Mount Coot-tha, Ferries & a Ferris Wheel

A message to Leon who left a comment about seeing us at the rugby: Please email me on mupersan1@gmail.com & we can get together for a beer.

Easter Friday saw us heading 23.3km up the road to Mount Coot-tha (pronounced Cootah) where there's a fabulous view of Brisbane city and across to Moreton Bay. Although calling it "Mount" is a little ambiguous..... Big hill would describe it better - but that doesn't really sound good, does it? ;) Funnily enough, having just said that, I was reading about the history of the reserve and it used to be called "One Tree Hill". The following from the Brisbane Lookout website: "A name derived by virtue of a solitary Eucalypt tree that stood at this southern most point on an otherwise bare knoll. The name 'Coot-tha' or 'Kuta' was taken from the Aboriginal name for the area which meant 'honey' or 'the place of wild honey'."

The route from our house to the Lookout at Mount Coot-tha

$2 for a few minutes with the telescope thingy - shoulda just brought the binocs!

The Summit Cafe in the background

Scott's turn! He was checking out Archerfield airfield...

There must've been a plane landing or taking off!

Brisbane city centre - as the crow flies, only 7km away

Summit Cafe & the function rooms - not a bad spot for a function

Brisbane City centre - a bit of a hazy day - there was a fire near the airport which created the haze (you can just see it to the left of the city).

A very strange lady offered to take our picture - thank you strange lady!

A little pavilion on the summit with a marble & brass compass floor

Love this photo!

Cappuccino & a muffin for breakfast

Came across this little walk further along the same mountain road

So we decided to stop and take a look

Most parks and open areas have these drinking fountains - notice the bottom tap & bowl for dogs

Gold Mine picnic area - everything is so well maintained and clean

The path leading down from the picnic area

Oops! Forgot to get the exploring hat!

Gone exploring...

Scott diving into a sea of ferns - the pic doesn't do the mass of ferns justice unfortunately

What?

So it seems that they actually found gold here - not very much or of a very good quality, but they found some. An excerpt from the other half of this sign: "This track leads to the Ghost Hole Mine on East Ithaca Creek, one of the original mining leases on Mt Coot-tha. The mine was first worked in the 1890's, and again in the 1920s-30s but most of the mining activity occured during the 1940s-50s."

Tracks from the old tram they built to transport the gold (not so) rich ore - no mean feat! This couldn't have been easy terrain to work in.

The camera was wrestled from my paws!

Ghost Hole Mine - of course Scott had to leave the path to check it out. He's obviously not the only one - the mine has been filled in except for this small hole.

He didn't pay me enough to keep this out of the blog! LOL!

Indie...? Scott...? Indie...?

A termite infested tree cut down and left to rot

Some of the gum trees had this beautiful rust coloured trunks which added the most stunning colour contrast amongst all the green.

A butcher bird hunting

Let your imagination wander...

As we got back to the car after our walk down to the mine, it started raining. It had been threatening for a while.

Having been in Brisbane for just short of 2 months, it was time to get onto the river and ride the ferries. We parked the car down near the Regatta Hotel in Toowong and hopped on at Regatta & just rode.....

(Click to enlarge) We got on at Regatta (far left of map) and rode all the way to Apollo Road (last stop) and then all the way back to Southbank 2 (middle somewhere). After lunch, we took the ferry back to Regatta to hop into the car.

The City Cats really move! It even managed to blow my hair back!

Scott with the William Jolly Bridge in the background (also known as the Grey Street Bridge)

The Kurilpa Bridge under construction - for cyclists & pedestrians only

Close up of the Kurilpa Bridge construction - the red supports are temporary & will be taken away once the two sides have been connected and all the white bits are connected. They bring each section of the bridge on a barge and lift it up & connect it. There has been significant progress just in the 2 months we've been here. The bridge is due to be opened in 2010.

Brisbane Square - funky design! That's the Pacific Highway coming into the city in the foreground

Looking across the river at the Wheel of Brisbane & the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) - where we're going to see Chicago at the end of April

Back across the river towards Brisbane Square and the Victoria Bridge.

This is a City Cat - similar to what we were on

Walking & cycle paths stretch all the way along the river

Looking back towards the city - you can just glimpse the Story Bridge

My explorer! We actually met a Saffer on the ferry - Mike - who was on a whirlwind tour of Perth & Brissie to decide which city to move to. You can just see his shoulder & backpack on the right. It was his last night in Brissie so Scott went to pick him up from the city later that afternoon while I made spagbol (good old page 1 - my folks always say that this is page 1 of my recipe book) for supper. Mike, if you read this, please mail us & let us know how you're going!

Customs House

The Story Bridge

The back of the stage at RiverStage in the Botanic Gardens where we saw Chris Isaak live a few weeks ago

An Aborigine at South Bank who wasn't really playing the didge - just blew on it every now and then when someone looked like they were going to stop. No one was impressed and the dude packed up & hopped on a ferry after a little while.

A beautiful walkway at South Bank - the plants they're growing over the walkway are bouganvilla. It's going to look stunning once it's completely covering the walkway.

Camera got snatched away again!

The Nepal Peace Pagoda at South Bank. This was Nepal's representation at the World Expo '88 and was hand carved by 160 Nepalese families in the Kathmandu Valley. Some 80 tonnes of indigenous Nepalese Terai forest timbers was felled specifically for the Pagoda. The Pagoda took 2 years to complete.

The Peace Bell

The carvings are absolutely beautiful and so intricate. I could've stood there all day looking at the detail, but boys get bored..... ;)

And so on to the Wheel of Brisbane!

Looking up...

Me? Nervous? No way!

Powered by Pirelli

Okay.... maybe a little nervous....

The Peace Pagoda from above

Looking North on the way up

A "Green Cab" at South Bank

Playing the fool

Scared? Funny!

You get to go around about 4 times so after the first scary bit at the top, you start to appreciate the beautiful views from so high up. QPAC is just on the left.





A bit of video footage I took while we were up on the Wheel

I thought those of you in Sefrica would find this funny - a speed limit for bikes & rollerbladers on the footpaths. Imagine being able to police THAT in SA!!!

One of the beautiful mosaics on the river walkway at South Bank - this one of a rainbow lorikeet

We stopped for lunch at Wang Dynasty - a fabulous Chinese restaurant on the river. The food was EXCELLENT and the beers went down a treat!

People out for a stroll at South Bank - a view from the restaurant

Also from the restaurant

Must be one of the old ferries...

Scary Mandy at Wang Dynasty!

Gardening, April Fools & Mount Tamborine

Greetings all,

We've settled nicely into the Moggill house. Scott's working like an absolute demon! His job up here is pretty stressful - mostly the people kind though because he's still loving what he does. I'm still not working. I'm selling some stuff on eBay to make a little extra cash which is quite fun. I did have what I thought was a good business idea but unfortunately it didn't pan out. *shrug* So it's back to the drawing board.... In the meantime I'm keeping myself busy with another project - it's Top Secret at the moment. It's just a pity it costs money & doesn't earn it. But it's a lot of fun & will be worth every penny I'm sure. When I've got the finished product in my hands, I'll reveal all so watch this space!

The weather in Brisbane is a little cooler than when we arrived 2 months ago - thank goodness! There's supposed to be a shower or two today but the sky is just a beautiful blue so far. But that can all change in half an hour. And boy, do we have some serious rain here! Have a look at the pics further down the page to see what I mean.

Our rental agreement on the house says that we only need to keep the lawns mowed and the edges trimmed - all the pruning & hedge shaping is done quarterly by the agents. So we needed a lawn mower & a whipper-snapper (weed eater) - the perfect excuse for an expedition to Bunnings on a Saturday morning. Now in Cape Town Builders' Warehouse have a boerewors stand outside the doors on a Saturday morning. The smell is absolutely irresistible and Scott just HAD to have his boerie roll. Well here we have Bunnings Warehouse and their sausage sizzle.

Sausage sizzle outside Bunnings

The traditional Aussie sausage sizzle. Absolutely bloody awful! No butter on the bread & if you get a yucky dry sausage, you better have a big bottle of water to wash it down! But never fear! Scott can sniff out a good saussie sizzle a mile off & the Bunnings closest to us didn't disappoint. They had proper buttered hot dog rolls with excellent sausages. Yummy!

So licking the tomato sauce off our fingers, we headed inside to make our purchases. Damn! Lawn mowers are expensive!!! So we went with Scott's favourite brand..... Ozito. It's a little bit of a situation joke but I'll try and explain... A while back Scott bought a drill which was on special at Bunnings - it was an Ozito & it was cheap but works like a charm. When he came home and showed it to me, he started with the whole Japanese accent, narrowed his eyes and said, "Aaaaah, Ozito, veeeelly good quarity!" So now whenever he sees an Ozito product, he does this.

