Brisbane: The Capital of Queensland
Having left Byron Bay in the morning, we arrived in Brisbane too early to check-in. We ended up hanging out at the hostel for a bit catching up on the Florida State University vs. University of Florida football game (Florida State won 27-2 – Yay!). And, we were able to join the hostel rooftop BBQ before mustering up energy to go explore.
Exploring Brisbane
We took off towards St George’s Square, the main square of town where Town Hall sits and a giant Christmas Tree was set up! From the square we worked our way down the pedestrian street to the bridge to cross over the river to South Bank.
South Bank has a giant Brisbane sign, a Ferris wheel, a walkway covered in flowers, and the best part, man-made lagoons and beaches along the riverfront. It’s a truly beautiful area but by the time we reached the lagoons it started pouring down rain causing everyone to take shelter. We waited out the heaviest rain before setting out to finish our exploration in the continuing thunder and lightning storm which was quite impressive.
Finding a Kangaroo Burger in Brisbane
Having had enough of the rain for now, we made our way back towards the hostel, a bit damp, to dry off before seeking out dinner. We had originally hoped to find a kangaroo burger but even with Google’s help were unable to do so.
While hanging out at our hostel, we met a number of our roommates including a Lithuanian girl whom we invited to join us for dinner. She had to shower and get ready so we hung around with our other roommates for about an hour as she did that. Eventually, we were ready to go so we headed down to check out the restaurant owned by the hostel first to avoid going too far in the rain. After looking at the menu, we found they serve a roo burger!
All this looking and it was right there the whole time! Unfortunately, our Lithuanian friend decided she’d like to go elsewhere, but we should stay, she insisted. Therefore we parted ways after having waited for no reason… At least the roo burger was really good! It is super lean but the burger was slabs of roo vs. ground up roo so it had more of a steak texture with a slightly different taste. After dinner we searched out some live music which an Irish Pub supplied, and we ended the night there enjoying the people watching.
Day 2 of Exploring Brisbane
In the morning, we set out to the Post Office to ship some of James’ stuff home that he wouldn’t need. After spending a while there we found lunch at a food court, which had the most delicious sushi oddly enough, and then set out for more city exploration.
The highlight of the mornings exploration was probably the Brisbane City Botanical Garden which featured a number of different ponds, flowers, birds, and more. Our walk also took us by Parliament and around more of the city center. From there it was back to the hostel to board our next bus to Hervey Bay where we would head to Fraser Island.
