The city of Brisbane.......& Aussie day :)

So we left surfers at 9.20 and got to brisbane at 10.40! Not bad! We had a bit of a walk from the transit center to the YHA but when we finally arrived we were very pleased first impressions were it looked like a great hostel :) and the best part was we had booked our own double room! We could not wait we didn't mind the hostels but nothing beats just being able to chill out together in your own room. 

When we walked into our room we were pleased and it had the added bonus of air con! This was now A luxury ! We settled in and decided to go out for a wander .......it had been raining all day but when we went out it was just spitting, we made our way over The bridge to the south bank where all the museums and art galleries were it was here we found some free wifi! Always a bonus! and decided to go to the GOMA - gallery of modern art! At first we were a bit kind of meh! It's another art gallery but as we walked on it got more and more interesting and weird! There was two exhibit's that really stood out to me......

There was one about violence and people affected by violence of all kinds - and under the exhibit there was space for people to write there thoughts about this and any supporting comments for victims, it's really hard to explain and there was a lot more to it, but as soon as we walked into the exhibit we were just sort of taken back by it and the whole mood in the room was different and you instantly feel moved, we read some of the comments and the letters people had left it was very moving, I decided to write something ........ I wrote just simply ..... Hope, love, smile and laugh...... As this to me was what I hoped for the victims.....I hoped that they would always have hope and be loved and try to smile and laugh all of these things can bring you happiness, everyone has different thoughts but these are mine......I dropped my note under the exhibit and went to the next room.

...... Exhibit one 

The second exhibit that really moved me was one about forgiveness, gratitude and love. There were three sort of huts open at the front where you could go Into and sit down and on all the walls of these huts there were letters, notes, and sayings. ThIs particular exhibit was about saying things to people/loved ones that were no longer with us and as most people don't get the chance to say what they wanted to Say to there loved ones whether it be forgiveness, thanks or just to simply say "I love you" this exhibit gave you the chance to do this.....so I wrote both my grandad's a letter :) first one to my mums dad talking about my achievements and how I am travelling and would have loved to have swapped stories with him about his travels, I talked about nan being with him now and missing them both a lot. My next letter was to my dads dad, and I also spoke to him about travelling and being a nurse and also how nanny was the queen bee for me and I will always look after her......for me it was just a chance to say things that I wish they were Here to witness. I put my letters with the others, when the exhibit finishes the letters get sent back to the artist and then burnt, there were some really sad ones there it was quite emotional but very beneficial. So the afternoon at the GOMA was better then expected, we had a nice walk back to the hostel and had signed up for the hostel BBQ it was only $5 each - Luke was having steak and sausage and I was having vegi sausage and mushroom burger :) and we got salad and bread with it and we decided to cook some potato aswell.....sweet and normal, it was delicious and Luke even tried a bit of kangaroo! Which he said taste like a mixture of lamb and beef! We then went down to our room to chill out and watch a bit of only fools! It was so nice walking into a room with air con! 

......waiting for our BBQ on the terrace :)

The next day we decided to take a walk into the CBD, it was a overcast day but still bloody humid! And we found a target store! To us that mainly ment free wifi! And also I could look for Millie and chesters presents ! for chester I was always on the look out for skylanders! And Millie was collecting fisher price little people range! She needed the seven dwarfs from Snow White and snow whites cottage! So far I hadn't had any luck with Millie's gift but I knew I would find it in disney! But I had found a couple of skylanders for chester, but I was specifically looking for the ones that were not out in uk yet! And as I looked at the skylanders collection I found 3 of the 4 skylanders that were not out in the uk! I was very excited about this! I what's app my sis immediately to check and make sure they were not out in England yet but of course it was night time there so would just have to return tomorrow when she had had a chance to look at the messages! Sammie says chester asks all the time when we are coming home and how many days until we come home, I find this very sad :( it's so nice that he thinks of us tho and it's important to me that they know we are thinking of them to, this doesn't always mean presents but it's nice for them to Recieve something the post from around the world ! 

We continued to look around town and just have a wonder and see where we end up! We saw many oldish buildings and a pretty church!...and lots of cast iron figures!.....

......these 3 figures where opposite the city hall and the lady was known for fighting for woman's rights, the man on the left was a writer and the one on the right he worked in politics! I gather they were all part of the short Australian history! After seeing these we turned around and saw the lovely building that was the city hall.......

