Brisbane

So now we’re in Brisbane, about to drop Pauline off at the airport and start the remainder of our adventure, starting tomorrow with a visit to Paul and Kat Tooze and a camping trip Paul has organised (who remembers Paul Tooze when he was in Solihull Mountaineering Club?).

Today we’ve had further Koala encounters with a visit to Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary which is a government funded centre to help the ‘at risk’ koala population suffering from deforestation, which has reduced their habitat to isolated pockets of eucalyptus, forcing them onto the ground where they are killed by dogs and cars. 

They have 4 female koalas there and Jackie saw a male in the trees just outside, causing great excitement from the South African warden who hadn’t seen one in the wild in his three months working in Australia. The 4 they had were absolutely cute and, although we could get very close to them, they wouldn’t let Jackie hold or stroke one, much to her disappointment! 

The healthy wild male koala Jackie spotted high in the trees just outside

Brisbane is a vibrant modern city with a few historic building almost lost in the middle of giant skyscrapers. The Treasury Building is one fine example right on the waterfront and after a stroll through the South Bank gardens we went into the centre and found an Indian restaurant to satisfy Jackie’s Biryani urge, followed by a ride on Brisbane River on the free water taxi, which took us up river past Kangaroo Point, 

A small part of the rock climbing at Kangaroo Point

a bit of a mecca for rock climbing (we intend to try it out in the next day or so now my injuries are healed), the Botanic Gardens and onto the bridge that rivals Sydney’s harbour bridge, a metallic structure for which you can pay lots of dollars to do the 2½hour ‘bridge climb’ (no we didn’t do it, would rather climb at Kangaroo Point!).

The Treasury Building

The free 'City Hopper' water taxi

We’re now at the campsite nearest the airport and enjoying sitting outside in the early evening darkness (it gets dark here by 5:30pm!). Bye, bye Pauline, we’ll miss you!