DAY TWO IN THE "LUCKY COUNTRY"

South Bank Arbour

Day Two in Brisbane got off to an early start and we were dropped off close to the South Bank area. Unfortunately the roads were closed for maintenance and we couldn't find the Information centre in a hurry. We headed off hoping that we had chosen the correct route and soon walked through a beautiful Arbour of flowers and greenery to a magnificent river side pathway that led us to the Maritime Museum, our 1st port of call. It was quite amazing to see where the 2011 flood level had reached and it must have been an awesome experience for those who witnessed this event.

HMAS Diamantina

I was keen to step on board the HMAS Diamantina which has been installed in the old dry-dock. Our tour of the ship brought back many memories for me of my times when I boarded many Navy ships over a 25 year career with ships stores and the recorded sound of radio signals that played continually, gave it a rather eerie feeling and I half expected the ship to start moving up and down with the waves. The museum is manned by volunteers and has an excellent collection of Navy and Merchant shipping memorabilia. They had an exhibition celebrating the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic and many other items of a bygone age and the tour was most enjoyable.

The Beach @ South Bank

We stopped for a cup of tea and sat and watched the passing parade (one of my favourite pastimes) There were many runners and cyclists using the broad walk along side the river and the ferries that flitted here and there made for a busy scene. We had a bit of fun trying to track down a loud noise, which turned out to be a couple of huge black crows squawking in the trees, but this noise became quite tiresome, so we moved off. Further along the walk we came across a really amazing sight. A large area had been turned into a beach, complete with bikinis, sand, life guards and sunbathers. It had suffered during the floods and more than 3000 cubic metres of sand had to be replaced before the beach could be fully restored. The whole of South Bank is a walkers paradise, but my arthritis told me it was time for lunch. Lyn had spotted an outdoor eating establishment attached to an old historic pub, so we adjourned to the dining area, having ordered two steak sandwiches and a cold beer.

Now that's a sandwich!

The sandwiches duly arrived and I couldn't believe my eyes as they were HUGE and were accompanied by salad and fries! YUM! The pub was quite busy and I gather is a very popular watering hole for the many businesses that are located close by. The local bird population seemed to enjoy flapping around and from time to time a large Ibis would suddenly swoop down on the table next to us and then flap it's way to a higher vantage point where it sat and watched every mouthful being eaten, before flying off again to startle someone else.

On board a CityCat

From our lunch stop we wandered further along until we reached a major jetty where we decided to board a CityCat and take a tour upriver to our pickup stop at Bretts Landing further upstream. The CityCats and CityFerries are great people movers and have become an integral part of the Central Brisbane transport system with all transport apparently integrated with a single card system and they run from 5.50am until 10.30 at night. I believe there are 21 docking terminals and getting on and off is a breeze. We arrived at Bretts Landing and joked with the Cat staff, who waved and performed for the camera as the boat left an headed back to the City. While we waited for our transport to arrive, the ferries just kept arriving and leaving, with a new ferry about every ten minutes, some with quite a few passengers and some with lot's of school kids who just wanted to get to the other side of the river.

Kangaroo Point

Sheree arrived and we then went on a small Tiki tour around the suburbs to a wonderful lookout called Kangaroo Point where the view of Brisbane City is quite stunning. A wedding party were being photographed on the rocks below and I guess it is a photographers dream destination. Then it was time to head onto the ever present motorway for the trip back to our Apartment at Archer Hill, which is attached to the Royal Pines Golf Resort.