Last Days in Brisbane

Our wonderful Aussie Adventure holiday is winding down, and we have spent the last few days here in Brisbane – a very, bustling,  diverse city indeed.  Our last few days have been packing in some sightseeing, and enjoying the wonderful warm weather.  We spent several hours on one of the free City Hopper ferries, which stopped off at all the handy terminals along the river - we just stayed put and enjoyed the ride there and back again.

Enjoying the free ferry City Hopper

The following day we bought a package tour and  boarded another ferry, the Mirimar, which took us on a Koala River Cruise. A very pleasant trip indeed, and we enjoyed listening to the informative commentary all about Brisbane as we cruised along.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary was established in 1927 with only 2 koalas; now with over 130 of these cuddly creatures as well as a variety of Aussie wildlife, it holds the Guinness World Record for the first and largest koala sanctuary in the World.  They are sleepy little creatures and spend their days eating for a while, then sleeping soundly.  Some of them had babies tucked up in their arms.

Such cute little koalas

Then there were the kangaroos, just lolling about in the afternoon sunshine – they were in a large open enclosure and the public were allowed to get up quite close to them.  The kangaroos were very relaxed with all the visitors.   I had always thought that large kangaroos could be quite dangerous with their strong legs and sharp claws, but these are obviously well used to being the centre of attention.

A very relaxed mob of kangaroos

Time for an ice-cream

Then today I saw some “patchwork with a difference” at the Museum of Brisbane.  Artist Carol McGregor works closely with members of the local Aboriginal community to record their stories on contemporary possum skin cloaks.  They were wonderful works of art indeed.  As possums are protected animals in Australia, these skins were sourced from New Zealand.

Contemporary possum skin cloaks, by Carol McGregor

And to finish off our time in the museum we had lunch at the lovely Shingle Inn, which looks for all like a little slice of England.  The original fixtures had been donated by the Bellchambers Family and installed into the City Hall by the Brisbane City Council.  Full of beautiful golden paneling, chandeliers, and old English style pottery and decorations, it was a lovely lunch experience indeed.    The table was set with engraved silver, together with the named crockery – so we enjoyed playing ladies and gents for a while.  We ordered waffles (with berries for her and bananas for him)  and coffee and enjoyed every mouthful.

Waffles for lunch at the Shingle Inn

Today, Sunday, is the last day of our holiday so it will be another early morning wake-up call to get to the airport for our trip home.  We’ve had a great time, experienced all sorts of adventures and seen some interesting places in this huge country.  But like all travelers, it will be great to return home again.

And remember if you are interested in reading a fuller version of our holiday travels, log on to our Travel Blog at www.romanyrambler.com