Australia 4 - Brisbane & Sydney

Brisbane

Saturday, 5^th May 2012

Our friendly, but slightly strange (all tattoos and facial ticks) tow truck driver picked us up at around 11 am outside the KMS garage at the bottom of the Range in Toowoomba, taking us and our stricken Jucy camper van to Brisbane. He had a large collection of country music CDs for us to enjoy on the two hour journey, so we were pretty glad to arrive in this city of space and light.

Late autumn/early winter here is the most delightful time. The weather is warm in the day with clear blue skies, sparkling air, cool evenings and everything is still in bloom. It is green and lush as well, and everywhere you look in the city you see this green contrasted with the great expanses of water, glistening in the sun, spanned by long bridges.

This city is modern in every sense. The waterfronts are new and the architecture is bold and exciting and, of course, it is spotlessly clean. It is bustling and busy with great facilities for the inhabitants but still has a small town local feel.

They have a clever transport infrastructure that has buses that partly run on the road and partly on specially built concrete channels and viaducts that also run underground. These routes have been designed with a capacity that, in future, they can also take trains or trams. The system is also linked to the ferry services that run all around the harbours. The city council really want this to be a green city. However, wresting people from their cars is going to be a slow process, but they are working on it.

We are trying a new form of accommodation using an online accommodation service called 'Airbnb'. It is a way for people to let out a spare room, granny flat, apartment, or a whole house to visitors and travellers. It can be a shared bathroom with the host family or with private facilities, and the price pretty much indicates what you will get for your money. Hosts are reviewed by their guests, so you can see what others thought of their stay, and guests are reviewed by the hosts, so it works both ways. It is also a secure booking system.

We are staying in a house in the suburb of Brisbane known as the 'Gabba', which for all you cricket fans needs no explanation. It is the site of one of the world's great cricket grounds, revered by fans everywhere.

The house itself is late Victorian, made of wood and very beautifully restored, using classic cream and green paint - there are a family of possums living around here and people have to put wire across pipes and gutters or they will be living in your roof. We are staying in a basement room with attached bathroom. The hosts provided a microwave, fridge, kettle, dishes and cutlery, plus breakfast items of yoghurt, cereal, milk and so on. We had our own separate entrance and could come and go as we pleased, although the hosts were very happy to talk to us and gave hints and tips on where to go and what to see. It's like bed and breakfast without the strain of actually staying in a proper B & B and we liked it. The cost is far less than a hotel, so we liked that too.

We hopped on a bus down town after dumping our bags and walked all round the harbour then caught a ferry back across and went to a big pub that specialises in top quality steaks. We ate salad and drank beer, while all around us huge Aussies ate gigantic steaks and enjoyed themselves. It was strange being in a city again after all that space – not that it is crowded here in the sense of, say, Bristol.

Sunday, 6^th May 2012

It is Buddha’s Birthday and down on the South Bank there is a festival with ceremonies, singing and dancing performances and live music. There are also about a dozen food stalls, all with food made by local Asian societies for young people. They are all vegetarian and selling the most wonderful food. We choose from the Hari Krishna stall for lunch and sit eating it on the lawn, in the sun, watching the music.

The South Bank is a long and beautiful walkway along the river that takes you through bougainvillea covered paths, ponds, green spaces, and a public swimming pool – with a beach! At the end of the walk sit the brand new City Museum, Modern Art Gallery, Brisbane Art Gallery and a Science and Discovery Centre.

We visited the Modern Art Gallery that houses a truly dazzling, awe inspiring and all round fine collection of modern Aboriginal art. We also enjoyed wandering through the architecture and appreciating the relaxed approach to life that the Brisbanites take. 

We had a great day, apart from catching the wrong bus going home and ending up at the end of the line in the middle of nowhere with the only grumpy bus driver and had to wait for it to turn around and go back . . . but it didn't dampen our spirits.

Monday, 7^th May 2012

Labour Day holiday in Queensland so limited services and openings in town. We went back into the city for the afternoon and walked across Victoria Bridge in the sunshine to visit the Museum and Art Gallery, then back over the river to the Queen Street Mall for a bit of window shopping. 

 By this time our feet had quite enough walking and we headed back via a bottle shop and an Indian take-away for a quiet evening, because tomorrow we fly to Sydney, so we need to pack.

We are very excited about Sydney as we are going to visit old friends Plip and Alex, who we haven't seen for 8 years.

