Good Day Matey

We woke up to another glorious day here in Brisbane. It was sunny and hot and we were excited to start the day. We walked down to the River and took a River City Cruise down the Brown Snake (Brisbane River). It was lined with beautiful homes on and near the River. Sprinkled in with the modern houses and beautiful landscape was history. Old factories, historic buildings and areas that were gutted to make parks and apartments.

We crossed under several bridges, some new and some old. The guide told us that whenever there was an economic downturn, they just built a bridge. Sounds funny but, there are quite a few in just the area we were in, just sayin.

We crossed under the Kangaroo Point bridge, a pedestrian bridge that only opened in December 2024 and connected Kangaroo Point and the eastern suburbs where there is riverside restaurants. This bridge, the newest, was built with the 2032 Olympics in mind as Brisbane is about to host.

We also crossed under the Neville Bonner Bridge, another pedestrian bridge that connects the south bank (artsy district) to Queens Wharf. It was named for the first aboriginal man who was in Parliament in the 70s and 80s and about 10,000 pedestrians cross it a day.

The Story Bridge, another famous bridge over the Brisbane river is for cars, bikes and people. It’s a smaller version of the Sydney Harbor Bridge so it too can be climbed by the brave.

After the cruise, we rode the Ferris wheel and then walked through the Campus of Griffith University where we had lunch. It really was a beautiful day.

Tonight started our official “tour”. We met up with our tour company Globus Tours and met the people we will be traveling with for the next 10 days. We had an orientation, dinner and information on tomorrow’s fun day at the Australia Zoo.

The Australia Zoo is on the Sunshine Coast and is the vision of Steve and Terri Irwin. Fun Fact—Steve Irwin was always more well known and “bigger” in the USA then in Australia but it was his vision to make the Zoo here in Australia, the biggest and best in the world. More about that tomorrow.

There are 20 in our group, all from the US and even another couple from Michigan.

The night was not over. We found our way to the Gresham Bar which is another place with lots of history. It is a small, street corner bar with its history preserved on the inside. Finally, we found the 24 hour pancake joint which is another must see in Brisbane. It is housed in an old church and they kept the beautiful structure. It was fun and busy and delicious.