We finally succumbed to peer pressure (well, just from one person but he is a Kiwi and bigger than me) who said we HAD to go to the Sat market up in Brissy. As it was dubious weather, no wind, flat surf..... a day in "BRISBANE: The City" seemed like an entertaining option. We first headed to the market in the West End (which may have, at one point, actually been AT the west end of the city. Now it is rather central.) This was where we had been told to start (by our intrepid local - Vandy. Who is actually from NZ. But he knows where all the great food is!)
It is a rather large market, I would estimate 4-5 times the size of the Boulder Mkt, with an abundance of local produce, flowers, arts and crafties, lots and lots and lots of food-things.
Some great artistic clothing..
It is good to see all the local produce - many Brisbanites with little trolleys and wheeled things carting away their week supply of 'veg' (as in 'fruit an veg').
We still find the global distribution of food puzzling. At the local grocery this week we saw that AU garlic was 4 times the price of garlic from Mexico! We needed some lemons midweek (when the market was not open - the lemons from the US were cheaper than the locally grown. Given the price of petrol, I can't figure that out!
Haircut as a spectator activity!
This was the real reason we came - the Langos - Hungarian frybread with garlic, cheese and hot sauce! (hat is extra). They also had tubular crisp donuts - they swore no place in the US made these!
A refrigerated trailer with dead animal parts!
Brisbane is cut by the Brisbane River (the dratted obstacle to our success on the mighty Fabled Story Bridge!). The city has made good use of it for transport and has a cheap and regular ferry service across and up and down the river through the city. This makes for a fun excursion as you can buy a return ticket and use jump on and off at any point. "Though the city has an extensive network of transportation system, the Brisbane ferry service is what you must avail. To watch the reflection of the setting sun in the water is an experience to treasure for the entire lifetime. "(http://www.asiarooms.com/travel-guide/australia/brisbane/how-to-get-in/transportation-in-brisbane/brisbane-ferry-service.html)
(that is a permanent 'ferris wheel' on South Bank - tourist attraction).
The inspiring Kangaroo Cliffs climbing destination from the river
We headed down to UQ - (University of Queensland) one of the 'old sandstones' - the first big AU public universities. Which are built (at least in the original parts) out of, you guessed it: sandstone! Quite an impressive campus taking up a whole meander-bend in the river. Numerous Jacaranda trees (from S. America, originally) provide color against the beautiful aeolian cross-beds of the sandstone.
"The city of Brisbane in Australia has a local reputation of having a significant population of Jacaranda trees. The University of Queensland in the city's inner west has a very high concentration of the tree, and due to the impressive display of purple flowers in mid-Spring, which wind up littering vast sections of the suburbs, local folklore claims that "one won't start studying for exams until the jacarandas have molted"." --Wikipedia
We then headed down river to the Botanical Gardens - a nice city park with displays of native , and distinctly nonnative species. Many birds--
(Kookaburra to the right,
a Bush Stone-Curlew below)
A Little Corella
It was a festive place - a group playing cricket in the corner, look there's a bride with her entourage and photog in tow. Look there goes another. And another! This must be wedding party photo central! As we walked the grounds we counted no LESS that a dozen weddings
in progress or just finishing. And we got there at 3 pm! This Aussie wedding party toted their own Esky to make it through the photo-shoot!
A Dusky Moorhen
Art in the park...
We headed back upriver to our car, quite glad to have avoided all the downtown traffic. We didn't have the perfect AU sunset but is a pretty boat ride back to the West End
What is not well known about Brisbane is the extent of the alien population. After dinner, we visited one of the original landing craft. Vandy hooked us into this site on the West End and suggested we might be able to get a tour. It doesn't look like much on the outside, but he swears it it is a hyperspace tesseract ("And He Built A Crooked House") inside with gardens, ballrooms, a seafood bar and a pool... So he says....(Dirk trying to get beamed up by the aliens masquerading as an street-art exhibit...)
Below -I think they started to open the portal for me but then someone walked on on the street and they stopped.... footage captured here!!!!!
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