Brisbane - Retrospective

We are now at the end of our 2 & 1/2 month stay in Brisbane. Brisbane is an awesome city and we have had a great time here!

The view from the cultural centre to the Wheel of Brisbane.

Things we recommend in Brisbane :

• Australia Zoo - Steve Irwin's zoo on the Sunshine Coast. See previous post for photographs & details. http://www.australiazoo.com.au/
• Brisbane is the home of the Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art & Museum of Queensland. They can all be found in the Cultural centre just across the river from the city. The museum has a section devoted to interesting facts and history of Queensland. From Queenslander houses, strangler fig trees to the History of the Aussie classic 'Waltzing Matilda'. 

                                  

                           
                               Queenlands Art Gallery & Gallery Of Modern Art

       

                                             Corned beef tin cow

               

• The Pancake cafe on Ann Street was one of my favourite discoveries. Its open 24 hours a day and has a varied menu. With pancakes, crepes and even steaks on the menu. The cafe is located in a renovated church, which still has a lot of the original features. Most of the seats are pews and the windows are all stained glass. A nice relaxed atmosphere, some good music and a short stack with plenty of maple syrup = good times! Definitely check out the Pancake cafe if you've got a sweet tooth like me. 

• Teppanyaki Lovers was another our favourite food discoveries in Brisbane. Located in the Myer centre in the city this little food outlet serves great food at great prices. Everyday they run a special  offer between 9am -5pm you can get a large bowl of chicken Katsu curry for $5 - which is cheap! But more importantly the food is really good. 

                                  Jamie tucking into a seafood bento box.

• Streets Beach on Southbank. Right beside the Brisbane river. Great place to chill out, do some sunbathing and enjoy a free bbq station. 

With a great view of the city skyline. 

• Check out the farmers market in Brisbane square every Wednesday. Lots of local produce and good food. Check out the macaroon stall and definitely try the pistachio and the vanilla! As well as food the market also sells flowers. I bought a beautiful bunch of my favourite flower gerberras (in the above photograph) for $5 - bargain! 

• If you're going to be staying in Brisbane for longer than a week or two then look into longstay accomodation. Check out Gumtree and other sites for house shares, a great way to save some cash and not be stuck in hostels dorms. 

The view from our veranda, with the city skyline in the distance. 

• A Roy Lichtenstein exhibition is currently on at the QUT Gallery which is opposite the city botanical gardens in the CBD. A really interesting exhibition showcasing some famous prints from the Australian Gallery archives. With Free Admission, its well worth a look!

                                    

City Botanical Gardens.

                                             Mr.Whiskers - Our lucky Cat


 

Laters Brisbane, Hello Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast. Hopefully we'll spy a few Meter Maids sporting their legendary gold bikinis!

All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell

read the newspapers....

One of the best ways to find out what is happening in the area that you're staying in is to read the local newspaper. Of course its a bit difficult if you don't speak the language, but here in Oz thats not a problem.

As we are travellers and are on a budget it can be costly to buy a newspaper regularly, but there are alternatives. Read them online, or pick the free newspapers. Here in Brisbane 'MX' is distributed at stands throughout the city and train and bus stations every week day. It provides you with a brief overview of National and International news and lets you know what is going on in your local area.

It was through reading 'MX' that we discovered that the 'Paniyiri' Greek Festival was taking place in Musgrave Park a few weeks ago.

It was a brilliant day out and great to experience Greek culture here in Brisbane.

Filled with Food stalls selling traditional Greek cuisine, numerous bands and singers and plenty of dancing! We also saw a world record attempt at the worlds largest Zorba, we were going to join in but got distracted by the outstanding Honey puffs!!

www.paniyiri.com

I have been reading Bill Bryson's book 'Down Under', on my Grandmother's recommendation whilst travelling in Oz. Not only is it extremely funny but also a very helpful travel guide. In the book Bryson recommends reading the local paper to find out local news, but also because the politics etc is often filled with names that you don't know, discussing policies and other things that have absolutely no affect on you... its quite a refreshing experience! A lighthearted take on the news.

Finally I wanted to mention 'The Good Guide'. Based in Brisbane its a very cool little book that reveals the local secrets, underground and upcoming places. From restaurants, vintage shops, art, bars, book stores, clubs, gigs, the list goes on.

