Brisbane

Day 30

Today was another travel day. We had to reverse our path and drive about 5 hours back to Alice Springs. We encountered more traffic on the way back, seeing about 65 cars and trucks heading to Uluru (at least 3 times as many as before).  Making the long haul are semis pulling four trailers called “Road Trains”.   That seems a little too long. 

We jumped on our flight to Brisbane and were surprised to learn that the time zone is 1 hour earlier than Sydney, even though they are further east (that would be like Boston being on Central Time, while NYC is on Eastern Time). Apparently, this section of Queensland (including Brisbane and our next city, Cairns) doesn’t change their clocks, so they are on the same time zone as Sydney half the year, but then ahead when Sydney “falls back”, keeping in mind that Australia is now entering the Fall season. So what we thought was a 2 hour flight turned into a 3 hour flight.

We arrived at our hotel, W Brisbane, and were pleasantly surprised with an amazing view of the South Bank waterfront area.

Then we were off to dinner. Since we didn’t actually have breakfast or lunch, we were really hungry. We selected the Black Hide Steak and Seafood Restaurant, which is in the brand new Queen’s Wharf casino. Paul Hinkley, our waiter for the evening, was formerly the personal butler for Paul Allen, the co-creator of Microsoft. He worked on Paul Allen’s yacht and traveled the world with him for 6 years. It was very entertaining to hear some of his stories. He then provided us with several recommendations in Brisbane.

Day 31

In the morning, we decided to go explore the city. They have many bridges that cross the Brisbane river, some of which are strictly for pedestrians. Our first stop was the Nepalese Peace Pagoda from the 1988 World Expo. As we meandered down the South Bank river front promenade, we encountered a lovely children’s waterpark and play area, galleries, restaurants, and cafes. The area was lush with trees and flowers and we enjoyed strolling in the shade.

Prior to dinner that evening, we headed to the “Wet Deck” back at the W to catch a drink & watch the sunset.

Afterwards, we headed to The Lex, the hotel restaurant, for dinner. The staff was delightful. We started with 4 cheeses from their cheese cart to enjoy with our Champagne. Both Champagne and cheese were expertly described and presented by Eduardo, the head waiter / wine steward. Cheryl had the snapper, which she proclaimed to be the best fish she’s had in our 3 weeks in Australia. Pat had the Kingfish sashimi entrée, which was delicious.

Day 32

We went to the end of the line and then walked to a Greek restaurant, Lefkas Taverna, that our waiter Paul had recommended. We had a great tzatziki dip with warm pita. What made the dip so good was that it was very firm, not watery. Our waitress gave us the secret – they whip fresh feta into the traditional tzatziki recipe to make it more substantial when served as a dip vs as a topping for gyros. Speaking of gyros (or “jiros” at this restaurant), we each ordered one and they were HUGE! They were also different from what we typically eat in the US, because the meat was all lamb (not the processed lamb-beef combination we’re used to), and it was chunks of lamb meat, not slices of processed meat. Quite delicious, and more than either of us could eat after the tzatziki and some saganaki.

Following our lunch, we decided to go to the Opal Museum, as Cheryl had heard that Australia is the world capital for opals. The museum is a private venture by a guy who acquires raw opals and turns them into jewelry. We had a short guided tour (about 20 minutes), which was quite interesting. We began our tour looking at their extensive collection of minerals and how they are formed. Then our guide explained that it takes 5 to 6 million years for a centimeter of opal to form, as silica-rich solutions slowly fill cracks in rocks and layers in clay, eventually hardening into the gemstone. Opals reflect light based on the size of the mineral molecules and the space that exists between adjacent molecules. Whatever the distance (measured in nanometers or 10^-9 meters) is, it corresponds to the wavelength of light that you see. When you move an opal and it changes colors, the light is being refracted to a different wavelength corresponding to the new color you see. Fascinating.

At the end of the tour we went opal shopping. Unfortunately, they sealed the opal in a container until we pass through customs, so we didn’t have to pay tax and we forgot to take a picture before that happened. When we get to New Zealand, we will have the great reveal.

That evening, we attended St. Stephen’s Cathedral for Mass. It was a relatively plain church for being a cathedral. Perhaps the most interesting thing was the bronze “non” Crucifix hanging above the altar. Unlike a typical Crucifix in which Jesus is shown nailed to the cross, this one had Jesus suspended in air, and the only part of the cross that was present was the cross-member. Although His arms are stretched, Jesus is not connected to the cross-member. Cheryl did some investigation and learned that the artist (John Elliott) wanted Jesus to be visible from all angles, even from behind the altar. The presentation in this manner is meant to capture Jesus’ pain, suffering, and death, but also his strength, triumph, and resurrection. In effect, it seeks to express the entirety of the Easter mystery.

For dinner tonight, Cheryl really stepped out of her comfort zone (again). We went to Donna Chang for Chinese food. Pat originally selected this restaurant, because it was identified as a “dim sum” restaurant. He has wanted Cheryl to try dim sum for years, thinking that the ability to select specific items would suit her perfectly. Unfortunately, this was not dim sum in the traditional sense, whereby servers push carts between tables to allow you to pick various items that they have. They did, however, serve “dim sum” food (primarily various dumplings) served in bamboo steam pots. We added pork and shrimp fried rice, plus some vegetable spring rolls. Cheryl gave it a try and tasted several of the items, but it was not her favorite meal of the journey (OK, it was her least favorite). On the other hand, Pat thoroughly enjoyed the meal, especially the xiao long bao (“Shanghai dumplings”).

Day 33

We walked to the South Bank to grab a quick lunch. Afterwards, we headed to the Queensland Museum Kurilpa where they have many of the species in Australia. They also had an exhibit on Anzac – Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought in the Gallipoli campaign, the first engagement in the WWI (1914–1918). The Allied deaths from that totaled over 56,000, including 8,709 from Australia and 2,721 from New Zealand.

Pat was fascinated by the only surviving tank from WWI. This captured German tank had a very short battle history, getting stuck in a mortar crater on one of its first uses, and abandoned by the crew. This tank was manned by a crew of 8 to 10 soldiers, each with a specific job, such as machine gunner (4 to 6), cannon fireman, driver, mechanic, and commander.

After a rest break back at our hotel, we decided to walk to Howard Smith Wharves, another recommendation from our waiter, Paul. We ate at Felons & Co, a microbrewery, each enjoying a wood-fired pizza. Most of the casual restaurants in Brisbane use QR codes heavily for ordering and payment. Felons was no exception. It’s great to be able to grab open seating anywhere in the venue and order without relying on a waiter, as all locations have a table number assigned. This service even extended to the “soft seating” shown in the middle top picture below on the tiered riverbank wall. What a great concept! For the journey home, we took the ferry, enabling us to capture many pictures of the city at night – quite beautiful.

We absolutely loved Brisbane and look forward to returning someday. We definitely only scratched the surface on this region, purposefully not scheduling a jam-packed few days as a way to pace ourselves along this journey. Brisbane has a bit of “little brother” syndrome from both the locals and the larger cities in Australia, but we found it to be a wonderful city. There is so much more to do here, including visits to the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, plus the “hinterlands” or mountains to the west.