Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011 - Brisbane

As we got on the plane yesterday to fly to Brisbane, we were watching the news on the little screen on the back of the airline seats and saw to our horror the devastation of the earthquake in Christchurch. We had been there just nine days before, of course, and had spent considerable time in the cathedral, which had such extensive damage and loss of life. We were at once saddened, yet relieved that it did not happen when we were there. The people of Christchurch are among the nicest we have met on our journey and they do not deserve this fate.

One of the challenging things about a 35 day vacation is that you of course cannot pack for 35 days! So I figured we should pack for 10 days and count on doing three laundries during the trip. In New Zealand that was no problem, as we stayed in several motels and B&B’s where laundry facilities were provided. Once we got to Sydney, we discovered no laundromats anywhere in the central city. Of course we could send it out to the hotel, but there is something in my makeup (call it cheap) that will not permit me to spend $6.00 to launder a pair of socks! By the time we arrived in Brisbane, it was a question of find a laundry, or go a second time around on the underwear. Fortunately the hotel concierge was nice enough to refer us to a Chinese laundry, and we are fresh and clean again without being cleaned out!

The biggest attraction for us in Brisbane was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the only place in Australia where you can cuddle a koala and have your picture taken doing it. They have special dispensation from the government for this, because they have nearly 200 koalas, so any one koala is only on duty for twenty minutes a day. And all the eucalyptus leaves they can eat! Not too bad a life. So of course that is where we headed and we did cuddle a koala. No humans were harmed in this process, although the koala didn’t take to me as well as she did Karen. Anyway, here we are.



Awwwwwww!

 We were also able to cavort with kangaroos, stroll with emus, and observe much more of the wildlife of Australia, which as you know is different from anywhere else in the world. It was a great time!

Karen didn't shoot these kangaroos, they just are taking a midday nap!

We then drove north to the Sunshine Coast, but there was, alas, no sunshine. There were 50 knot easterlies, so it was decidedly unfit for strolling on the wonderful beaches there.

We did, however, drive up into the Glass House Mountains, different from any I have seen. They are basically ancient volcanoes that have eroded away, leaving the lava plug exposed. They were named by Captain James Cook, who thought they resembled glass factories near his home in England.



Glass House Mountain with lava "plug"

 In retrospect, if I had it to do over again, I would give Brisbane 5 days or no days. I should say southern Queensland, not Brisbane, as there is so much unique land and seashore to experience, that our one day here was like eating one potato chip. We left way too many chips in the bag.
On to Cairns tomorrow, riding on the Sunlander train. We leave at noon Thursday (my 71^st birthday!) and arrive on Friday evening, covering 1,000 miles!