Brisbane

We arrived in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon.

Our accommodation here is another old Queenslander, which is awesome. I love these houses. We are renting a room in the house and sharing with 3 other people. In this house we are sharing with Aussie businessmen, rather than travellers. Which is cool, they are very nice but I find it a bit bizarre that they would stay in shared accommodation. Some of them live far away from the city and only stay for the week and go home at the weekend, but it still puzzles me, why not stay at a travel lodge or motel?Anyway we also have a pool... but its only about 22-23 degrees outside, so too cold for a swim.

We were so happy to see a city!
Its been really interesting to explore some of the towns in the North, but we really enjoy city life and shops that are open later than 5pm!
So we celebrated our city freedom by going to the cinema at 10pm.It was nice to leave the cinema past midnight and still see bars and restaurants open.

We are staying in the Highgate Hill area, which is a 10 minute walk to the Southbank and Westend suburbs of Brisbane. Southbank is home to the Cultural centre. Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art and Museum of Queensland can all be found in the cultural centre. There are many nice restaurants along the Southbank area and it also home of the Southbank campus of Griffith University.  Southbank is also home to Streets Beach. A beachside setting, with sand and a swimming lagoon which look over the Brisbane river and towards the city. So you can go for a swim, then sunbathe on the beach and look out at the city skyline. It really is awesome.

The Brisbane Big Wheel is also on the Southbank. A big wheel like the London eye, I imagine must give an amazing view of the city from the top. 

West End is home to lots of vintage clothes shops, book shops, cafes, restaurants, bars and clubs. A really nice area that we are looking forward to exploring!

The CBD sits on the banks of the Brisbane river. As we are living on the opposite side of the river we cross the bridge to get to the centre. There are also 'City Cats', which are catamarans that are like river buses. You can catch them to go from one side to other or to go further along the coast. We have seen some commuters getting on and off the city cat in rush hour... we think that this is one of the best commutes to work in the world.

 Like most cities there is plenty to do and plenty of things going on and Brisbane is no different.  We cannot wait to do some exploring!

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Hello Airlie Beach....

So after leaving Townsville at 3:30pm, we arrived at Proserpine train station at 9pm on April 24th. A shuttle bus was waiting at the station to take us on the 20 minute journey to Airlie Beach.

As we arrived in Airlie it was a dark so we couldn't really see that much of the town. Thankfully the bus dropped us outside our apartment, as it was up a steep hill and it would not have been a pleasant trek up the hill in the dark with our luggage in tow. The office had closed at the apartments, but the owners had left the light on in our apartment and a welcome note for us on the table, which was a nice touch, made us feel welcome!
The self contained apartments were impressive, excellent facilities and a balcony that looked over part of Airlie Beach Harbour, the view was beautiful.

          

The following morning we did some exploring. Firstly we met the owners of the apartments and they recommended some tours of the Whitsunday Islands to us - there are so many tours available, lots are very similar, so  it helps to have someone in the know to point out the differences between them, the pros and cons. We had a swim in the apartment pool, which also looked over the Harbour which was beautiful, although the pool was freezing cold!

Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. The town itself quite small however has loads of things to do. Its a very popular with backpackers, but does attract a variety of people. For example, families with children & couples of all ages, as there are such wide range of activities on offer- something to suit every ones taste and budget! There are numerous shops, hotels, apartments, hostels, restaurants, bars, clubs, a swimming lagoon and of course the beautiful views. 

      

 

                                      

     

During our stay we fell a little bit in love with Airlie Beach.  

All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell

                       

Cairns - Retrospective

Our verdict on Cairns :

We arrived at the worst time, just as the rain & storms began, so we didn’t see it at its best. However once the sun was shining we had an awesome time.

In hindsight we would probably have stayed a week or 2, as 4 weeks was way too long for us. However it did give us a good grounding, as mentioned in previous posts we got : a bank account, medicare, tax file number all sorted whilst in Cairns. 

Things we recommend :

·      Lazy days in the sun at the lagoon are awesome – take a good book or your Ipod and laze in the sun. make the most of the free BBQ stations and take a dip in the lagoon. 

·      The Night Markets are a great place to grab a good meal at a reasonable price and check out the market stalls. 

·      Bellisimo has amazing icecream! Try the Pistachio. 

                                           

·      Paddywhacks on Shields Street, – good food, nice atmosphere and friendly staff.   
    Photograph below is Jamie's Seafood BBQ Platter. Which consisted of :  char grilled skewered prawns, marinated baby octopus, tuna and barramundi, presented with moreton bay bugs, grilled bread, fattoush salad, mango chilli sauce, kakadu plum sauce and lime aioli.

·      Tuesday is $10 day at the cinema.

·      Head to the Courthouse – Coronas are $3.50 all day every day, they also do $10 meals.

·      Check out Rusty’s Market Fri – Sun, great choice of local produce. 

         

Live singer at Rusty's market had to take his photograph as when we got there he was singing 'Puff the magic dragon' - What a guy! 

·      There are plenty of tours to do in Cairns and loads of tourist shops, but shop around most places will offer you some sort of discount for your business.

·      Underart Gallery – a small gallery but had some really lovely pieces of work. If you’re a fan of the little gallery and new talent check it out.

·      The Great Barrier Reef is a must do & Hire an underwater camera.       

·     You have to see the Rainforest – unless you’re feeling particularly adventurous and want to go it alone – check out Captain Matty’s Barefoot Tours!

·      Make yourself a packed lunch when you go on tours, nutella, vegemite, jam sandwiches, pasta etc easy to make and carry with you, saves you a few $’s.

·      Vegemite is pretty much the same as marmite – Jamie’s recommendation & hes a marmite fan!

·      Check out the fruit bats – they fly out for food at around 6-7pm, watch the sky, you'll hear them before you see them – its an amazing sight!       

                                            

·      If you have a drivers licence then hire a scooter and do some exploring! Check out the Northern beaches.

·       There’s lots of ‘Backpacker’ discount meals etc, but don’t expect much from them!! We did try one once – never again!

·      Cairns Sharehouse – Good Discounts on tours, cafes, restaurants & very friendly and helpful staff. A great idea, but not flawless in its practice as you cant control who you share with. A lot of people tend to stay at the Sharehouse for a few months at a time to study, work etc so it can feel like your living in their house, which can be a bit awkward. However the houses have ample storage space for food in cupboards and fridge freezer. Good cooking facilities and each person is given their own cutlery and crockery, its also reasonably priced, so cant really complain! The shared areas are cleaned professionally once a week. Rota for taking out the rubbish is done by room – so its all fair, provided that everyone does it!

Hungry Jacks is Burger King in disguise! 

All rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell