It was time to say farewell to our camper-van which was partly sad, but we were now heading for luxury so I also couldn't care less. Of course as soon as we arrived in Brisbane the storms started. Which was fine, I can deal with the rain. I'm from England after all - in fact it was quite refreshing.
We hopped on a bus to the city and even got a free journey - I think the driver felt sorry for us because we looked like drowned rats, but whatever works eh?
So we get to the CBD, and start our 'short 17 minute walk' as Hollie described it. It wasn't. I had a 23kg suitcase with wonky wheels, and the hill was big. There was a point that my face was so wet and I wasn't sure if it was rain, sweat or tears (oh look, I'm being really dramatic again!). Halfway up the hill and after kicking the case screeching with anger, a lady pulled up her car, jumps out and asks me if I'm having trouble getting up the hill. This time there was definitely tears rolling down my cheeks and when I told her 'yes, yes actually I was having trouble getting up that hill' with a very feel-sorry-for-me-and-offer-me-a-lift-because-I-love-getting-in-the-car-with-strangers face, you'll never guess what she did next...
She said 'oh dear', got back in her car, and drove off.
Excellent.
We did get there eventually. Obviously. And of course when we got to the hotel they informed us of the 'really handy' free bus that goes from the CBD to the top of the hill. I wanted to throw myself back down the hill.
It pretty much didn't stop raining the whole time we were in Brisbane. Which wasn't highly convenient as we had paid for a hotel with a roof top pool for a week of relaxation and recovery. The highlight of this though, was that I purchased my rain poncho. Unfortunately I didn't actually get to wear it whilst in Brisbane - but I can confirm it did come in handy in my future.
So instead we went out to explore, and I'm so glad we did, because even with the rain, Brisbane turned out to be my favourite of the Australian cities we visited. It was a little smaller than Sydney and Melbourne, but I preferred that. There were big shopping centres in the centre, and great river, and lots of artwork and pretty sights. We did initially struggle a little bit to find places to eat in the CBD that weren't fast food - but that was definitely because we didn't know the right places to look. I'm sure if we had been with a local there would have been loads of places. Whilst in Brisbane we did have our first Australian Nandos though, and FYI they do paella!
We stayed at the Hotel Chancellor, which was amazing. We had a balcony overlooking the city from the top of the hill, and at night the view was incredible. As mentioned previously, there was a free bus that took us straight into the city. It otherwise was about a 10-15 min walk. There was also a gym and pool on the roof - also with amazing views, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. They gave us a map and told us the areas that we should visit, and offered to sort out any tickets we may require.
On our first day, we headed straight to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (easily accessible by bus - journey time is about 45 mins), but it was still raining and when we arrived (at about 10am) we were told that they had sold out of koala photo opportunities for that day, so we decided to abort mission and come back on another occasion. We jumped back on the bus and headed back to the CBD. We got off at Brisbane museum and took a walk along South Bank. This is where you will find the Brisbane sign - an obvious major photo spot. At first, I was disappointed to see that the sign is actually fenced off, but then I realised this is way better as it stops people climbing on it and ruining photos (#amsterdamproblems).
As there was a break in the rain, we decided to take a ride on the Brisbane Wheel, as there was no queue. Of course, by the time we got on, the rain started again, but at least we were nice and dry in our little pod. The wheel was actually pretty fun - it has some great views of Brisbane, and you get a commentary recording playing for half the journey giving you information about the area and what you are looking at. There is an opportunity to buy a photo book souvenir, but it is $40 so we decided against that one.
After a spot of lunch, we headed to the botanic gardens to explore. Another beautiful place and well worth a walk. The rain had stopped, but it was incredibly humid! We did a big loop through the gardens, and ended up back at the other end of South Bank - this is when we discovered that there was a lot more to South Bank than we had realised. If we had kept walking past the wheel, we would have found the large selection of restaurants/bars and huge public swimming pools. We headed back the next day and had lunch at really nice Mexican along the front. Major eyes bigger than belly moment though. It was delicious though. Brisbane also has free Wi-Fi throughout - weirdly mine only worked when in Southbank.
We spent our Sunday afternoon fighting the rain and attempting to have a swim. It pretty much consisted of us getting in the pool, bracing the rain for about 5 minutes and then running back indoors. We would sit on the bed for 10 mins, spot a bit of blue sky and repeat all steps again. It would have been totally more bearable if the swimming pool wasn't on the roof of the 12th floor - a little breezy!! Unfortunately, there was no hope of an Australian tan for Hollie to go home with.
The next day we were on a mission to get our koala photos. We got up super early and were on the first bus running to Lone Pine. We were actually so early that we had to sit outside for an hour because they weren't open. It was worth every minute. As soon as we entered the park, we went straight to buy our tickets. The woman in the shop told us not to queue yet because they don't start taking photos until 10am - she advised us to go to the kangaroos whilst we waited as it would be really quiet. And she was so right! We had the whole kangaroo area to ourselves for about half an hour. 30 whole minutes of kangaroo selfies - we were in heaven and had so much fun. After we cleaned all the kangaroo slobber off our hands we headed to the koalas and got in the queue. It was all very quick. You only get to hold the koala for about 20 seconds so the photos were limited - the ticket does include a photo taken by a photographer. But we had finally achieved our number 1 goal for Australia - even if we were cutting it fine leaving it the day before Hollie went home.
That afternoon, we went back to the CBD and took a ride on the free river ferry - yes, completely free, and it was such a long trip, I was really impressed. There were options available for tourist river cruises, however with this option available it seems mad to pay (unless you want a tour guide I suppose). The sun had even decided to make a reappearance, and we spent about 2 hours cruising along the river. I even started to get a bit too hot! (Don't worry, it rained again when we went back for a swim). There are lots of stops on the journey, so if you have plenty of time, you can explore more areas of Brisbane. We decided to just go all the way around and sightsee from the boat. There were a few seats upstairs that were outside - it was very relaxing, but sun cream is a must!
On our final day, we took one last stroll through the city centre, and had a browse around the shops. There was plenty to do in Brisbane, and still lots of things that we didn't have time for. Out of the cities we went to, I would pick Brisbane to live in - even with all the rain!
As the time came to go to the coach station, it was time for me and my suitcase to tackle the hill again. I decided it was not necessary to get a taxi, because obviously it would be way easier going down hill. That was all good and well until 2 out of 4 of my suitcase wheels fell off.
So that was a longer walk than expected.
At the station, Hollie and I had our final McDonalds ice cream - we basically had one a day whilst travelling, and then said goodbye at the coach station. I was on my way to the Gold Coast and Hollie was heading back to England. We had spent a whole month together 24/7, so of course our goodbye was a very Megan style 'see ya - safe flight'.
I'm such a delight.
But it's okay because I wrote a cute Facebook post to say bye that didn't involve me sobbing.
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