll force Lee to have front row seats.
.Climb the Story Bridge – The Story Bridge was a
little disappointing if I’m honest. After seeing the huge Harbour bridge
in Sydney I thought that the Story Bridge would be similar but its very
small in comparison. BUT Lee hates heights to scaling this bridge first
will be a good first step. …Also , just so no Brisbanites hunt me down
and bitch slap me…the Story Bridge has become a favourite of mine now.
The big fairy lights are perfect.
.Go to a ‘Drive in’ cinema – We did this
recently and although it was really busy and we couldn’t see much…I
LOVED IT!!! I’ve definitely grown up with too many American films.
.Visit Woolloongabba Antiques Centre. – This is
probably because I’m moving into a new house but I want so many pretty
things for the new flat (or to just stare at them and dream about them).
.Visit Westend – I get told off for calling it ‘The’
Westend. Here it is just ‘Westend’. It’s full of lots of shops and
lovely restaurants. I need to eat all the foods.
.Visit Paddington – This is meant to be a cool area.
.Visit Merthyr – Just to see how it compares to the Welsh town.
.Visit Simpsons Falls – Massive waterfalls and jungle only 20mins away? Yes please!
.
See the Gold Coast. Massive skyscrapers on the beach? This needs to be viewed.
. Visit the Sunshine coast. White sanded
empty beaches as far as the eye can see. We did do this already but I
don’t think there is a limit on visiting this place.
. Go for dinner at ‘La Dolce Vita’ – Only because there is a Eiffel tower above a restaurant with an Italian name…and that’s too weird to miss.
.Spend a weekend on Straddie island – It’s only an hour away and looks like paradise.
Just writing that list has me excited for doing things. We are in
full on ‘moving in’ panic mode so this list is making me feel human
again. Bring on the pretty views, awful unhealthy food , and sunshine.
We had some important tasks to complete last week. We needed to try out
our new Gopro. Yep, see I told you it was important. We decided that
the only way to do this was to take a road trip so we hit the road and
headed South. If you come to Australia and you are searching for crystal
white beaches and pure azure waters then look no further than Byron
Bay. It helps that Byron Bay is in New South Wales. As Old South Walians
we wanted to see what it had to offer.
We set off from Brisbane and drove to Coolengatta where our hotel was.
This little area lies on the border of two states; New South Wales and
Queensland. It literally does . To get to our hotel we had to zig-zag
over the border a few times. We didn’t do much on the first day other
than hop along the coast and eat delicious food. We squeezed in a trip
to Springbrook , which is an impressive mountain range that I’d
recommend. From here you can see Mt Warning (which for the geeky ones of
you is the setting of the animated film Fern Gully). We also ‘happened’
to stumble upon the Springbrook fudge shop and tried all they had to
offer. It was divine. If Lee, the fudge connoisseur was impressed you
know it was good.
That night we stayed in Coolengatta and ate at the number one burger restaurant in Queensland called Ze Pickle.
It was much fancier than expected. It had a classy bar vibe, which did
worry me. I’m used to the good burger places looking slightly more down
to earth and greasy, but I was pleasantly surprised. The ‘Kanye Cheese
Sticks’ burger won me over, and not just for it’s South Park reference
name, but for it’s layers of deliciousness . If you are in the Gold
Coast and like juicy burgers I’d give it a whirl.
We headed home after our trip to the beaches, but squeezed in one more
stop to Mynion falls. Unfortunately we were knackered and still needed
to get home for work the next day so we didn’t get to do the trek to
the falls, but we did get to go to the look-outs and see the falls
themselves. Lee saw them too , just from very far back on the viewing
platform because although he’s the tallest man I know, he’s very scared
of heights.
Overall it was a fantastic two days. We got to see forests, jungle,
mountains, waterfalls and beaches. It is such a beautiful place here in
Australia with every type of terrain. We still haven’t quite got our
heads around how pretty this place is , even after a year. We’ve liked
it so much that we’ve decided to stay a bit longer.
One of my favourite things to do on this blog is to recap the year on
my birthday and see what I’ve been up to. I am 30 now after all and my
memory is not what it used to be. I started doing this on my old little
blog Doodlezilla when I
was turning 27. I find that it is a great way to look back and
appreciate the time that has past and kick my buttocks into doing more
things.So here are all the adventures I managed to squeeze into my year
of being 29*:
Just seeing his happy face would have been enough, but the sun was
also shining and my mum and best friend had sent me beautiful messages
to wake up to. All of a sudden the worries felt silly. I had gotten
worked up all night for nothing. Time is terrifying to dwell on. There
is a fantastic quote from Richard Dawkins who talks about how there are a
million eggs in the world that never turned into people, actually
billions. Incredible scientists that never got born, artists that never
existed and yet I get to be here. Being normal. Do you know how lucky
that is? To just have the chance to be here?
I heard a quote this week:
We used the Quick Cat 2 boat , which you can book here.
The company was one of the first to set out on the high seas to see
these animals and they were great. We left on time, there was plenty of
room, they gave us facts about the animals and area and even provided
lots of snacks and drinks.
If I’m honest I held no hope that we would even see a whale . There
was 2 days left of the season when we stepped on the boat and our hopes
had been lowered by the staff. If we hadn’t seen one on the trip we’d
have been given a free trip by the company so I wasn’t too worried, but I
was sending well wishes to all the Nordic gods that we’d see the fins
of some creatures of the deep.
We only had a few minutes to stare in wonder before we noticed in
the distance a huge cloud of water. We raced across the water and got
lucky enough to see a male whale displaying his powerful skills. He
jumped out doing barrel rolls and dives for about 15 minutes. Even our
guide was in shock . Unfortunately I was so enthralled by the show that I
didn’t have my camera out. I was a little too obsessed with seeing it
with my own eyeballs.
We got to see another handful of whales showing off as the day went
on, which meant I got to capture a few token shots (phew) and even got a
surprise visit from an angry lethal sea snake that wanted us dead.
Luckily the boat was very high so we didn’t have to actually meet the
most deadliest snake on the planet (the olive sea snake – in-case you
were wondering) .