To quote the ' Good Guide' directly,
"The Good Guide is all about community and localisation. We want to showcase the underground happenings of our flourishing nests… hidden gems to discover and cool cultural events. There’s so much good stuff going on, shops opening, music being made, things being created, fashion being designed… all from our native nests that see the sun shining (well, most of the time!)." 

Its published Bi-annually and you can also check them out online @ http://thegoodguide.com.au 


You can even subscribe and become a V.I.Pigeon!!


Definitely have a look - Highly recommended!


All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell

New Farm

Jamie had done some exploring whilst I was at work and had taken the City Cat down to New Farm. He spotted the free bbq's there and decided that we should take a trip on the next sunny day that we both had off work.


It turned out to be a about 3 weeks before we both had a sunny day off together, but last Sunday we did. Which just happened to coincide with the 'World press Photo 2012' exhibition that was taking place in the Brisbane Powerhouse gallery in New farm - good timing! 

http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.org


We had decided to make our burgers from scratch whilst we were there so we packed our cool bag with micemeat, garlic, oliveoil, onions, bread & cheese, some pepsi max and Bundy Rum and we were all set. Headed to the Southbank terminal to catch the city cat.

                                              

Southbank from the riverside. 

You can purchase a 'Go Card' if you're going to be traveling on the cities public transport frequently. It works on the trains, buses and city cats. You can purchase them from the train or bus stations and top up as you use them. You 'Touch on' when you get on the bus/train/ferry and 'Touch off' when you reach your stop. Your fare is automatically calculated. It gives a discount on the regular fare price and as they don't do return tickets here, which I find bizarre, do people only travel in one direction here, or never go home...? 

Anyway public transport is good and runs regularly. I would definitely recommend using it. I have even been converted to using the bus!

Its about a 30 minute cruise along the river to New Farm and the view is lovely. 

                                                                   Jetskiers tried to race us.... unsurprisingly they won!

Upon arriving in New Farm to our dismay its was extremely busy. Everyone was out to enjoy the sunshine. Groups of families had emptied their kitchen cupboards of all their condiments and commandeered all the bbq stations!

A girl and her dog enjoying the viewing. 

We (or rather I) decided that we should check out the photography exhibition and by the time we were finished hopefully we could start cooking, so we headed to the powerhouse. 

The World Press Photo 2012 exhibition was superb. A brilliant collection of photojournalism. In my opinion the photographs from the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami are breathtaking. No matter 

how many times I see them I can't begin to comprehend the devastation that is left behind. 

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/gallery/2012-world-press-photo

A great travelling exhibition that you should see if you have the opportunity! 

Unfortunately the afore mentioned families had cracked open some beers and had no intention of moving so we jumped back onto the city cat. As we were approaching Mowbray Park I spotted some BBQs not in use so we jumped off and Jamie started cooking!

       

The burgers were a great success and delish! 

A jazz band was playing on the riverbank, the sun shining and we had plenty of Bundy rum, all the ingredients for a top notch afternoon!

The journey on the ferry map. 

All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell

   

Temp jobs & long stay accommodation

So we're in Brisbane, its a very nice city and we could do with earning some money so we decided to try and find some work here. We got some CV's/resumes, printed and started handing them out to anywhere that had vacancies and applying for jobs online. After around a week of no responses it was beginning to feel like tedious job hunting back in the UK, but then we had a realisation! We had been applying for ordinary full/part time job vacancies when we are only here on a Working Visa for 1 year - we should apply for temporary jobs. The following week Jamie had an interview for a temp agency and secured a 9 week contract. I also got work with a temp agency for a few weeks.

Before we arrived in Australia the only work that anyone ever mentioned to us was farm work. Having heard a few bad stories and wanting to live in the city we decided that at the moment farm work is not for us.

There are other options!

Our tips for finding work are :

• Don't be picky, remember its not going to be your career. 
• Some hostels will have job boards etc and will be able to help you find work, so use them! 
• Check online jobsites.
• Be persistent.
• Don't give up! 

So as we had work here we now needed to find cheaper long term accommodation than the place that we are currently staying in. Most letting agencies require at least a 3month tenancy agreement, usually 6 months so that was not an option for us.

