Whatta date huh :) ?
So today I had a trip to Moreton Island. It is the 3rd biggest sand island in the whole wide world and known universe :D Island itself is about 35km long and 10km wide if I remember correctly. On the island you are allowed to drive only four wheel drive vehicles as you either drive on a sand road or directly on the beach.
Our tour guide for the day was Logan - born in New Zealand and now lives in Brisbane. He was a bit crazy driver which made the whole thing even more fun ;).
Our agenda was to do some sandboarding on the sand dunes and go snorkeling by ship wrecks. I had done sandboarding once before in Peru, but this was entirely different story. In Peru I was going down on a board in loose sand whereas here the sand was hard and oh the speed one acquired :) We were going down either on our stomachs or sitting on the board single/double. I tried the belly down thing twice and sitting double on the board once :) It was great fun! And yea, we were all covered in sand from head to toe immediately. Logan worked hard on giving us as much speed during takeoff as possible :D
Gladly the next thing in the agenda was soaking in the ocean :) Now to talk about soaking, I put on a wetsuit and a life jacket (tour requirements) and even that did not help with the cold. Water was probably around 18C - it was freezing. All I wanted to do was swim as fast as possible to get warm, that was not possible as I had this floating device (life jacket) tied around my body and to see the fish down below one needs to stand still. Oh I was shaking all over my body and managed somehow to get through the thing. Floating (not to say swimming) by the wrecks was pretty awesome, although nothing beats Great Barrier Reef, probably ever. After snorkeling there was lunch time and back in the car we went.
As the roads were very good on the day thanks to the rain few days back (rain evened out all the bumps) we were able to drive faster than usual (faster and with less injuries from knocking our heads in the roof, considering how our guide was driving, don't get me wrong it was awesome to race in the sand of course, but I could not imagine being in the car if roads would have been "normal"). So we managed to even make few extra stops - one to the lighthouse and then to the northern point beach as well. To get to the lighthouse we drove on the beach, not on the loose sand, but between the waterline and the loose sand - most of the time the beach was deserted and we got the whole huge beach to ourselves :) And those beaches here are huge!
The lighthouse was built on the northern tip of the island - view from there was absolutely wonderful. Beaches seem to go on forever with bright blue water and huge foaming waves hitting the sand. On the sea we saw dolphins! Apparently it is also the whale season so should have been possible to spot the waves as well - didn't see any though. Dolphins on the other hand were all over the place :)
After lighthouse we raced back around the northern point so that we would not miss the ferry - we made it of course :) Although we got to hear some stories of almost missing the ferry due to getting stuck in sand on the last minute :)
Got back to Brisbane around 6 and we had planned to get together with Ave for dinner as it is my last night here. Dinner was wonderful and cocktails were good :) We took the time to talk and talk and talk. I enjoyed this evening tremendously and was very sad once I realized it might be a while till I see Ave again :(
Ave will pick me up at 5:30am tomorrow morning and take me to the airport. My flight to Sydney is at 7am. This will be a very short night :)
Showing posts with label brisbane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brisbane. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Brisbane: Lone Pine Koala Santuary - 8.09
For some odd reason I have woken up every morning close to 7 and I'm wide awake. This morning was no different. As we are meeting up with Ave at 9:30 I had way too much time to kill :) So I decided to have a long and good lunch at the center of the town - 1h breakfast plus people watching :) Nice to look at all those people rushing around all around, running to offices :-P and I get to just sit there and not think about work :D Finally walked over to the south bay area, met up with Ave and we headed to the boat that took us over to Lone Pine Koala Santuary.
