Brisbane, Australia

We flew from New Zealand to Brisbane, Australia. Brisbane is a great city, developed around the Brisbane River,  which was great fun to see from the air.  I usually have a great sense of direction, even in places I've never been; I inherited it from my Dad. But, I don't think I would ever have a sense of direction in this city, since the river winds in, around, and back on itself numerous times.  Click here to see how winding more of the river is.

If you've seen my photos before, you already know that my husband is a boat and water loving guy, so of course one of our first priorities was to get out on the water! I had read about a trip up the river to a wildlife park, so we quickly boarded a boat and were headed up river. The city is nice from this perspective too.

The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary has more than just koalas, which was interesting for us, since everything there is native to Australia. Here's a beautiful kookaburra, which fascinated me.

I have mixed feelings about whether this is an animal sanctuary, or a petting zoo, but seriously, how many chances will I have in my life to hold a koala? So I had to do it. Here I am, pretending to be a tree, which is what I was told to do to keep the koala from being stressed. By the way, they are heavy little guys, and all his weight seemed to be in his lower half.  Really solid.

The wallabies and the kangaroos were completely unfazed by the people walking around in their habitat.

Back in the city, we wandering into St. John's Cathedral. I know I was supposed to be admiring the incredibly Gothic architecture of this yet-to-be-completed landmark. It was begun in 1906, and when we were there, the West End was under construction - talk about a long term building project........ you can take a virtual tour here.  Anyway, I realized that it's an amazing structure, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the needlepoint bench cushions.

There are over 400 hand stitched cushions, no two alike. Some are whole scenes that run the length of the wooden bench.

Some are related subjects, stitched as stand-alone cushions. Aren't they amazing???

The Queensland Art Gallery is right alongside the river. Which really won't help you find it if you visit Brisbane, since you already saw from the air how much of the city is on the banks of the river somewhere, but it's in an area that's called the South Bank, which was the site of the 1988 World Expo. I was especially interested in the Indigenous Australian Art. Here's a bark painting. 

And a canvas work. I'm embarrassed to say that I can't find my notes right now with the artists' names, but if you know, please contact me and I'll update to include details. This piece was 8-10 feet wide, which makes a real impact when you're standing in front of it.

Thanks for letting me share Brisbane with you. It's an easy city to visit, walk around and enjoy.

Oh, and an added bonus, I saw one of my books on the shelf in a small, independent bookstore near downtown. Always a nice find ;-)