Oh, Brisbane (and Sydney), We Love You!

Platypus

Thanksgiving, Anyone?

No Kidding!

I’ll Have Mine with Coca-Cola!

The Original Billboard

Giant Historical Figure Ned Kelly

Stained Glass Window in Brisbane Parliament Building

City Hall Auditorium

“Sleep Well and Dream of Large Women!” (Princess Bride Quote)

Giant Prawn

Stannum House

Giant Guitar

Ocean Drive on the Road to Sydney

Sydney Opera House

Hanging Clock in Queen Victoria Building

Inside the State Theatre

Inside the State Theatre 2

Blue Mountains

So, the daylong drive (the first of three daylong drives) to McKay included a brief interlude in the hilly area of Broken River, where we went in search of the elusive platypus and found one(!). It was also the first time we saw wild turkeys, which are quite ubiquitous, though I’m unsure if they’re considered protected species or are at risk of becoming someone’s dinner. Fortunately, the hotel that evening somewhat made up for the drive, as did our meal at a local Italian restaurant with the largest menu I’ve ever seen.

I wish there was something positive to say about the next day’s drive to Rockhampton, but as you can see from Herman’s photos, there was not much to break up the monotony of the road. The night’s accommodation didn’t help, either. Oh, my God, what a horrible motel that was! Broken window, hardly functioning AC, a sink that backed up with the least provocation, sparking electrical plugs, ants, and a mattress with a propensity for creating a sinkhole down its middle. We had high hopes for the restaurant next door, but those hopes were dashed when we were seated at a high table on an outer terrace in severely humid conditions and were informed that all orders were “shared” plates. We were rather surly about the whole experience, particularly because we’re not the shared/tapas kind of people. Fortunately, the waitress was able to persuade the cook to bring out our whole order at the same time. By the time we went to sleep (or tried to), it was tempting to want to grab a pillow and go sleep in the car.

The following morning dawned with new determination to reclaim the high ground of tourism and find something to enjoy on yet another long day of driving to Hervey Bay (By the way, Herman’s photo of a billboard featuring a familiar American president’s face is a joke. The photo of the original billboard is featured above in the blog.). Most of my friends and family know that I have a bladder that would make a camel proud, so when I announced that I needed a bathroom break, we were driving through a town with a name I don’t recall. This was fortunate, as we had the most unpleasant encounter with the locals.

We stopped at what we thought was a traditional café. We weren’t particularly hungry, and we ordered something small, mainly so we could use the restroom. When I asked about the location of the toilet (that’s what it’s called, here), the woman, unsmiling, pointed outside to the public facilities. Resigned, I walked outside toward the cement block. As I walked along the sidewalk, I encountered an elderly gentleman walking his dog. Now, I must tell you that it’s hard to decipher sidewalk etiquette in Australia. I’m never sure which side of the sidewalk I should walk on. I’ve noticed that most people seem to prefer the left side of the path (this makes sense since they drive on the left), so I moved over to that side as the gentleman, who was straddling the center, approached. Unfortunately by doing so, I somehow offended the man, and he proceeded to growl some comment to me about blocking his path. I want to be clear that this is the only negative interaction we have had with Australians, who have been nothing but friendly and chatty with us throughout our journey.

Although we were road weary, we decided to take a detour to Bundaberg to visit the (Bert) Hinkler Hall of Aviation, only to find when we arrived that the museum had decided to close an hour early. This day was just getting better and better, not! Bundaberg is the home of a famous brand of rum, so Herman drove to the factory to get a picture of the big bottle. While we were there, he ducked into the store, where they offer tastings, to check out the prices…so he said. I truly wouldn’t have blamed him if he had tried several different types of rum after the day we were having. Actually, I was tempted to ask him to bring me a rum and Coke.

We made one more detour to Mon Repos, where a species of turtles lay their eggs along the beach. Of course, it was the wrong time of year, so there were no turtles in sight. Sigh! The one nice thing that happened on the road to Mon Repos was that we discovered a fruit stand with blueberries picked that morning. We bought two small cartons and wished we had bought more. Fortunately, they’re widely available in stores, along with strawberries and cherries, so our breakfast fruit selections have improved greatly.