We found our new place on Gumtree. Its another shared house. In a good location, no bond to pay, bills included and reasonable rent.

If you are looking for a place online beware that there are number of scams out there. Asking you to send large security deposits overseas etc.
To be honest they aren't difficult to spot.
So the moral to the story is, if the accommodation and price looks too good to be true - then it isn't real! There are a lot of genuine ads online, but I would recommend a viewing before making any sort of agreement and certainly before handing over any cash.

All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell

Australia Zoo - Crikey!

As we are in Brisbane we had to see the legendary 'Australia Zoo - Home of the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin'. Its about an hours drive from Brisbane to Steve Irwin Way, Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast.

On arrival we were given a map on the zoo, its a pretty big place and a 'Crocs Rule' badge, which you can see I am stylish wearing on my shorts in the above photograph! The memory and legend of Steve Irwin certainly lives on in Australia Zoo. As you enter the zoo you are greeted by a statue of the Irwin family - photograph below. 

The Irwin family.

There are lots of different shows to choose from, from tortoises to elephant feeding, however we really wanted to see what Australia Zoo is famous for - the crocs at the Crocoseum! 

'Never smile at a crocodile...'

Don't worry, he's stuffed! 

      

                                He's a real alligator!

 In an earlier post when we were in the rainforest in Cairns I discussed the Cassowary. Fortunately we didnt encounter any in the wild, but we did see some in Australia zoo. We were told in Cairns that they can run very fast and if we encounter one to remain very still and not to try and run away as it would attack. We actually saw the Cassowary in the photograph below chase after a wild turkey and they can run extremely fast and give a mean kick and have very sharp 'Dagger like' claws.
The 'Helmet' or the bone on top of its head is to protect its head as it makes it way through the rainforest.

Not wanting to give them to bad a reputation I must add that the Cassowary is an endangered species. They are under threat from destruction of the rainforest, cars, dogs and starvation. Its diet mainly consists of fruit that is picked off the floor of the rainforest and the seeds that the bird secretes are undamaged, so the cassowary plays a vital part in the dispersion of rainforest seeds.  

A sleepy Koala. They really do smell like Eucalyptus-Cough sweets, but are so cute.  

Jamie was quite taken with the piglets at the mini zoo. 

 There is an entire section devoted to Steve Irwin and the Irwin family. Family photographs, newspaper articles detailing his career and his sudden death.

     

A large section is devoted to messages that people sent to the Irwin family after Steve died. There were messages from all over the world, even a Welsh flag in there! There were also lots of the legendary khaki shirts signed with tributes and messages along another wall. 

The Croc show at the Crocoseum. 

It all began with some very impressive birds!

Then the croc......

       

     

     

A stuffed barracuda head - yuck, was on display with a number of other parts of other animals.

    

                                              Shorter than the average human...

              

 'Roo Food' is on sale at the zoo so you can tempt the kangaroos to come over and say hello.

                     

               

                           The happiest person to ever see a kangaroo?

The kangaroos were really tame, as to be expected and even posed for a few photographs! 

 

The roos had a shaded 'rest area' to escape from all the visitors. If they were sleeping in the rest area they were not to be disturbed. With the size of their legs I would not disturb them! 

This emu did not like having his photograph taken. Firstly he hissed at me and then chased us all the way along the fence! 

Nana's are always the boss! 

       In the African Safari part of the zoo there are elephants, rhinos, zebra, giraffe.

 We saw a show at the tiger temple. A huge tiger playing in the water. Australia Zoo raise money to aid the decreasing tiger population in Asia.

       

                                             Jamie made a friend.

                                     Then it was onto the snake enclosure.......

            Jamie casually annoying ' The world's most venomous snake'!!

     

Funtimes in the gift shop!

Any sort of memorabilia you could possibly want is on sale in the gift shop. From animal masks, as modeled above to Steve Irwin action figures that come with a pack of plastic crocodiles to wrestle with! 

Australia Zoo really is great. Really interesting with plenty of animals to see, great shows and things to learn. If your in the Brisbane its a must do and a great tribute to the life and work of Steve Irwin! 

All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell