Australian Adventure, Week 5: August 21-27

Welcome back to week five of the blog! This week we did a city tour, went on a hike, and saw whales at the beach.

On Sunday we went to Tambourine National Park. We drove 45 minutes outside Brisbane to do two hikes in the park. It was quite busy being so close to the city. On our hikes we were surrounded be tall trees, waterfalls and other beautiful scenery.

On Monday we went on a Brisbane Greeters tour of the Walter Taylor Bridge. This bridge connects North and South Brisbane across the river. The Walter Taylor Bridge has a long history dating back to WWII. We learned about the local area and how it was used for prisoner questioning during the war. Then, we learned about the history of the bridge. The Walter Taylor Bridge is the only bridge the Southern Hemisphere with residential units built into it. When the designer, Walter Taylor, built the bridge, he needed a way to repay investors and the city. He appointed a toll keeper and a toll master to work and live the bridge. As part of their compensation they were given a lifetime lease to live in the bridge. The last living relative of the toll master lived in the bridge until they died in 2010. It was really interesting to walk through the residential unit in the last pylon of the bridge.

On Tuesday we did some shopping to get prepared for our first road trip next week and for four months on the road starting in November. On Wednesday and Thursday I spent a lot of time working on an assignment. Webster had physio, and met a fellow Canadian for a comedy show.

On Friday, our car wouldn’t start and we had to get a new battery. When we bought our car we enrolled in RACQ which is the equivalent to CAA at home. We placed a service request and RACQ sent a truck with a new battery within 30 minutes. That night we went to Eat Street, our favourite night market in the city. Webster had a Hungarian flatbread and I had pesto pasta cooked in a cheese wheel. Eat Street always has a great environment with live music and lots of food choices.

On Saturday, we woke up early and drive to the Gold Coast to spend time on the beach. We went to our favourite spot just south of Surfers Paradise. It was a beautiful day - Webster even swam in the water! After lounging on the beach, we drove up the coast to a lookout point to watch surfers. To our surprise, we were lucky enough to see lots of humpback whales migrating south.

This week we have plans to meet some friends for brunch, go to an AFL playoff game and watch Canada’s gold medal soccer team play in Brisbane. Thanks for following along on our adventures!