It took about 1h by boat to get to the santuary. Boat ride was very nice. Along the way we were given way too much information about the river and every single house on it ;) Some facts that I remember:
- it is 19km from the city to the santuary that we will travel
- boat is called MV Mirimar and is the oldest boat of it's kind that is still in service
- Mirimar was built for this purpose and has been servicing on taking people to Lone Pine Koala Santuary for decades, there used to be no other way of getting there due to poor infrastructure
- now this is rather interesting one: river of Brisbane changes direction 4 times a day due to tides :)
Once at the santuary we had a bit more than 2 hours to look around. Santuary itself was not very big, but it had all the animals we wanted to see - the native ones. We got to see possums, LOTS of koalas, we got to hold a koala :), we got to pet a kangaroo (or perhaps it was wallaby, no idea :) ), we got to see a wombat, I got to see all kinds of venomous snakes, there were lizards and whole bunch of different kind of birds. All in all it was wonderful. I learned quite a bit about koalas while there. For an example that there is only one kind of koala breed in Australia, they are just different color depending on the region. In Australia one can find 800 different types of Eucalyptus trees, but koalas feed off of only 50 types.
Our way back was again by the boat. Once back we attempted a bit of shopping again, but somehow we never got on the mood for that. Gathered my computer and other things from the hostel and headed over to David's house for a dinner with his parents and Ave. It was a very nice evening, they are great people and it is so nice to talk to locals - to ask questions and get their perspective on the culture, this is my favourite part when traveling.
Today was a very good day!
It took about 1h by boat to get to the santuary. Boat ride was very nice. Along the way we were given way too much information about the river and every single house on it ;) Some facts that I remember:
- it is 19km from the city to the santuary that we will travel
- boat is called MV Mirimar and is the oldest boat of it's kind that is still in service
- Mirimar was built for this purpose and has been servicing on taking people to Lone Pine Koala Santuary for decades, there used to be no other way of getting there due to poor infrastructure
- now this is rather interesting one: river of Brisbane changes direction 4 times a day due to tides :)
Once at the santuary we had a bit more than 2 hours to look around. Santuary itself was not very big, but it had all the animals we wanted to see - the native ones. We got to see possums, LOTS of koalas, we got to hold a koala :), we got to pet a kangaroo (or perhaps it was wallaby, no idea :) ), we got to see a wombat, I got to see all kinds of venomous snakes, there were lizards and whole bunch of different kind of birds. All in all it was wonderful. I learned quite a bit about koalas while there. For an example that there is only one kind of koala breed in Australia, they are just different color depending on the region. In Australia one can find 800 different types of Eucalyptus trees, but koalas feed off of only 50 types.
Our way back was again by the boat. Once back we attempted a bit of shopping again, but somehow we never got on the mood for that. Gathered my computer and other things from the hostel and headed over to David's house for a dinner with his parents and Ave. It was a very nice evening, they are great people and it is so nice to talk to locals - to ask questions and get their perspective on the culture, this is my favourite part when traveling.
Today was a very good day!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
discovering Brisbane - 7.09
Started off from Noosa on Monday morning around 10am, made it to Brisbane in a bit more than 2 hours. I was dropped off by my hostel, meanwhile Ave went back home, so I had close to 4 hours on my own. What to do what to do :) Decided to explore the city a bit.
From my hostel they gladly gave me the map of the city and already drew some lines on it where I could go for my exploration trip - so I followed the lines on the map :)
First stop was Botanic Gardens. What amazes me is that they have set botanic gardens up in the city center in one of the local parks - how nice is that? The same was in Hong Kong. This is perfect setup as it is easily accessible by everybody. Another amazing thing was that I saw tens and tens of people using the grass areas in the park for structured workout grounds. When I say structured I mean they were doing all kinds of exercises there - using cones for marking down different workout stations, doing jumps over the cones, doing squats with weights and on and on the list goes. Plus there were many many runners and step-walkers.
After Botanic Gardens the line on the map took me to the South Bank of Brisbane river. Park runs all the way alongside the river with beautiful recreation areas, gardens and a beach :) Yes, there is sort of an artificial beach built by the river - kinda nice, it is small, seemed clean and well organized with all the little fountains and passage ways. As Ave told me this is total tourist attraction and locals don't ever go there. A big sightseeing wheel is also located by the river. South Bank park ends with arts centers and state library. Never made it to the art galleries and exhibitions unfortunately, perhaps in Sydney I'll have time for that.
