Part 2, Week 3: February 4-10
- Katie and Webster
- Feb 9, 2019
- 6 min read
It was SuperBowl Monday this week! We woke up bright and early to do a self-guided Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour around the city before the big game. We had originally planned to do a Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour but with the rental car it made more sense to do it ourselves. We made nine stops all over the city at the Canterbury Museum, Westfield Riccarton Mall, Cardboard Cathedral, Margaret Mahy Playground, Earthquake Memorial, and New Brighton Pier. Webster’s favourite stop was the Playground, we had to stop and play for 30 minutes :)
Then we headed back to our AirBnB for the SuperBowl. We had picked up some food for lunch on Sunday so we relaxed before the game and had a quick swim. The internet was not the best, but we did see the Pats win after a long and boring game! Webster didn’t want to step away from the screen for the entire game so we waited to have our lunch after the big Patriots win. For dinner we BBQ’d some chicken wings and skewers so we could have a typical SuperBowl meal. We ended our night with another quick swim before packing our things and getting ready for our early morning.
On Tuesday we woke up at 3am to head to the airport. We had an early flight out of Christchurch and into Brisbane. We dropped our rental car, Uber’d back to the airport, and then got all checked in. We were still fairly early so we spent some time at the airport lounge eating some breakfast. Our flight took 4 hours and we arrived in Brisbane at 7am. We made our way to our AirBnB and dropped off our bags before a busy day. We were both extremely tired from an early wake up, but with only one full day in Brisbane we had to get going. We had a quick coffee and brunch at Cafe On near our AirBnB to find some wi-fi and recharge with a little caffeine. Our first impression of Australia was the extreme heat, we were really tired which didn’t help, but it was 30 degrees and sunny all day!
After our quick coffee stop, we headed along the river on the water pathway. Brisbane is such a great city for free public spaces that are very well maintained. We walked for 2km over the river and there was not one piece of garbage, leftover food, or lost item left behind.
At the end of the walkway, we got onto the Brisbane city hopper, a free ferry that takes people along the river to popular stops. We took it from one end to another to really get a sense of the city and figure out where we wanted to spend our time. We got off at the central shopping district to find some lunch and get some errands done. Our first must-do in Australia was getting a bank account. In London getting an a bank account took almost a month. We had to prove our address, have our bosses write a letter, and go in for multiple appointments before we were able to open an account. When we arrived at the branch in Brisbane, we had already set up an account online with our personal details. We met with a teller for about 20 minutes and had our online banking set up, debit cards mailed, and forms filled out. It was SO easy! We had a quick lunch and then made our way to the Botanical Gardens. We spent about an hour walking through the park looking at all the cool plants and animals. It was nice to have a tourist attraction that we could go see for free!
As we were finishing up, it started to rain so we made our way back to the AirBnB. We walked along the river and managed to dodge the few clouds that were pouring. We enjoyed a quiet night in, got some food from the grocery store and finally went to bed almost 20 hours after we woke up.
On Wednesday, we woke up early to head to the Brisbane Southbank. This was a great public area for people to spend time in as a community. They had a great pool, restaurants, shops, and even BBQ’s with picnic tables. We walked along the water, had some lunch, and visited the Gallery of Modern Art. Webster and I are not artsy people but…it was 30 degrees out, the gallery was free and had GREAT air conditioning. We wandered around for an hour before making our way back to our AirBnB to check out.
Then we hopped on a train to the Gold Coast. Webster has some family who live on the Gold Coast and were nice enough to host us for a few days. We met them at the train station and were treated to a home cooked meal upon our arrival. It was nice to chat about home, learn more about Aus, and relax for the evening.
On Thursday, we slept in a little bit before heading to the beach! Webster’s family took us to a white sand beach with warm, clear water. I laid on the beach for a few hours and Webster swam in the water with all the surfers. The beach was really busy and even had lifeguards. We saw a surfer get pulled back to shore but for the most part they just kept reminding people to swim between the flags.
We had a nice lunch on the waterfront and then headed to the local shopping centre for a quick tour around. We were expecting prices to be out of this world in Australia, but we were pleasantly surprised at how reasonable most of the things were. Webster had to get some more sunscreen and we were happy to pay $12 for a big bottle! We spent the evening visiting with Webster’s family, eating yummy home cooked meals, and catching up on some Netflix.
On Friday, we enjoyed another little sleep in (it’s great to be on vacation)! After breakfast, we headed to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. The park was really close to where we were staying which was very convenient. We spent our morning hanging out with kangaroos, watching a crocodile feed, and holding a koala! Holding a koala is not allowed in some provinces so we wanted to do it while we could. Although it was a HUGE money grab, we loved every minute of the experience and would really recommend it. We spent most of our morning and afternoon at the Sanctuary and then headed back to the shopping centre for a little browse. We both brought too many things to charge and not enough chargers so we managed to find some “cubes” with USB plugs on one end and Australia plugs on the other end. Hopefully this will make charging our devices a little easier for the next few months.
Saturday morning we packed our bags and headed for the airport…to pick up our rental car! We drove from the Gold Coast down to Coolangatta, a small beach town that is famous for surfing and tourists. We had planned a few days as a buffer between our busy sightseeing over the past few weeks in NZ and our upcoming busy travels in some big Australian cities next week. We drove along the ocean for a bit while stopping for groceries, lunch, and some awesome photos! We had a quiet night getting settled into our hotel and making some dinner.
On Sunday we woke up at 5:30am for our day trip to Byron Bay! Webster had read about Byron for their great surfing so we had to check it out. We drove along the Pacific Highway for about an hour. There were signs along the way for koala crossings but we weren’t lucky enough to see any. When we got into Byron Bay we found a parking spot near the beach and got all sun-screened up. I walked to the beach where he was having his lesson and got all set up to take photos. It was fun watching him surf the big waves (and the small ones)! He was one of the best surfers there, honestly! He was able to get up and stay up for a long surf back to the beach. It was sooo hot but he had a lot of fun!
After the surf we found a public park to have lunch. Australia is really great about offering free public spaces. We were able to BBQ some chicken to make wraps for the rest of our time on the Gold Coast. It took us an hour...but we cooked lunch, and 2 other meals!
Then we headed up to the lighthouse lookout. The Byron lighthouse is a state protected area and it was absolutely beautiful! We spent some time looking around the base of the lighthouse and then went out to the ocean to look for dolphins and whales. Sadly we didn’t have any luck with whales but we did see dolphins and a few sting rays.
We finished our day with a drive back to the Gold Coast. Webster was tired from being in the sun all morning so we had a nap and then made dinner. We ended our night with a swim and some time relaxing in front of the TV.
We are really glad we built in a few days this week to relax on the beach and take it slow. We are having a great time but the sun is making us really tired.
Next week, we are headed to sightsee in some more Australian cities before we arrive in Sydney.
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