Family Trip VII Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary & Mt Coot-tha

Hello, yes I'm a Koala...

Second day at Brisbane, we headed to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary*****. It is not far from the city, about 20 minutes drive. They advertise as being the largest koala sanctuary and we understand why! It is a place worth going, $28 for YHA members, normal price is $33.

There are so many koala enclosures here, and if you join the koala presentation, at the end of the talk you can take picture with them up close. Or you can buy a photo pass where you can cuddle the animals! It's quite expensive so we just pass. 

Bird of prey show.

Erm..... 

Our picnic lunch inside the sanctuary...

 

Smoked salmon sandwich =)

Little Goatie

The Cassowary, known to be very aggressive and can bite! 

Tasmanian devil... the carnivorous marsupial.. only found wild in Tasmania.

CUTE.. A good sleeping position, saves the hand and leg cuddling energy...

Baby joey... 

This Roo looks like an old uncle..

First time seeing two kangaroos fighting! They are like kick boxing, and women fighting at the same time, pulling each other faces...

Nice ONE!

After playing with the animals, we head to the nearby Mount Coot-tha for sunset views. Can't see the sun set around here but the skyline of Brisbane city quite clear.

Ice cream again... 

Had dinner at Fishmonger's Wife restaurant located in East Brisbane. Specializing in fish, they do really good fish and chips! We ordered the family pack for $36.90 (4pieces of hoki fillet) and chips. Then a greek salad, which makes all 6 of us so full! Their beer battered chips is really GOOD!

Since we had a good time at GC's casino, we thought we might pay a visit to Brisbane's Treasury Casino. Oh no, no membership benefits this time cause it's the same company as GC's. No free dinner =.= LOL. Anyway Ricky had a go at the pokies (slot machines) and then all of us jumped and take turns again. Lol. Yay won some $$$ ;) Oh there's no free parking at the casino for normal members, unless you're a platinum or something. But street parking near the casino is FOC after 7/8pm if not mistaken.

NEXT: Relaxing at Mount Tamborine

Family Trip VI Springbrook NP to Brisbane

Woke up in the morning at Springbrook with the cheering sound of bird chirping. The sun just 'rewarm' our body after a night's cold breeze. Then we spent our morning making breakfast and taking pictures of the beautiful nature. 

Family Photo

Had a little walk at the 'Best of All Lookout' and came across this giant Antartic Beech Forest trees.

Very spiky plant with tiny spikes on its leaves as well with cherry tomato like fruit.

Good weather today! We can see Mount Warning quite clearly.

Can see from our faces it is quite COLD..... LOL

Away from the cold mountain, we head to the city of Brisbane. capital of Queensland. P&A have been here before trying to look for job so this time we stayed at the same caravan park at Newmarket since it is closest to city. Cost $70 for the 6 of us in a powered site.

After lunch we bought bus tickets ($5.20 pp for a paper ticket, can use within 2 hours for different transport like bus, train and ferry) and headed to Fortitude Valley, the Chinatown of Brisbane. It is the quietest Chinatown among the big cities of OZ. We just had a walkabout and bought the Bak Kut Teh herbs from the chinese grocer. Yay, we will have Bak Kut Teh for dinner one day!

The Wheel of Brisbane, $15 for a ride which we passed. 

Then we head to South Bank by train to catch a ferry to see Brisbane at night. This ferry ride at South Bank Station Wharf #3 is actually free for tourist to hop in and it is a good way to see Brisbane night view but the ferry is quite slow and has too many stops. So it may be 1 hour++ to return to the same station. Everyone was feeling quite tired and sleepy by the end of this ride. 

Brisbane River

Had dinner at a Mexican bar just opposite Max Brenner Chocolate Bar @ South Bank. Super Hot burritos!!

Now we have to dip in some chocolate drink and fondue to ease that tongue! Hehe. We tried their Italian thick chocolate, Mexican spicy choc, and coconut choc. $6 each... Yummy..