Our plan for the evening was to shop a bit, have a snack and head over to the movies. Met up with Ave by Queen Street Mall and started our shopping tour, but whaddaya know, most of the shops were closed by 6pm :( Ended up having a nice dinner in the middle of the pedestrian walk and cake at a local cafe shop.
By the time we arrived at the cafe shop it was dark outside already. We made ourselves feel like at home by the corner of the shop where there was a glass wall facing to the river (river was still one block away, but we were facing towards the river). As we were chatting away and killing time I kept noticing how the whole sky lit up from time to time. At first we did not pay whole lot of attention but the lightning grew bigger and bigger with every minute. About 30 minutes later everything grew really quiet outside, like the air was standing still. I guess most of you can already guess what came next :) Very extremely strong wind followed by harsh rain. Our seats were perfect for observing the storm, the only worry we had was how are we going to get to the movies if it is raining like mad outside. Anyways, at the time the rain arrived we were keeping our fingers crossed that those huge glass walls are strong enough as what was going on outside was absolutely crazy. People seemed to fly around outside due to the strong winds and horizontally pouring rain. It was a disaster outside, rain came in waves and people tried to run to shelters as fast as possible, whoever was left outside was soaked within seconds. We kept enjoying the view and counting down minutes to head out and be prepared to get soaked as well. about 1h later when we had to head out the rain was gone :D
Move we went to see was called "Young Victoria", sweet movie. We were both expecting whole lot more drama and tears, but that never happened.
From my hostel they gladly gave me the map of the city and already drew some lines on it where I could go for my exploration trip - so I followed the lines on the map :)
First stop was Botanic Gardens. What amazes me is that they have set botanic gardens up in the city center in one of the local parks - how nice is that? The same was in Hong Kong. This is perfect setup as it is easily accessible by everybody. Another amazing thing was that I saw tens and tens of people using the grass areas in the park for structured workout grounds. When I say structured I mean they were doing all kinds of exercises there - using cones for marking down different workout stations, doing jumps over the cones, doing squats with weights and on and on the list goes. Plus there were many many runners and step-walkers.
After Botanic Gardens the line on the map took me to the South Bank of Brisbane river. Park runs all the way alongside the river with beautiful recreation areas, gardens and a beach :) Yes, there is sort of an artificial beach built by the river - kinda nice, it is small, seemed clean and well organized with all the little fountains and passage ways. As Ave told me this is total tourist attraction and locals don't ever go there. A big sightseeing wheel is also located by the river. South Bank park ends with arts centers and state library. Never made it to the art galleries and exhibitions unfortunately, perhaps in Sydney I'll have time for that.
Our plan for the evening was to shop a bit, have a snack and head over to the movies. Met up with Ave by Queen Street Mall and started our shopping tour, but whaddaya know, most of the shops were closed by 6pm :( Ended up having a nice dinner in the middle of the pedestrian walk and cake at a local cafe shop.
By the time we arrived at the cafe shop it was dark outside already. We made ourselves feel like at home by the corner of the shop where there was a glass wall facing to the river (river was still one block away, but we were facing towards the river). As we were chatting away and killing time I kept noticing how the whole sky lit up from time to time. At first we did not pay whole lot of attention but the lightning grew bigger and bigger with every minute. About 30 minutes later everything grew really quiet outside, like the air was standing still. I guess most of you can already guess what came next :) Very extremely strong wind followed by harsh rain. Our seats were perfect for observing the storm, the only worry we had was how are we going to get to the movies if it is raining like mad outside. Anyways, at the time the rain arrived we were keeping our fingers crossed that those huge glass walls are strong enough as what was going on outside was absolutely crazy. People seemed to fly around outside due to the strong winds and horizontally pouring rain. It was a disaster outside, rain came in waves and people tried to run to shelters as fast as possible, whoever was left outside was soaked within seconds. We kept enjoying the view and counting down minutes to head out and be prepared to get soaked as well. about 1h later when we had to head out the rain was gone :D
Move we went to see was called "Young Victoria", sweet movie. We were both expecting whole lot more drama and tears, but that never happened.
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