Sydney

Tuesday, 8^th – Tuesday 15^th May

Caught a plane at 4.15 in the afternoon and landed in Sydney at twilight and caught the train into town in darkness. This city has a very good transport system and it was easy to get a connection to Turramurra, a short journey out, in the leafy northern suburbs.

Alex and Plip gave us such a warm welcome, literally because the fire was lit, and physically with big hugs. We also met their sons Hamish and Sam again and they have both changed out of all recognition, particularly in height! It had been such a long time since we had seen them and yet we so quickly settled in to big chats and big glasses of wine! Alex cooked us a lamb dinner that couldn't be beat and we went off to bed in a warm fuzzy haze. To be staying in a home, after all these months in hotels and camping, especially in Plip and Alex's home, was a wonderful experience.

Next morning they drove us out  . . . to Cottage Point in the middle of Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. It is a small private community with an exquisite restaurant looking out over the water. We stopped there for a drink but we suspected we weren't posh enough as they told us they will only serve booze with a meal, so we left and got tea and cake at the little café on the other side of the creek, much more relaxed and much better prices!

Later, we went to the cinema to see the Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was Celia's first cinema experience since the terrible flea bites in Bangkok – but no such ill effects here, just nice memories of India.

Sydney is a great town for sightseeing so we duly spent a day doing that. Although it is Autumn we hit a patch of warm and sunny weather and we went down to catch a ferry from Circular Quay. This is the ferry transport hub for the city and bustles with life as the ferries whiz in and out.

Everywhere you look are sweeping vistas, interesting architecture, colour, light and life. Then there is the particular energy buzz you get from this city. That can-do attitude, coupled with; 'so what if it doesn't work out, I'll do something else' approach to life.

Our ferry took us to Manly Beach. This is a beautiful ride out past the Harbour Bridge, unbelievably huge close up, and the Opera House, stunning and magnificent, through bays and past islands to this relaxed and touristy area. The beach is lovely and we watched some surfers and ate ice cream, then it was time for culture.

We went back on the ferry. We walked round the Opera House complex and then took a delightful walk through the Botanic Gardens and what is known as the Domain to the Art Gallery of New South Wales and looked at all the art. Then it was back into the city through the park to the posh department store, David Jones, where nothing was purchased except dinner for later from their brilliant food hall.

One night the four of us went into town and had dinner at Ripple Restaurant. It's in a fantastic setting, just next to the famous Lunar Park fun fair and more or less underneath the bridge with the best views of the harbour.

Sunday lunch in the Dickson household gave us a real taste of home life as daughters Jessica and Beth, plus boyfriend George, were there for Sunday lunch - leg of lamb cooked to perfection by Alex, followed by a dessert that was made by Jessica called Butterscotch Sponge which, for John, was a pinnacle of the pudding world! 
 This is a favourite family recipe and has now been written down and will be tried as soon as we get back to 'Blighty' (watch out Pudding Club).


Tip of the Day: As the weather changes to chilly, just visit the Salvation Army or any other reputable second hand shop and tog up as required. We got coats for Au$20 that were perfect for our needs here, and in New Zealand.

On our last day in Sydney we visited the Reverse Garbage warehouse at Stanmore. It has been here for 40 years and John enjoyed meeting the staff and comparing their style and content with Scrapstore in Bristol. The area also had many other community type projects; theatre, recycling, green power projects, art galleries and workshops. 
This is a mixed area of well-to-do restoration project Victorian/Edwardian era properties, student lets and properties in poorer condition, housing people with greater social needs. This was reflected in the free food van that provides lunch every day for anyone who wants it, right outside Reverse Garbage. It is operated by a Christian charity project. John was offered a meal and tried it out and said it was really good.

We went down to Darling Harbour and watched the sea sparkling in the sun and reflected on our time in Australia and contemplated what it was going to be like in New Zealand – once again we have absolutely no idea!

Detail of the Day: Australian enthusiasm - Back at Turramurra station that evening, we enquired of the friendly ticket clerk about train times to the airport in the morning. In the usual friendly Australian way, he wanted to know where we were from and where we were going. When we said New Zealand, his reply was “Don't take a bloody camera with you, it's too bloody beautiful”!. He explained that you just have to keep stopping all the time to take shots and it drives you mad because it takes you all day to get anywhere.

The wonderful time we had being with friends in their home was so comforting and warm. The amount of wine and beer consumed was impossible to calculate and our livers all need a rest now. Thanks Plip, Alex, Hamish and Sam – come and visit us next time!


Christchurch, South Island of New Zealand will be the next report. Until then - “G'day”.