The irresistible sweet temptations at Max Brenner! Dark and milk choc fondue with strawberries, marshmallow, apples and banana bread.

Belgian Waffle with vanilla ice cream, caramelised pecans and chocolate melt... yummmmmyy

Walking along the riverside...The Treasury Casino.. We might pay a visit soon =)

NEXT: Koala Sanctuary and yummy Fish & Chips =P

Jobless life in Brisbane

Queensland, GoGoGo ! ! !

Treasury Casino, Brisbane

It's time to find work again~ ~ After the wonderful trip with P's dad. We went to Brisbane, hoping to find some casual jobs before Angie's sisters come to Gold Coast for travels. We will be joining them in Gold Coast. The living expenses in the city is just expensive! We've been staying in caravan park in Brisbane for more than a week. Cost us $38 per night, while the transport to the city is $14 each day for the two of us. 

 The shopping street in Brisbane CBD.

 Brisbane Arcade

CReative modern architecture =) 

Brisbane Chinatown in Fortitude Valley, which is much much smaller in scale compared to those in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. There's a Valley Market* each weekend here, but less than 20 stalls there. Selling clothes, accessories and books. Not interesting at all. =.=

The Wheel of Brisbane 

$15 for adults. No interest to ride it. The views fr up there seems limited to the city buildings. We have seen more beautiful cities like Sydney & Melbourne. SO Brisbane seems not much interest to us, more like a huge business centres, only BUSINESS no LIFE. =P Plus we don't have the mood to ride it. 

South Bank***** The most happening place in Brisbane. There is a Street Beach along the southbank and public showers and toilets. Also the market is on every weekend. We would never drive and park in the city because the parking rates is about $6 an hour and most of the places limit a 2 hour parking. 

The State Library is just nearby SOuthbank, the place we hang out the most. The State Library of Queensland deserves some credit, it has the fastest internet and WIFI so far, and the seating places is so comfy, with lounges where people can even sleep. 

DUe to the frustrations and disappointments in job searching, we relax with a cuppa hot chocolate and brownie sundae at Max Brenner Chocolate Bar @ Southbank. GOSH the queue is crazy.. we waited for about 45minutes before placing our orders!

Salivating when getting near the order counter >.<

It was just heavenly~ ~ ~ Choc ice cream with brownies and pecan nuts, bowl of choc melt and waffle balls for $12.50.

American Choc with marshmallow, $6.50. Too sweet for us~ ~

During our jobless days in Brisbane, I (Angie) went to the Coffee School, to take a Barista course. There are many schools in the cities. So after browsing their websites comparing prices and all, I enrol the Barista course Level 1 (Prepare and Serve Espresso Coffee) and 2 (Coffee Art) through coffeeschool.com.au. 

Their certificate is national training recognised. And they had discounts for the last minute enrollment, which I've paid $150 for both courses. Normal price is $99 for level 1 and $150 for level 2. Conducted on the same day, Level one takes 3 hours, Level 2 takes 2 hours. It was a good course to take, now I know more about coffee and how to use the semi manual espresso machine. From grinding of coffee beans, making espresso, making the standard coffee menu drinks, how to froth milk and cleaning the machine. It is really quite easy =) Also learnt to do some coffee art, but not successful in perfecting the free pour. Aiks! I'm just terrible in arts. It was all for the interest of coffee that I take up this course [COFFEE is my best medicine LOL] but also in the hopes to be able to land a job as a Barista in Brisbane. Well, cafes hardly take inexperienced Baristas =(

It was the longest two weeks of our life in OZ. Travelling to the library, searching for jobs everyday. and we have the most time to slowly think what to have for dinner. Aaaah... Isn't it normal for people to slow down and lazy around sometimes? But for us, it was time wasting. We can't stand another day jobless, we want to make full use of our time in OZ, earning for travels! We finally decided to move up, towards Bundaberg to look for farm work, which we know might not be available for another two weeks. But we just put our hopes up.