Welcome to Brisvegas!
This is what the flight attendant announced when I landed in Brisbane at around 10pm on Friday night. I almost didn't make the flight because there were major communication problems with the shuttle service that I had called. I actually thought I was pretty lucky to have shuttle service right from my apartment. Unfortunately, I think some people on the phone still have a hard time understanding my accent.
I had ordered the shuttle for a pick-up so that I could arrive at 9:30pm. The pick-up was supposed to occur at 7:20. The phone operator mistakenly heard just the 9:30 part and assumed it was a morning flight. Luckily, I called to double check at 7:30pm or else I would have missed my flight, since my apartment building is not well-known and hard to find and the shuttle didn't arrive at my place till about 8:15pm. I got to the airport by 8:45pm.
Anyway, more flight problems arose when Elaine went to pick up her friend, also named Karen (I'll call her KT for now), from the international terminal and the flight was delayed. I think we got out of the airport around midnight. I had to text Vic and Jenny that I wasn't going to be able to meet up with them that night. Adding further to KT's trouble was that she had a damaged SIM card, so she couldn't call Elaine to communicate the situation. Not only that, when we arrived at KT's apartment on Level 3 of a non-lift apartment, we discovered that of the double-locked door to KT's place, she only had keys for one. There would be even more people in the apartment than expected (note: already for the weekend would be me, Elaine, her boyfriend, her boyfriend's friend, her flatmate, her flatmate's mom and sister... and now KT). Can we say "Full House"?
We still made the best out of the situation. We drove to Mount Coot-tha to see an amazing panoramic view of Brisbane at night. My pictures definitely do not do justice to what I saw in person. I'm still amazed what our eyes can see versus a camera. While we were enjoying the night view, we noticed that we weren't alone. Aparently, this is make out central! We wanted to head to the peak, but as we approached it, the couple just seemed to kiss louder, so we decided to give them privacy and headed out.
We finally made it back to Elaine's place and got into bed at around 3am. What a long night!!
You'll be even more amazed that we actually got up around 7am the next morning. Elaine's boyfriend had gone to the airport to pick up Elaine's flatmate's mom who was flying in for a graduation ceremony. Meanwhile, Elaine and I walked to the city. En route was Chinatown, which was small, but still cool to see. I'm sure my pictures make it look a lot bigger than it seemed. We then walked towards Riverside where we spotted the Story Bridge (read: the Harbour Bridge of Brisbane). Again, smaller, but still cool to see.
The ferry ride down the Brisbane River was definitely a highlight for me. Along the river, we saw people kayaking, multiple bridges, people abseiling down Kangaroo Point, and various buildings. The bridges in Brisbane are actually better than Sydney (minus the Harbour Bridge and Anzac Bridge). If I had to come the seven bridges of Brisbane to the seven bridges of Sydney, Brisbane overall has better bridges. Plus, heaps cheaper! I think I paid for a round trip ferry ride for $4 and used the same ticket to ride the bus all day. Elaine and I caught the bus back to Fortitude Valley so that we could all head up to Mount Tamborine.
We walked down Gallery Walk which showcased the German Cuckoo shop, crystal shops, craft shops, chocolate/nut shops, etc. One of the highlights was wine-tasting. I was able to taste the very yum Chocolate Port (Tara - you would love this!). It was weird how it tasted like chocolate and not like wine. There were a few more fruity ports that were also good. I'd have to say that the wines here actually suited my tastes more than those at Hunter Valley. We also tried some cheeses at the Witches Chase Cheese Company.
The next place to visit added further to my growing bird phobia! We went to this Polish Cafe which had a gorgeous countryside view. However, it was also surrounded by colourful lorikets (or parakeets). They love sugar! They were even ripping open sugar packets. Crazy! I was looking forward to our apple pancakes, but also scared that the lorikets might attack them before we got to eat them. They flew down a couple of times beside me, behind me, and in front of me. I was definitely nervous! However, I did manage to get really good close-up shots of the rainbow-coloured birds.
From Mount Tambourine, we headed back to Fortitude Valley as Elaine had to get ready for a Christmas party and I made dinner plans with Jenny and Vic. We had dinner at Hainachi in the Queen Street Mall. It was YUM! Jenny, Vic, and I each tried a speciaty sushi dish - lobster, scampi, and abalone respectively. We also shared the Chef's sashimi platter - yum!! =)
After dinner, we had some drinks at the Shadow Lounge which was next to the more famous lounge, the Jade Buddha. We snapped some night photos of the Story Bridge. We debated the idea of going to a club, but I noticed that Vic and Jenny were giving weird looks to each other when they were suggesting the idea to me. I screeched when I discovered they were trying to trick me into going to a strip club. So, instead, we tried to buy some liquor and enjoy a night in watching movies at Jenny's place. To everyone's surprise, there wasn't a liquor place that was open, so we settled for Ribena and some chicken. I was surprised Jenny and Vic were still hungry after dinner since I was pretty full. We watched this scary movie - which I could barely stomach.
Soon after the movie was over, Elaine was done with her party and she came by to pick all of us up to check out Kangaroo Point. More night views of Brisbane overseeing the Brisbane River. Again, my camera didn't photograph too well, but I thought it was a cool sight to see.
The next morning, we were supposed to go cherry picking, but due to logistical problems. We woke up super early (read: 6:30am!), but since the planned drive was longer than expected and would potentially cause me to miss my 3:30pm flight, we headed to the Gold Coast instead. It turned out from a dreary morning with hovering rain clouds to a beautiful day!
After a one hour drive away from Brisbane, we were in sunshine and having seafood cooked at the Fish Market. It was again, comparatively smaller to the one in Sydney, but it was still alright. After a short visit to the Fish Market with some stopovers at Palazzo Versace (a six-star hotel) and a mall, we drove to Surfer's Paradise for some beach time. We did some pretty silly things, which made for some great shots. I only wish I had worn shorts that day so my jeans wouldn't have gotten wet. However, due to the scorching temperature, my wet jeans did dry relatively quickly.
We took a quick walk around the markets which were interspersed with surfboard benches. I can't believe how quickly the weekend past by. It was 1:30pm when we left Surfer's Paradise. I made it to the airport at 3pm and made a mad dash to the gates with 5 minutes before boarding. Phew!
When I finally landed back to Sydney, I was going to catch the train back to Central, but the shuttle bus which would arrive to my doorsteps was still cheaper, so I decided to hop on the shuttle.
It's weird how much I've learned about the places in Sydney and Sydney life. I found myself giving inadvertent comments about the places in Sydney such as Capitol Square, Haymarket, Chinatown, Martin Place, Circular Quay, etc. The tourists on the bus thought that I was a tour guide. It was even a surprise to me, since I was able to name a few good places to eat when someone asked about steak and chinese food.
I can't believe it's already December! Time flies!