Brisbane, Day 2

The plates on the gates to one of the entrances to the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.

DAY 11
Location: Brisbane
Temp: 17 C
Weather: Sunny, but brisk
Activities: City Botanic Gardens, Queen Street Mall
Accommodation: Backpackers Inn (Byron Bay)

To recap last night, Tinbilly didn't actually have any pasta and rice--apparently all the backpackers had the same idea and gorged on the lot while I was away. Somehow, I'm not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. So I ended up going back across the street to Subway and ate the same thing I did for lunch yesterday. Lame. But I didn't feel the most comfortable wandering the city alone at night, so I opted for what was nearby.

Despite being in a 10-bed dorm, I slept relatively well. The bad thing about sharing a dorm with guys is they snore. Seriously. I've never had any girls snore in any of the dorms I've stayed in. But I dropped off to sleep around 8 p.m. really for lack of anything better to do. No free WiFi, no one really to talk to, no food. Meh. I swear, I feel the most alone in the biggest groups. So I prepped what I could last night to check out early today and conked out. I would rather sleep the night away and get up early the next anyway.

I got up around 6, but slept in 'til 7 a.m. because it was cold! I swear it must have been below 10 C (50 F), hey that's cold to me, folks. And besides, most stores are closed until 9 a.m. I didn't have any eats for breakfast, but I hit the street around 8 anyway and secured a liquid protein breakfast before heading for Brisbane's City Botanic Gardens.

I remember walking up to this building and spying the statue from a distance and thinking to myself: "...That looks like Queen Victoria." BAM. It was. She stands tall and proud outside of the Conrad Hotel--what used to be the Lands Administration building off George Street.

Farther down George Street, I spied this statue in profile and though to myself: "...And that looks like Queen Elizabeth II." BAM! It was.

A narrow shot of the impressive Parliament House directly across from the City Botanic Gardens. They had tours, but I hadn't planned for them and I was trapped in my rigid bus schedule.

It was chilly and I walked with the working crowd all the way down George Street until I came up to Queensland's Parliament house and the gardens across the street. I wandered up and down the familiar tropical flora and saw some new ones (Turkish Pine among them) until I stumbled across the Queensland University of Technology and this place just looked like a science school. Clean, new, unusual architecture--Can I enrol?

Maps. Take pictures of maps in case you get lost!  I did get turned around once or twice in this garden--mostly when I walked out of it and back in another way.

This was the Formal Flower Garden and central feature of the park. The park, according to a plaque in the gazebo I took this picture from, was declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace Garden in March, 31, 1993. 

Having walked about the school and back into the gardens, I found the City Council actually hosts free WiFi! Three-hundred minutes worth! I thought that was pretty neat.

A live snapshot of the Queen Street Mall. I shot Lush in particular because my mom is a big fan of their products and I was surprised to find one here in Oz myself.

Afterward, I made my way to Queen Street Mall and entered several of the touristy shops looking for gifts and postcards and collective bric-a-brac for friends and balked at the prices. Sheesh, why does 'Straya have to be so expensive? It may be a mistake to wait until Sydney to make my buys, but at least then I can say these items came from Sydney--I just hope the prices don't gut me or my shrinking wallet.

A couple more shots from the gardens! There were some awfully noisy birds here. The ibis were unassuming, it was some other species that shrieked something fowl (haha). Otherwise it was peaceful.

There was this odd warped square structure on the northern end of the gardens. Some brazen tourists were actually climbing on it while I just snapped a quick one directly into a hard angle of the structure.

I found the local Woolworth's and shopped a bit for my next week's worth of breakfasts, a prepared bag of Caesar salad and baguette for lunch. I took my purchases up to the food court and ignored the wayward stares as I put together my salad, tossed, and ate straight out of the bag. It works AND saves on dishes! I polished off half of the baguette and continued my stroll around the mall, though it was starting to get pretty busy at this point--foot traffic pulsing in the hundreds.

I moved off the main drag and back onto George Street toward TravelBugs where I am again writing this blog post from! I also booked my last few days in Australia down the coast with them--so there's some piece of mind. The YHA (Youth Hostel Association) I wanted to stay at was overbooked, so I had to look elsewhere. But the one I have booked now is still pretty centrally located. I'll be in Sydney in no time flat!

I remember being startled when locals told me not to stay in Brisbane too long--three days was too much, two days was pushing it. But having been here, I can sort of understand that notion. I saw the arts and cultural quarter yesterday and city central and its gardens today. I think I'm good here. But everyone swears by Byron Bay, so I'm pretty excited to see what all the fuss is about there and return to the quieter streets of the coast. Don't get me wrong--Brisbane was neat and worth seeing, but I'm good!

I think I'll post this blog early while I still have free internet; the remainder of my day is mostly getting ready for the bus and then the four-hour bus ride down the coast. And I have to research the places I'm staying so I know where to go once I hop off the 'hound.

I hope to post again soon!