So we're in the lawnmower isle and we come across the perfect lawnmower for us - small, compact, powerful enough and cheap. It's an Ozito. I knew it was coming and I couldn't run away without attracting attention. As soon as Scott saw the mower he proclaims far too loudly, "Aaaaah, Ozito, veeeelly good quarity!"

Scott showing me that it's an Ozito..... veeelly good quarity!

Aaaaah! Ozito!

Finally, we can get some of the weeds mowed!

It's a great little mower!

April Fools Day was a great one for me - and certainly no trick! I had a buddy in primary school - Noelene. Her and I were inseparable! And when we moved up to high school, were damn naughty! After leaving school, she headed for the UK. A couple of years ago, she moved to Christchurch in New Zealand. Nols has a real cushy job at one of the big property agents and has to come to Brissie for business every now 'n then. As soon as she found out we'd moved here, she let me know about her impending trip & she set aside time to come and spend the day with me. It was absolutely awesome to see her again! And so wonderful to know that friendships formed so early in life definitely do not fade. When you read this Nols, thanks for a great day!

Nols & I on the patio in Moggill

The day Nols spent with me was beautiful - hot, no wind, not a cloud in the sky. A perfect day - in fact I dipped into the pool a couple of times.

The very next day, it rained and rained and rained and rained! It just didn't stop. Not even for a second. Heavy rain - not a drizzle in sight. Every now and then it would really come bucketing down - a real wall of water. Our pool level rose about 10cm just during daylight hours. The entire back garden was under about 5cm of water. The water was falling so fast that at times the drains couldn't cope and the water backed up all the way up to the gutters and started overflowing at the top.

Water gathering outside the lounge and study windows at the back of the house. The water had already started backing up & started overflowing from the gutters above.

The front of the house where the water was pooling - another 3cm and the garage would've flooded!

My view of the downpour from the office

We had a bit of a gap in the weather on Sunday 5th April so we decided to head out to Mount Tamborine to check out the new Rainforest Skywalk. We took a little detour when Scott's bloody GPS (General Piece o' Shit!) got a little confused. For such an expensive gadget which is supposed to tell you which direction to go in, it is (at times) a little rigting-befok! For those non-Saffers reading this, a mild translation of rigting-befok would be "directionally confused"....

But we finally got there - thanks to the trusty old fashioned map! ;)

Scott really tried to get a decent pic of this but the car's movement didn't make it easy. Unlike Sydney, the Brisbane toll roads (I think there are only 2) are not completely automated yet. There is one booth where you actually pay a person and they give you change. The next booth is the one we took. If you have the exact amount in coins, you can just throw it into this receptical on the wall (it looks like a big urinal - sorry, no other way to describe it!). The coins fall into the hole at the bottom and the gates open for you. Easy!

Scott on the Skywalk

Me on the Skywalk

Mmmm.... what a handsome explorer!

Mom! Don't look down!!! Or anyone else scared of heights for that matter. Actually, it's not really that bad on the walkways. They're very sturdy and new so no rusty joints which would make me nervous.

Some gnarled vines and roots

The end of the Skywalk. Yip, no supports underneath. It's a 40m long cantilevered walkway 30m above the ground. Walking to the end is a little unnerving because it sways quite a bit. There's a sign saying not to try and make it move more but of course, boys will be boys! All boys! Every father, brother, boyfriend and husband we saw had a go at scaring their female companions! And Scott was no exception! :)

A very resilient little sapling trying to resist the roots of a strangler fig

The walkway decends onto the forest floor, over streams and winds it's way back to the starting point.

Playing the fool!

A nice one of us down at the river

Picture postcard....

A cool shot of Scott with an intertwined vine.

I love getting Scott to go traipsing into the bushes for cool photos!

In all the greenery of the rainforest, this flower really stood out.

Taken from the end of the Cantilever

Scott on the Cantilever - a little blurry because of the swaying!

One of the walkways behind me

After the walk in the rainforest, we headed into the village of Mount Tamborine. The main drag is called Gallery Walk and has all these crafty, arty shops with a few cafes & wineries dotted around the place. Unfortunately we had to get back to Moggill by 4.30pm so we couldn't browse all the shops but it does give us a really good excuse to go back!

A metal sculpture in a garden

The street reminded me of the main street in Franschoek except with alot of interesting shops instead of just restaurants.

The German Cuckoo Clock shop - one of the ones we'll have to go back to...

Whistling Duck Village - a little alcove on Gallery Walk with 6 insteresting shops

One of the shops in Whistling Duck Village had Golliwogs!