Quick showers for both of us and then we downed a little of the breaky items that we bought the day before. I had one of those packaged squeezable yogurt's and some grapes. Laureen had the same augmented with a carrot muffin. The mommy figure you see in the photo is a toy that both of our grandkids are familiar with and that we brought with us on this adventure. Mommy has been doing all the same things we are, and we share the photos of her doing these things with our kids/grandkids. They seem to like following her doing all these things. Anyway, this morning, Mommy and I had breakfast together as can be seen below.
Given that it was raining outside and the forecast for the day called for off/on showers until about 1:00 PM, we grabbed our travel umbrella's, added them to our MEC day bags and headed for the door. The walk to where we were to start the boat tour with River City Cruises was a good 15 minutes and the rain was coming down pretty hard; enough that as we were about half way there (part way across the bridge over the Brisbane river), I turned to Laureen and noted that my feet were wet. Her's were the same. Not the best way to start a longer day - with wet feet.
We arrived at the location and the captain of the vessel was checking people in. It seems that plenty of people had arrived early, as we could see that the second deck of the boat was mostly full. After checking in we boarded and found two seats inside the cabin of the boat, right in the middle and near the concession. I guess we had a place to sit that was protected from the rain so we shouldn't complain. The vessel disconnected from it's moorings after we waited for a group of stragglers who can't seem to tell time. Why is there always some like this in every crowd?
Our journey down the river was accompanied by a commentary over the speakers that were placed about the vessel. They talked about a number of the different structures along the way, including bridges, houses and other items of note. There were plenty of very expensive looking homes dotting the river banks. I can only imagine how much some of these mansions would cost.
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| Downtown Brisbane from the River |
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| A view from the Bow of the Vessel |
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| Obligatory River Cruise Selfie |
The trip down the river to The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary took about an hour and a half. For some of the time, when the rain had stopped, we stood out on the bow of the ship and enjoyed the breeze the the view. For the times when the rain started up again, we retreated to our front row/middle seats inside the covered portion of the boat. With the rain and the heat (I think it was around 29 C today) the air feels very humid and we are both constantly "wet". I guess we will match our shoes/feet today.
We arrived at the Koala Sanctuary and made our way up the couple of flights of stone stairs to the gift shop where we were able to pass through and enter the sanctuary.
There were lots of things to see at the Koala Sanctuary, more than just the koala's. The first item we came across was the fruit bats. The locals call them flying-foxes. They are quite a bit bigger than I expected. We found out later, during the koala presentation, that the fruit bats are the major pollinator of the eucalyptus plants, which is the only thing that the koala's eat.
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| Flying-Foxes (Fruit bats) Hanging Around (literally) |
We then ran into a little lizard of some kind. Over the course of the afternoon in the sanctuary, we would see these kinds of lizards all over the place.
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| Here Lizard, Lizard. |
Finally, some koala's. I have to admit, they are the cutest little things.
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| Obligatory Koala Selfie |
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| Woma Python |
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| (uncertain of the name of this one - but he was watching us with one eye) |
We then made our way into the "Free Range" area, where you could buy some food that you could use to feed the kangaroo's that were in the enclosure. There was also an Emu in the same area.
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| Emu |
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| Kangaroo Selfie |
The fur of the kangaroo was quite soft and the whole group seemed pretty used to having people around. Most of them appeared to be full, as all of the tourists that purchased feed, had been giving it to them. They mostly just wanted to lay down and escape the heat of the day (as far as I could tell).
They also had a crocodile in it's own enclosure that was just laying in the water.
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| Male Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) named Wickham |
Then we came across another section of koala's where there were mothers with their young. We were told that koala's are born live, but are very small, roughly two cm in length. After a 30 day gestation, they make their way to the pouch of the mother koala and stay there for up to six months as they grow larger and get their fur. After this they emerge from the pouch but spend the next six months clinging to their mothers. After this clingy six months is over, they are ready to be on their own. These photo's are of young ones that are about a month away from being ready to be on their own.
At 11:30 AM, they put on a little presentation that talks about the Koala's, so we arrived a little early for that and just sat there, enjoying the breeze, until the presentation started. It was quite interesting to learn a little more about the Koala's. Here is some of what they told us:
The koala is one of Australia's most iconic marsupials (it's not a bear), known for its fluffy ears, button nose, and sleepy demeanour. Found primarily in eucalyptus forests along the eastern and southern coasts, koalas rely almost exclusively on eucalyptus leaves for food, which provide both sustenance and hydration. These leaves are low in nutrients, leading to the koala’s famously slow metabolism and long hours of sleep—up to 18–22 hours a day. Despite their cute and cuddly appearance, koalas have sharp claws for climbing and can be quite vocal, especially during mating season. Sadly, habitat loss, disease, and climate change threaten their populations, making conservation efforts, like those at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, crucial for their survival.
