Australia - Brisbane

Flight 16 of 17

Tuesday, April 24 – Wednesday, April 25

What’s the first thing you want to do when you get to Australia? Hold a koala and chill with kangaroos, of course! So that’s what we did! We arrived in Brisbane, grabbed our rental car, and hit the road for the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We walked around the park and saw all sorts of birds and koalas. The koalas were everywhere, and since there was no glass or cages the koalas are very close. We had lunch at the Sleepy Koala Café, where we tried our first lamington (a chocolate cake with coconut dessert that we were told we had to try). Next it was time to hold koalas! We met a 7 year old koala named Hugo, and we held him while feeding him eucalyptus and admiring his big claws, soft fur, and his cute, plastic-looking nose. (We were impressed by how well he made eye contact!) We learned that koalas spend most of their day sleeping and eating, and are not very active. Luckily for us, Hugo was awake, probably since we had eucalyptus! We ventured around the park more and found some Dingoes (that reminded Kristen of her old dog Comet), a Tasmanian Devil named Sparky eating a dead rabbit (even the bone), a platypus, and some wombats.

 

Kuddling with Koalas!

The best part of the day was next…we made our way to the kangaroo area, which was a big, open, grassy field with tons of kangaroos. There are no fences…you just walk right out on the field with the kangaroos…there must have been at least 50 of them. With kangaroo food in hand, we cautiously approached our first kangaroo. They are extremely friendly, and knowing we have food, they come right up to you. Within minutes, we were having a blast feeding and petting kangaroos left and right. We were having such a great time that we ended up hanging out in the kangaroo field for almost two hours. After a while, you feel like you’re just playing with a bunch of big dogs! We saw big male kangaroos, smaller female ones, some younger ones, and even a few mama kangaroos with joeys in their pouches. The joeys were adorable. At first, they wouldn’t come out of the pouch, but by the end, when we were the only ones left, one of the mama kangaroos had warmed up to us, and eventually her joey came out. It was precious! We sometimes had up to five kangaroos around us. At one point we saw two kangaroos boxing…seriously! And at another point, one of the kangaroos tried to eat our umbrellas. It was very clear which ones were male, and since they seemed a bit more aggressive, we tried to avoid them! We had a fun time observing them, and saw how they use their tails for balance when hopping. Overall, it was an amazing experience, and if the park weren’t about to close, we probably would have stayed longer!

  

   

   

Kuddling with Kangaroos!

(Watch the video to see a baby joey kangaroo!)

With 30 minutes left until the park closed, we hurried to see crocodiles, more koalas, Australia’s largest lizard, and of course…the kookaburra! The kookaburra, a very distinctive looking bird, is the subject of a song Kristen’s mom used to sing to her and her sisters about a laughing bird sitting in a gum tree. (Kristen was shocked that Ryan didn’t know this tune, assuming it was a classic children’s song, but quickly realized her mom must have learned it while working in Australia!)

Kristen found this kookaburra in an old gum tree.

We drove about an hour to our hotel in Brisbane, checked in, then explored the South Bank area by foot. This area, which runs along the Brisbane River, was very nice and surprisingly busy for a Tuesday night. We attributed this to the fact that Wednesday was a national holiday (Anzac Day – similar to our Memorial Day), so all the young Aussies were out! During our walk, we saw the river, a giant ferris wheel, and a Nepalese temple that was a gift from the 1988 World Expo. We walked by the SunCorp Piazza where we enjoyed the open-air symphony and pyrotechnics without even going in. We walked by tons of cute cafés and side streets filled with restaurants, all part of the Little Stanley Street Plaza area. The area even has an “urban beach” – a public pool with a beach, right there in the city. We had some nachos and tacos at a Mexican restaurant, then enjoyed the walk back to the hotel, passing by the theatre and museum district on our way.

 

Brisbane by night.

Wednesday was Anzac Day, which meant we had the day off…wait…I guess that didn’t apply to us since we were already on holiday! We woke up in Brisbane and drove to the Mt. Coot-tha lookout to get a 360 degree view of the beautiful city. Then we hit the road and started our road trip to Sydney!

Brisbane by day, from the Mt. Coot-tha lookout.

Our first stop was Tamborine Mountain. After driving to the top of the mountain, we went on the Skywalk – a walkway suspended 30 meters above the bottom of the rainforest floor. We enjoyed the relaxing walk through the rainforest which included walking out on a cantilever.

 

Walking among the treetops on a rainforest canopy adventure, at Tamborine Mountain.

However, the true adventure was the drive back down the mountain. As usual, we relied upon our GPS on which way to go. As we headed down, we stopped and turned the car around to get a picture of the Tamborine Mountain sign (potentially fatal mistake). Turning around confused the GPS, so it rerouted us a different way, down the other side of the mountain. Here’s our thought process from this point forward:

This picture was the beginning of the end...(read below)

• Sure, let’s see a different view on the way down! (Our famous last words!)
• Oh, this is a national park…that’s cool.
• This unpaved road must be temporary.
• It’s probably only steep in the beginning.
• Why don’t you switch to a low gear?
• Oh Sh**, we’ve gone too far. Our little Toyota Yaris can’t climb back up. We’ll have to continue down.
• Are those moguls?
• Ummm…I think this road is meant for off-roading…not Toyota Yaris’!
• Should we be nervous that the moguls are scraping the bottom of the car?
• Ryan, can you go move that rock from the middle of the road?
• Should we go down the middle or should we hug the side on this one?
• I’ll keep left so I don’t get too close to the edge of the mountain.
• Ryan, you stay out of the car and keep moving rocks.
• Good thing it’s a rental!
• I think 1 km/hr is fast enough.
• Can a tow truck even come up here?
• And we thought the beginning was steep!
• If I lose control, should I just jump out of the car? No…just steer into the side of the mountain!
• Look…I see other cars coming up…I think we’re almost to the bottom.
• Quick…act like we know what we’re doing as we drive by these other cars (wait, we’re driving a Yaris…just look lost)
• We should go fast over that mud so we don’t get stuck.
• Yikes! That was scary! I don’t know what was worse…sliding in the mud or skidding on the rocks?
• Thank God! I see the main road!
• We should delete this trip from the GPS!

  

Left: Ryan moving rocks from the steeply descending road.
Right: Kristen wonders what to do as we literally drive down the side of a mountain (by accident!).

As you can see, we survived! Apparently the GPS can always find a way…but not always the right way! When we neared the bottom of our descent, we chatted with people about to head up in a large four-wheel drive Jeep. They asked us how we got down in our car. We told them it was a mistake, but we had no choice once we started. They were impressed that we made it. They informed us that the 3 kilometer road we just descended (called Wongawallan Road) is meant for off-roading (hardcore off-roading)! But we did it in our front wheel drive Toyota Yaris!

Our trip in summary...