Round The World Honeymoon: Day 68

Saturday 8^th January 2011

We woke up with a stretch after a great night’s sleep in time to skype Helen and Eric – very entertaining as they were both pissed. They were on the Caffreys and wine (not mixed) and we were on orange juice and muesli!!!

As we sat on the couch looking out across Brisbane we could see the rain coming in and sure enough 10 mins later it was pouring down again. They call Queensland the Sunshine State – it’s anything but!

We whiled away the morning posting the blog and watching a documentary about honey badgers on TV – you really can’t predict the knowledge you’ll pick up whilst travelling!

By lunchtime the sky seemed to be clearing a bit, in that it was light grey and not black so we ventured out.

We had a wander into town to off load some second hand books. We need to drop some weight as we’re flying to Airlie with only a 20kg baggage allowance and all our other flights we’re allowed 23kg. We were going to post some stuff home until we found out how ridiculously expensive that was – with less than a month to go it doesn’t seem worth it. Instead we’ve bought some of those vacuum bags that you put your winter clothes and quilts away in and packed down all the stuff we don’t reckon we’ll need – mainly jumpers, hats, walking socks etc. So still carrying the weight but the bags shouldn’t be so much of an arse to pack anymore! Good news since this is probably my least favourite bit of the travelling process.

We were headed roughly in the direction of Brsibane’s cricket ground, also known as the Gabba stadium. It seemed appropriate as the 5^th test of the Ashes finished in Sydney yesterday and England were taking the Ashes back home with them in victory.

Along the way we found ourselves wandering through the Botanical gardens with lily ponds and HUGE trees.

We crossed the Brisbane river and found the Gabba – OK it wasn’t that difficult given the enormous flood lights. To Franky’s disappointment it was all shut up with no tours or anything – I secretly suspect he was using this as an excuse to further gloat at the Aussies. We had a mooch around the outside and headed back towards central Brisbane on the ferry.

This is the ‘famous’ Storey Bridge in the background – a poor cousin of Sydney’s I think!

We jumped off the ferry at the South bank. There’s a man made beach here which was pretty quiet for a Saturday – but not that surprising considering the lousy weather.

We also discovered lots of restaurants and bars in this area. We were pretty hungry as it was now 4pm and we hadn’t had lunch so opted for The Plough which did good steak and live music – always a winner! We wouldn’t usually be choosing the most expensive thing on the menu but since this meal should be on the insurance company…. Why not?

After lunch/tea we walked back down the Southern bank of the river and crossed the bridge directly in front of our apartment block.

It was time for a Frank nap for some and so I got to monopolise the lap top for a bit.

We got our glad rags on, ready to see what Brisbane had to offer on a Saturday night. Franky even IRONED his shirt! – neither of us has seen an iron for 68 days! The rain was back so we decided to have a few beers in the apartment before heading out – hardly a hardship as we were sat on the balcony with amazing views of the city. When the Becks supply was exhausted we were forced to leave!

We headed back to The Plough as they had been advertising live music. Sure enough there was a guy playing acoustic covers – so we grabbed a table. It seemed some of the patrons of this bar had been on the beer since our earlier visit at lunchtime – especially one Scottish lad who was celebrating his 21^st birthday (which apparently he’s been celebrating since Tuesday!). He was proudly wearing his kilt, and equally proudly proving that he was a true Scotsman.

The bar shut at midnight and we were forced to source further entertainment. We had been advised that

Boundary Street was good for live music and late night bars. Map in hand, we headed off in that direction. 10 mins later we found Boundary Street.

Another great Aussie road sign!

Unfortunately it seemed that the bands were finished for the night but they were still serving drinks for the next hour so we joined the throng for another beer.