It was sad leaving Byron Bay and the plan was to have a gentle weekend in Brisbane. Apparently it rained in Brisbane the whole time we were away but luckily we got back to fairly clear skies. All in all, we felt a bit of a n anti climax after 3 days (and nights) of eating, drinking and some seriously late nights. Me and Phil both felt the vibe of Byron Bay and it was a great one. It was good of Mick & Lynn for putting us up in the yellow room, and also, for giving up two days of their time to show us the sights of Byron Bay. Without them, we would have missed a lot. We especially enjoyed the light house walks watching the surfers from the top and The Railway pub, but most of all we enjoyed the times we spent altogether chatting on their deck.
It’s not often we meet a couple so like minded as us, that genuinely enjoy each other’s company, who also like a cold beer or two and live to travel, which is maybe the reason we get along. Mick and Lynn are the most, widely travelled couple that I know and they are expert at doing it on a budget. Both me and Phil can do cheap but M&L do miles better, which perhaps is not so surprising, given that they are 70’s hippies and true Oz travellers. We have done the motels, which as Lynn says can be a bit sterile (and they are) but Mick and Lynn book a double room at the Back Packer hostels. We haven’t stayed at any as yet but Phil & I have talked and will be trying out the Back Packer’s on the next stint of our journey. Okay, we maybe the oldest folk in town and if we don’t enjoy the experience we can revert back to the motels I think we have to give it a go. If only, to find out what we may, or may be missing.
Lynn gave us a load of useful travel tips of good places to visit, starting from Brisbane and heading north, but as usual, me and Phil, operating from the seats of our pants and leaving everything to the last minute have messed up. Everything was pretty much booked up so a lot of the stuff Lynn told us to do, was out of our reach. Our fault, and if you plan a trip to Beautiful Brisbane, remember book at least one week in advance especially during high season. All wasn’t lost though; the receptionist at the Soho hotel booked us on a lovely lunch river cruise and told Phil how to get to the pier via a lovely walk from the hotel through the Botanical Gardens. It was an absolutely beautiful walk, for the most part in the shade, which made it even better.
The boat trip which was called ‘The Kookaburra River Queens’ cruise, which we boarded at Eagle Street Pier at 12pm, was pretty cool. It cost 50 dollars each which included lunch and was well worth the money. Drinks cost extra but no worries, fresh prawns, oysters, crab and lots more pretty much accounted for the price. The captain was a complete scream, acting as the meet and greet, giving constant on line commentary and entertainment as well as the steering! Bless ‘im, with his handle-bar moustache, he was certainly a character!
We got off the boat and headed to the home-made beach just by the Ferris Brisbane Wheel. Phil had a swim but I couldn’t cope with all the screaming kids so we laid our towels for an hour of sunbathing on the green by the great screen. The sun was hot and I was sweating bucket loads so we packed up the back-pack and headed for a pub, called the Plough. Luckily for us they had a very good live female vocal, so we got a beer and took in the atmosphere. We got talking to a few locals but after a while, decided to head back to the hotel to have a shower and wash the sand out of our bums. A quiet night, showers a draft blog and early to bed in readiness for another day in Brisbane.
Kai loved the photo of the lizard as he thought it was a 'baby crocodile' x
ReplyDeleteBless 'im, hope he wasn't too scared! x
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