Arriving in Australia

 WEEK 1

    After a total of 25 hours in transit, we arrived in Brisbane at 7:55 AM on Thursday, February 7th which would be 4:55 PM Feb. 6th for those of you in Eastern time. We flew from Dulles to LAX and straight on to Brisbane. While checking in the ticket counter man kept saying "She's so active! I can't believe how active she is! She's 80! Like my mother! So active!" I was lucky enough to have "Premium Economy" seats affording me the luxury of choosing between water, orange juice and champagne as a welcome beverage. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to be greeted at the airport in Brisbane by Meredith's smiling face and a handwritten sign with "Mrs. and Miss Mock" on it. 
     Taking a taxi back to Meredith's apartment in Windsor, a suburb just north of downtown Brisbane, we set our things inside and settled in to our new accommodations. Having some coffee to help us with jet lag, we sat in Meredith's living room chatting and reading. Our first day was spent mostly lounging around and relaxing in order to acclimate to the time difference and rest after so much traveling.

     The next day however we decided to make our first venture out into Brisbane. Meredith had to work and so Stephanie and I decided to visit the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the world's first and largest of its kind. Meredith gave us very detailed instructions on how to navigate the Brisbane bus system and we made our way there. We walked around the sanctuary seeing multiple exhibits of koalas and even got to hold one, a young male named Finn.  We also pet an emu and some kangaroos. 

A native kookaburra

     One thing we've noticed is the birds. Not only do they sing early in the morning (around 5AM) but they have interesting songs and are very beautiful. To the right is a photo of a kookaburra bird, a very loud albeit amusing bird. They are quite large but are not as colorful as the lorikeets, a rainbow-colored bird which we have not been able to photograph quite yet. 
    Even though the birds sing quite early in the morning, it's not distracting. Often the sun is beginning to rise at 4:30 in the morning and I often mistake it to be around 7:30 or even later! Jet lag hasn't really affected us all that much but it's just a little more difficult to tell time due to the sun rising so early. 

    We've also strolled around downtown, making our way to the Queen St. Mall, a two block pedestrian area with sidewalk cafes, shops and interesting art along the plaza. As you can see in the picture below I am standing in front of a building with a very interesting facade, a wall covered in colorful, metal butterflies. 

In front of the Winter Garden (Butterfly) Wall on Queen St, Downtown Brisbane

    The next day we decided to take a city sightseeing bus tour called CitySights. Our bus driver was named Maurice and he was quite genial and accomodating. He had visited Chimney Rock in North Carolina and had visited many states along the east coast and told us of his adventures. We rode this bus throughout Brisbane and made our way to Mt. Coot-tha, the highest peak in Brisbane. Coot-tha from the Aborigine "ku-ta" means "honey" since Aborigine locals would collect honey from the native stingless bees that lived there. Enjoying the views we sat down and had lunch and some drinks. The vista was beautiful and we were able to see the river that runs downtown as well as the entire Brisbane metropolitan area. After our lunch we strolled along the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens viewing a unique Bonsai House, cockatoos and some more lorikeets. We made our way back onto the bus and on to Meredith's house.

South Bank Parklands, Downtown Brisbane

    On Sunday, Meredith, Stephanie and I decided to walk along the South Bank Parklands, a scenic walkway along the river that opens up into a man-made pool/lagoon surrounded by shops, pubs and cafes. We enjoyed the people-watching and after spending some time doing just that at the lagoon we went on to have lunch at one of the nearby restaurants. After such, was some souvenir shopping and looking at the little outdoor market with its jewelry and other knick-knacks.
   After a couple of hours we again made our way back to Meredith's. Once on the bus our bus driver asked if we were from Tasmania on account of our accents. We hadn't heard that one before! Many people ask us where we're from and are surprised that we respond, "The U.S." as they think we are Canadian. Later on Meredith and Travis' friend Eddie came over and I watched as the four of them ended playing a 5 hour poker game. Stephanie had only learned how to play Texas hold'em the night before from Meredith and this was her first time playing with actual money albeit only 10 dollars. Eddie, a British man who had spent time living in New Zealand, was a interesting character. 51 and currently a "lollipop-turner" or sign waver for construction here in Brisbane, he spends his week in Brisbane and goes to the beach every weekend in his van. Having two kids, one a scholarship-recipient for women's rowing at UCLA and the other still living in New Zealand, Eddie's jobs have run the gambit from primary school teacher to corrections officer at a New Zealand prison where they affectionately referred to him as "Mary Poppins". It was fun meeting him and he gave us some great advice for our upcoming venture to New Zealand.

King's Beach

   On Monday, Meredith drove us to King's Beach about an hour north of Brisbane. We dipped our toes in the Pacific and proceeded to simply read our books on the beach. Having enjoyed the breeze and warming sunshine, we packed our things and made our way back to Brisbane.
   We are currently making plans for our trip to Sydney so we will see what happens. It will be an adventure!