After the presentation we made our way to the food court and picked up a wrap and a vanilla Coca-Cola. I have not had one of those for a very long time. After lunch we wandered around for a little while longer to find the platypus enclosure, and then made our way to the gift shop. I purchased a T-Shirt and we also added a couple of ice-cream's to help us cool off. We ate these just outside of the shop at a wishing well. I set my shirt down beside me while I ate the cold treat. They were very good!
We then made our way down to the boat and I hurried to the bow where the crew had put out a pillow that could be used on one of the storage lockers that held life jackets. I was the first one out there, so I moved it up to the second locker which would give us a nice view as the vessel made it's way back to the point of origin. Laureen joined me after a few minutes, and we settled in for the trip back.
It was about 20 minutes before the boat was scheduled to push-off and start the journey back up river to Brisbane, when I made a startling realization. I hade left my shirt at the wishing well! AHHHHHHH. I jumped up and scurried off the ship, up the rocky stairs and made my way back to the well. It was nowhere to be found [insert angry word of frustration here]. I looked over and saw a couple of workers standing at the entrance desk, so I walked over and asked, "You wouldn't, by chance, have had somebody turn in a T-shirt have you?".
The one girl smiled and said, "Maybe...What else did you purchase?".
I thought for a minute, "A T-Shirt.".
She responded, "Anything else?".
At first I thought that was the only thing, but then I remembered the two ice-creams would be on the same receipt.
"Two ice-cream's", I blurted out.
She smiled again, "Yes, I have it right here. Actually, I was the one that found it.".
I thanked her profusely as she handed it back to me. Crisis averted.
I made my way back down to the boat and happily showed Laureen my shirt.
The trip back to the originating dock was quite nice. It was warm, but as the boat made it's way back up the river, there was a steady breeze that helped dry us off. I took a few pictures on our way back.
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| Some Stunning Homes Along the Bank |
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| A Scenic Shot Along the River |
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| Two Stunning Homes on the Banks of the Brisbane River |
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| A Bridge and the City |
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| Downtown Brisbane |
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| Our River Cruise Vessel |
Once we arrived back to our starting point, we disembarked and started walking towards the bridge that we crossed over in the morning to come to the tour. Ahead of us was a giant Brisbane sign, like the ones you see major cities have for tourist's to take their photo in front of. We used this opportunity to add to the selfie collection.
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| Obligatory City Sign Selfie |
I also took a picture of our Hotel from across the river as well as the street in-front of our hotel which is a pedestrian walkway filled with various shops.
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| The Hidden Hyatt |
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| The Pedestrian Walk in Front of Our Hidden Hyatt |
We made a short stop at our hotel to change our shoes before picking up our car from the valet so that we could head out to the Gold Coast. Laureen had looked at the forecast for the next day or so and it looked like we were in for more rain; however, this afternoon looked like our best chance to checkout the beach and avoid the showers - so we decided to make the trip. It is about an hour drive south of Brisbane. Given the time of day, it took about an hour an 20 minutes with a few areas of slowdown on the major freeways.
We arrived and found a place to park right by Surfer's Paradise. This is the beach that we saw on the news after cyclone Alfred washed away a significant portion of the beach. We could still see evidence of this as there is a big drop-off down to the beach level now, even though the drop was much more substancial after the storm.
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| Gold Coast | Paradise Beach - Looking South |
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| Gold Coast | Paradise Beach - Looking North |
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| Obligatory Gold Coast Selfie |
I walked along the powdery sand beach for a while before grabbing a sample to add to my collection. It is really beautiful here.
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| This Place is Amazing |
We stopped for dinner at The Sandbar Surfers Paradise which is just a block from the pictures above and overlooking the ocean. There is nothing like dinner with the sound of the waves and the smell of that ocean breeze.
After dinner we drove back to our hotel to find that they had opened up the road (Adelaide Street) that leads to it. NICE! We no longer need to be let in by the construction folks. But I have to say, the entrance to this hotel is the strangest I've seen. It's down a seedy narrow alleyway - and it's the only way to drive up to the hotel. You actually have to drive partway down a pedestrian roadway to get to this crazy back alley. We ran into another guest out in the alley and as we made our way to the elevator, he commented how the entrance to this hotel is a bit of a joke given that it's a Hyatt Regency.
Although it started out a little soggy, it turned out to be a fantastic day in Brisbane. One more full day tomorrow before we head to Cairns on Wednesday.
Curt and Laureen in Brisbane, Australia.
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