Exploring the City

May 28,2010

City: Brisbane

Day two: What a day!! Today the group had nothing planned so we were allowed to do as we pleased. I decided to explore the city…wanted to yesterday but had no one to go with. My mom and dad probably wouldn’t approve but I ended up setting out to explore the big city alone. I am extremely impressed that I didn’t follow the crowd or cowardly hide in my room all day. A big group of people headed out for the zoo while four or five went to Surfer’s Paradise. I knew we were spending the next 3 weeks on islands so going to the beach sounded less then appealing and for a while I was convincing myself that I should go to the zoo. At the time I thought we were going to Australia Zoo (home to the late Steve Irwin) however, I found out everyone wanted to go to the local zoo. (Australia zoo was about two and a half hours away). So I took a chance and broke free. I retrieved a map from the front desk and started my journey and boy did I cover some ground. My main goal was to see the botanic gardens. Along the way I stumbled upon parliament plaza where I saw the parliament house. I saw a sign for the old government house but I was already at my original destination of the gardens so I decided to catch the house on my way out. The gardens were amazing, so peaceful and quiet. I also learned a lot about native species and even saw a research project in progress with various bamboo species and water conservation. The gardens edge ran along the Brisbane river. So as I was finishing my stroll through the gardens, I found a mangrove fish habitat. The habitat had a pedestrian wooden walk way over a little inlet type area of the river. It was high tide so many of the animals that lived in the area were not visible (also I saw a ginormous spider the size of my palm in a web the size of me…needless to say I keep my distance). After coming out of the gardens, I wanted to double back to find the government house. Somewhere along the way I took a wrong turn and ended up walking along the riverside pathway. Before I noticed the error, I was close to Victoria Bridge. Instead of turning around I walked across headed toward the south bank park (This is when it started raining, pretty hard in my opinion). When I crossed I found several wonderful spots to get pictures of the city skyline. The rain picked up so I made my way to the art gallery and the museum. The gallery had a special traveling exhibit of artistic hats (…interesting). The museum was a lot of fun. I learned about Australian history in aviation and sailing. I also saw an exhibit on endangered species (educated the young ones on the dangers of littering and the devastating effects of city development on animal habitats). They even had an exhibit on the evolution of swim wear (including Ian Thorpes’ Adides full body suit from the 2000 Olympics). After touring the museum I headed out destined for Musgrave park. The park was farther south outside of the city. Finding nothing special and getting creeped out that I was the only one walking around I turned straight back for the city. I then happened to walk right into the heart of south bank park. This is where locals go to have picnics and relax. It runs along the south side of Brisbane river and has spectacular views of the city. There I saw (and splashed around in…just couldn’t help myself) a little man made lagoon. It was quite cool to have a beach like area in the midst of a city. I also saw a memorial park and a maritime museum (which was closed). I made my way over the goodwill bridge hoping I could get another chance at finding the old government house. After walking (and getting lost several times) through QUT (Queensland University of Technology) I found it. I toured around inside (Dad would have loved it) Then I decided that my touring of the city was over. The sun was going to set soon and I didn’t want to be wondering around after dark. Well along the way I got lost…again but “no worries”. I ended up walking in circles for 45 minutes but I found a few souvenir shops. I like to say that I meant to get lost so I could find the shops…haha. But now I am safe and sound in my bed and man am I exhausted. My feet and back and knees and shoulders hurt more then ever before. I am so proud of myself for walking the streets and doing what I wanted. I had so much fun, even though the rain soaked me and the clouds didn’t make for a pleasant looking afternoon. I learned a lot about the culture of the Aussie. And for a day I felt like an Aussie …an Aussie that was slightly photo happy. I saw gum scrapers (blokes with machines that steam gum off the sidewalks) and sidewalk sweepers. I saw a judge and a didjeridu player. I saw school children walking around the mall after school all wearing different uniforms from the different schools in the area. Successful day both personally and productively. And the best part was the tranquility of the beauty with no to do lists or timelines. I loved every minute of it. Hopefully tomorrow will be as wonderful as today (if I can ever walk again).
Notables:
There are no squirrels any where…strange to walk through the park and not see our furry little friends.
Walk between Victoria bridge and the goodwill bridge is about 2 km.
Beacon is thick cuts of ham, nothing like Americans idea of beacon
Mustard is the seeds, however, you can request “Genuine American mustard” to receive the form we associate with.