Brisbane

25^th February – Brisbane

Today we arrived in Brisbane – it was grey, wet and overcast.  However, we were looking forward to our day.  So we got up early and caught the Shuttle Bus for the 45 minute drive into the centre of town, where we were pleased to meet our friends Mike and Kay (Mike was one of Geoff’s work colleagues in England, who is now working in Brisbane).

Whilst the two girls went off to look around the shops Mike and Geoff found a coffee shop to catch up on how things are working out in Brisbane.  After the girls returned from making their purchases we jumped into Mike’s car and drove through town to Bretts Wharf.   Here we caught the “Cat”, which is the local river bus, for a journey up the river with spectacular views of the Brisbane skyline.

We stopped at the old Brisbane Powerhouse that had been converted into galleries and entertainment centre, where we had beer and coffee.  We then braved the heavy rain to return to the “Cat” to complete the journey into the centre of Brisbane.

After an enjoyable if rather wet trip we came ashore and Mike very kindly treated us to lunch in George’s Fish Restaurant, with panoramic views across the river.  As you can see Doreen  had a light! Lunch of Moreton Bay Bugs, a local delicacy (they are a crayfish like a small lobster) and really delicious.  She had five halves.  Geoffrey also had a local fish called Barramundi, which was also very enjoyable.

All too soon it was four o’clock and we had to catch a taxi back to the Shuttle pick up point for the 45 minute drive back to the ship.

We thank Mike and Kay for making us so welcome in Brisbane, despite the rain and Geoff specially enjoyed catching up on all the news of other colleagues that have migrated to Australia.