 We went in for a wander! It was a huge building much bigger then it looked from the outside ! When we were wasn't around there was no one there it was very earie like an old Victorian school! We found out there was a museum on the top floor so went up to that which was a mixture of weird and interesting ! You could go up the clock tower for free but all the tickets were gone, that was a nice surprise for us to have a look around this old building and the museum is interesting :)

We wandered back to the hostel and made some lovely dinner! We made sweet potato and normal mash with leeks and mushrooms, we had my left over vegi stuff with it and carrots and broccoli with gravy! It was so delicious! It was Saturday night and while everyone else was drinking and going out we. Were going back to our room with a cup of tea and for a cuddle! We officially felt old! However the next morning a lot of the other backpackers were saying how expensive it was when they went out .....2 drinks for $22 ! That was like our shopping bill for 4 days! 

The next day was Aussie day! And we had purchased these Aussie tshirts a few weeks back in a cheap shop they were like superman tshirts but had the Aussie flag on! We put them on had some breaky and headed out there was loads of stuff going on on the south bank, but our first stop was target! My sister had messaged me back saying that the skylanders weren't out in England yet so I decided that I would get my little chester 2 out of the 3, i wanted to get him all three but I had already got him two a few weeks ago when they were on offer and I had to make sure the parcel I was sending back was 500grams or less and it wasnt fare on little Millie poppins if I got chester all of them, as I hadn't managed to get the things she wanted I did ask again that morning of they had anymore little people stuff out the back and they said no, but I had already bought Millie a couple of presents that I knew she would like :) I was going to get her something else but I really wanted to save the money for something she really wanted. I planed to send them home ASAP but it was bank holiday here so had to wait until the next town! I had to take all the skylanders out of there packaging as the packaging weighs about the same as the actual skylanders ! Every gram mattered!

We took a wander over to the south bank after that and on the other side of the bridge we walked across there was a protest going on! It was all very exciting we had never seen a protest before! Not that sort anyway, it was the aborigines shouting about how it was there land etc etc! It was stopping all the traffic over the bridge all I could think of was those poor motorists stuck behind them! We spent a couple of hours walking along the south bank towards the Brisbane wheel......

.....there were some activities going on for Aussie day and a lot of live bands it was quite nice just to have a wonder! There were two people sand sculpting a car......

And we also wandered to the man made beach that had been made for tourists and locals as there wasn't a beach here and it overlooked the river it was quite nice and Luke was now wondering why he Hadn't put his swimmers in the bag!....

.....we took a slow walk back along the Brisbane river back to our hostel for a late lunch snack Luke had a cheese, cucumber, beet root and apple sandwich and I had some crackers with the same on :) it was so refreshing!

.....the Brisbane river....

That evening we had another clear out of our stuff, threw away loads, put stuff in the free box and had a small pile of sovenirs to send home via sea, a couple of magnets, and info on places we had been, it was great to have a clear out! Later on we made another scrummy meal....

At 19.30 there were fireworks over the river for Aussie day and we had the perfect view from the hostel terrace! They were really good fireworks and went on for 15 minutes! Obviously not as good as Sydney at New Years but still good! 

Our last day in Brisbane we decided to go fishing on the Brisbane river, it was free and we had all the stuff, so off we went Luke had a fish and i caught up on my blog......

.......Luke caught a flathead on the Brisbane river! Not just one but 3 average ones and one huge one which one of the locals said was huge! He was so pleased and I was so happy seeing him catch all those fish! It was so funny because he had attracted a huge crowd of people! They just surrounded him taking pics etc! What a great afternoon! 

 The huge one!

There was a beautiful rainbow as we walked back ......

....so pretty ...

We decided to sit on the south bank lawn after and use the free wifi from the GOMA! We had a lazy evening going over the next few weeks of our travel plans and looking at our fishing footage! and enjoying our own room and the aircon! This hostel really was one of the best we have stayed in the standards were so high and we have enjoyed it,the best thing is it's got a huge kitchen with all the right utensils and enough cutlery to go around! So we managed to cook some good meals there....

Our reflection on the city of Brisbane is that it s a nice little city to visit for a few days do some shopping and see the sights, it's quite relaxing not like your average city, there is lots of art work around the city and the city is pretty interesting, we think that we spent the correct amount of time here .....4 nights! We would come back here if we passed it on route somewhere, Luke said he would pop in! Overall a nice city :)))

Leaving tomorrow for another town......more adventure!