Day 48 27th February 2011

Brsibane

View acroos the Brisbane River from our balcony

Cool Dude

We have reached the half-way point of the cruise and have arrived at our first port of call in Australia, Brisbane. We are docked at the cruise terminal on the Brisbane River. This is a wide muddy river that flooded the city in January although we saw no sign of the damage. The city has made a rapid recover and we were taken to places that where several feet under water six weeks ago. It is a large city of 2 million people but looks clean, pleasant and vibrant. From our balcony we face onto the river and can see the high-rise buildings of the city. Everyone was friendly and welcoming.

We went on a trip to a Koala sanctuary called Lone Pine. It had many animals apart from Koalas such as possums, duck billed platypus, kangaroos and Tasmanian devils. The koalas were the high point and there were many in different places mostly asleep since they sleep 18 hours a day. The platypus was in a special glass sided tank so you could see it catching prawns for its dinner and swimming around. It is a remarkable animal. In one large area, red kangaroos freely wander around and since they are fed by visitors they are easy to approach and touch. They were very laid back animals just keeping cool and waiting for someone to offer them some food which you can buy at the shop. It was very hot about 34c and you had to keep moving into the shade or bake.

As part of the trip we had a drive around the city and to a couple of viewing points. The guide and driver both kept up a non-stop flow of information about the place. It seems Australians have a very outdoor life style with everyone owning a caravan or trailer tent and a boat. They spend a lot of time out of doors and given the lovely day that we spent here that is no surprise. The city council are trying to encourage the use of bicycles and there are racks of them that you can hire all around the city centre. It looked a thriving place with wide streets with many square and trees everywhere.

We left at 6pm and sailed along the river passing under a bridge apparently we had 4 feet of clearance. About 10pm tonight we will leave the river and pass out into the bay. Night fell very quickly and revealed a landscape of street and building lighting.