We arrived at the Hervey Bay hotel in a less than happy mood, feeling a bit like the family in the original “Poltergeist” movie after their ordeal, except we kept the TV. Since we’ve left Airlie Beach, we’ve noticed that our hotels only provide one face towel along with the two bath towels. We totally ignored our host’s surly look when we asked for a second one that evening.

We were so delighted to arrive in Brisbane for a four-night stay that we spent the first 24 hours in our hotel room, luxuriating in what seemed like an almost decadent level of comfort after the deprivation we’d experienced over the last three nights.

When we finally emerged outside, we fell in love with the city and its winter weather, which was cool and dry. We explored a couple of cathedrals, the city hall and its clock tower, and the parliament building. The city hall has a beautiful auditorium, where they sponsor free noontime concerts on Wednesdays, one of which we were lucky enough to attend. There is also a free city bus that drives along a tourist route, which was very handy. I intended to visit the city’s main art museum, but I ran out of steam and never made it.

We left Brisbane for our drive to Byron Bay with much trepidation, as we now faced another grueling three-day drive to Sydney. Right outside of Byron Bay is the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which I had visited during my first visit to Australia in 2009. We had hoped that we might be able to pet one of the koalas, but all the time slots were filled, so we had to settle for petting kangaroos, which are kept in a large enclosure (along with emus) where humans are allowed to wander among them.

We also saw three other Australian animals that we haven’t seen in the wild: dingoes, Tasmanian devils and wombats. We were surprised how affectionate the two devils acted toward one another and how much the dingoes resembled typical dogs. The wombat was splayed on his back, enjoying the sun and, apparently, a good dream about female wombats. If you look at the photo, you’ll see what I mean. Herman also took a close-up shot of a cassowary’s claws, one of which looks like a giant nail and is capable of puncturing a human being. After a brief visit to a waterfall with a natural bridge in Springbrook National Park, we had dinner that evening with my friends, J’aimee and Os, who oversee the Byron Bay International Film Festival, the best film festival I’ve ever intended.

On our way out of Byron Bay the next morning to Armidale, we stopped at the Byron Bay lighthouse, which is the most eastern lighthouse in Australia and overlooks a beautiful part of Australia’s ocean where whales pass through on their way to warmer waters.

We’re into giant-sized versions of ordinary things, so we stopped for a photo of a giant prawn (in need of a new paint job) then began another long day of driving through uninspiring scenery. We did enjoy a brief stop in Tenterfield, where Herman took photos of the local architecture and a wonderful Victorian style bed and breakfast place called the Stannum House. The next day, we drove to Gosford, stopping long enough to get a photo of a giant guitar.

Since Gosford was relatively close to Sydney, we decided to drive along the coast so that Herman could stop for a short hike before we reached the city. While we both enjoyed the day, we arrived in Sydney right at the busiest part of the late afternoon, and it took us an hour to find the hotel. Of course, I had tried to place us in the city center and I had succeeded. But what does booking a hotel in the city center mean? You guessed it: one-way streets, some of which are closed to traffic. Even our GPS couldn’t help us.

Somewhat revived by the next morning, we took a ferry out into the bay so we could see the Sydney Opera House from the water. Over the next couple of days, we visited the Queen Victoria building, a marketplace housed in a late 19^th century Romanesque Revival building, which takes up an entire city block; the Strand Arcade, Sydney’s only Victorian shopping arcade; the Sky Tower; and we toured the State Theatre, one of the few remaining examples of the lavish styles used to decorate film theaters during the 1930s and ’40s. We also took the opportunity to dress up and attend the opera “Aida” (what an incredible cast of singers!!) at the Sydney Opera House. By our final day in Sydney, we only had enough energy left to visit a small opal museum.

Today, we left Sydney with a feeling of regret that we had left much of the city unexplored, particularly its museums, but it’s hard to give such a large city its due in one visit. We are now in the Blue Mountains, in the town of Leura, where we’re staying for two nights before we move on to Canberra, the seat of Australia’s government. We are coming up on the end of July, which will leave us with only one more month of our grand adventure. Thanks to all of you for taking this journey with us!