Weeks Twelve and Thirteen: Spring break in Brisbane with Mum

I wrote my last blog entry two weeks ago, sitting in Newcastle airport awaiting my flight to Brisbane. As I start this entry, I am once again setting up camp in Newcastle airport awaiting my bus back to town. The past two weeks have been spent around Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Gold Coast, having a lovely time.

Two weeks ago, I flew to Brisbane, where my Uncle found me and we waited for Mum's flight from Brunei to arrive. We headed to Brookwater, a suburb between Brisbane and Ipswich, where my Uncle and Auntie live. Their house is amazing, overlooking the golf course, and my room had a pool view! We had a catch up and several glasses of wine before bed.

Monday was going to be a chill day. We had breakfast by the pool, and then lazed around in bikinis and soaked up some rays until the sun disappeared in early afternoon. Rather than sit around all day, we decided to be productive and explore the nature trail around the golf course. The trail had clearly been neglected for several years, and any path had long ago been surrendered to the tangles of vegetation and spiders webs. We persevered  attempting to follow any worn, flattened or disturbed areas of forest, presuming the path must return to its source somehow.... Approximately an hour later, we realised we were very lost, but decided to keep going, in the naive hope that somehow we would end up back at the house. After a long uphill climb, with several backtracks and directional disagreements along the way, we stumbled upon Civilisation. We asked the first passer-by for directions; her startled expression was not a good omen. We were 10km away, walking in the wrong direction.... Undeterred, we started along the road, stopping several times en route to check that we were indeed heading in the right direction. Every person we asked gave us the same look, evidently questioning our mental stability. When darkness fell, a bus driver took pity on us and offered us a ride - for free, when we realised we had no money on us. Once safely within Brookwater, we still managed to get lost, and ended up calling Uncle Julian for a lift home. To say it was a failed stroll would be an understatement.

On Tuesday morning we headed off, bright and early, to Brisbane. We walked to Riverside where we boarded the CityCat for an explore of the city via the river. Once back on dry land, we walked to Southbank, where we discovered where the entire primary school-age population of South-east Queensland spends the holidays... We escaped the hoardes and found a lovely little Greek cafe for lunch, where I had a yummy Halloumi and tzatziki salad wrap :) Nom. We also descended upon an amazing ice cream place for pecan praline icecream, mmm. We went for a wander around Southbank and the city, before getting the train back to Brookwater for the evening.

Story Bridge

A ridiculously overcrowded Street's Beach

:)

The Arbour, Southbank

Wednesday had a very early start, as we got the train to Roma St, then a Bus to Holt St wharf, to meet the catamaran to Moreton Island for our stay at Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort. The sky clouded over, making the crossing pretty chilly. The Island was beautiful, but the resort itself wasn't so great. We once again escaped the masses by going on a long walk to a distant beach, which was unbelievably beautiful. Dining options were very limited, so we ended up at an overpriced and unimpressive buffet... We got our moneys worth though: the mini-muffins and fruit made an excellent breakfast!

ENDLESS beaches!

Random fact: Moreton Island is the 3rd largest sand island in the world, after Fraser and North Stradbroke!

Thursday was fairly miserable weather, so we trekked up to the Tangalooma desert. Just as we made it back to the hotel, the heavens opened, so we sought shelter in the room and made an afternoon tea of passionfruit and strawberries, sandwiches, orange and almond cake and lots of tea. Once the skies cleared, the sunset over Moreton Bay was incredible.

Making sand angels!

Afternoon tea on the balcony :)

Sunset!

The rain of the previous day had cleared the skies, so Friday was beautiful weather. We wasted no time in heading along the forest track to the deserted stretch of beach beyond the resort. The sand was white, the water was warm, turquoise and crystal clear. Perfect. In the evening we headed down to the jetty, where you can wade into the water and feed fish to the wild dolphins which visit most evenings. Amazing :)

The view from the lookout over Tangalooma

:)

Saturday was spent in much the same fashion, until the wind suddenly picked up with gusto at 3pm. We packed up from the beach and gathered our belongings for the catamaran crossing back to the mainland, where loading the passengers took almost an hour as the wind had stirred up the sea to such an extent that the gangway kept detaching from the jetty... The crossing itself was horrific. Upstairs was freezing cold, particularly once the sun had set. The entire downstairs was occupied by people painted a delicate shade of olive, with sick bags clamped to their jaws and children crying. We chose the cold.

Sunday was beautiful sunshine, so we spent the day chilling and reading in the garden, before having a BBQ Sunday dinner :)

We got up bright and early on Monday morning to drive down to the Gold Coast to go whale watching. Humpback Whales migrate down the East coast of Australia every spring, and we saw a few of them. Unfortunately the new charger for my DSLR camera had not arrived at this point so my photos of the far-off whales are a bit rubbish, but it was amazing to watch. They plied us with muffins and tea, and in the afternoon the boat headed out to South Stradbroke Island, where we had a lovely BBQ lunch surrounded by inquisitive Golden Wallabies (to whom much of my salad was donated... they were just so cute!) We stayed in Surfers Paradise that night, and went for an explore before dinner. We found an incredible Japanese bakery selling bizarre and wonderful treats such as rum and raisin brioche (yum), green tea playtpus' (yum?) and coconut hotdog pastries (not so yum).

Oh hey Mr Humpback!

Splish splash

Om nom

Tuesday morning heralded glorious sunshine and a brisk breeze, so we decided to stay by the pool (thankfully protected by a big windbreaking wall). In the afternoon we headed down to the other beach - Surfers Paradise is on a spit of land, surrounded on both sides by water, so we went to the sheltered landward beach. We went to Bumbles Cafe for some gorgeous cakes before hopping in the car for the drive back up to Brookwater.

Cakey goodness

Wednesday morning saw another early start, as we got the 7am train to Central in order to get to Cleveland in time for the ferry to North Stradbroke Island. I had heard of a lovely walk through the island to Blue Lake National Park, and the Blue Lake itself. It was 11km each way - not so bad, until you consider the hills... We had a picnic at the Lake, which was pretty but maybe not worth the trek...

After the exertion of our trek on Wednesday, Mum and I opted for a lie-in on Thursday morning - which was just as well, as the weather made a definitive turn for the worse. Whilst the rain persisted, we headed to Orion shopping centre for a quick browse (read shopping spree) and a coffee. Once the rain eased off, we made the trip to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. The Koalas were adorable and numerous, and - in contrast to all the others I had seen - actually moving around! Mum was definitely taken, but I was more interested with the enclosure next door - filled with enormous numbers of Kangaroos and Wallabies! We found quite a few mummy Roos with Joeys in their pouches - many of whom had slightly outgrown their pouches, and were therefore rammed in with their ankles - literally - by their ears!

Hey there Mr Koala

Mum makes a new friend

...as do I.

Kangaroo fight!

!

BABY JOEY!!

Lick. Lick. Lick.

Adorable little joey.

Sleepy old man.

On Friday we headed into Brisbane again. The weather was more agreeable this time round, so we wandered around the beautiful Botanical Gardens, before heading to Southbank for Brunch at Max Brenners chocolate restaurant! We split an INCREDIBLE chocolate brownie and icecream, and a chocolate babka. Mum got a dark chocolate mocha and I had a wonderful hot milk chocolate with crunchy waffle balls, mmmm. The drinks all come in a 'hug mug', which is cute. We walked off the presumably colossal calorie intake in the shops and stalls of Queen Street mall, before getting shoppers fatigue (and a mean sugar hangover) and heading off for a greek salad back at Southbank. I was sad to leave Brisbane, especially Southbank! It's such a gorgeous city, with (usually) lovely weather - plus I love getting around by boat! In the evening Uncle Julian and Auntie Clare took us out on the golf buggies to the clubhouse, where we had far too many gin and tonics, and a lovely posh meal. Driving a golf buggy along an unlit and cane toad-infested golf course, whilst inebriated is a thrilling experience... There were lots of squished froggies. Oops.

Brenner's brownies mmmm

Hug mug! Hot chocolate with crunchy waffle balls :)

Streets beach

Brisbane!

:)

I was awoken on Saturday morning by the sound of thunder, and torrential rain splashing into the pool. The tropical weather had arrived, and our day of sunbathing by the pool was out of the window. Instead, we headed back to the shopping centre, bought some last-minute gifts (and shoes, as my pumps had not fared so well on the 20km North Stradbroke trek...), before settling down outside Coffee Club once the sun started shining. We had sushi, smoothies, and pecan pie :). In the evening, we headed to the local Thai restaurant - an unremarkable-looking affair overlooking the main road. I was blown away - it was one of the best meals I have ever had - helped along by the free 'Jimmy's Special' cocktails, which - we were reliably informed - contained gin, vodka AND rum (as well as a little splash of tonic...). On their own, they were bad; mixed with wine, they were lethal! We squashed a few more cane toads on the buggy ride back to the house, where we had a gin and tonic nightcap... I did not expect to wake up with a hangover whilst staying with my Uncle, Auntie and Mum!

Sunday was leaving day, and the weather was suitably incredible. Uncle Julian drove us to the airport, where mum had to repack her suitcase - Royal Brunei actually care about luggage weight. Amazingly, my bag weighed only a kilo less than mums - despite having only half the luggage allowance - and JetStar didn't bat an eyelid! We said our goodbyes and I got the AirTrain to the domestic terminal, before jetting back down to Newcastle. The horrendously unreliable bus service meant that I had to wait over two hours for the bus back from my one hour flight, but I eventually made it back, exhausted but happy after a lovely two week break.

The holiday is over now, and I am faced with the prospect of a towering monolith of work to complete tomorrow, and in the following weeks, before exams and the inevitable nervous breakdown. It is so strange to think that I have now been here for three months! Everything that I have been planning, seemingly in the distant future, is now happening - or in the case of Spring Break - has already happened! I am not looking forwards to doing all this work and then exams, but if it all keeps going this fast, before I know it I will be jetting off to Melbourne with the girls - and then two weeks later, heading back up the east coast with my favourite boy! Time is going so, so fast - and I am determined to make the most of it.