Australian Adventure, Week 6: August 28-September 3

Week 6 has come and gone already - time is flying and we are adventuring as much as we can in Australia! This week we explored a new neighbourhood, went to an AFL playoff game, and saw the Canadian women's soccer team (yes, the olympic gold medal winners) play in Brisbane!

On Sunday, we spent some time wandering around James St in New Farm. Described as "boutique shopping, fine dining and the city’s best dressed brunch", we had fun wandering up and down the street looking into shops, cafes, and people watching. We stopped at Brisbane's best sourdough bakery, Sprout, for some yummy treats to take home.

On Monday, we went for a walk along the river in North Brisbane. The city has built an elevated walking path above the water. It is a great spot for a relaxing walk on a sunny day.

On Tuesday, we got packed up and headed to Main Range National Park. When we left Brisbane, it was a sunny morning, but when we arrived in the park, it was raining. Not a little rain, a complete downpour. We had increased in elevation and the trail we had planned on hiking was soaked. Sadly, we had to turn around and come back to Brisbane.

In the evening, we went to a local pub for trivia. We didn’t finish last, but many of the trivia questions were Australian based so we didn’t have high expectations.

Wednesday and Thursday were busy school and work days. We both have the week off, next week, so in preparation, we had some things to check off our do-to list. On Wednesday we made some time for brunch together at a local hotspot, Lady Marmalade. I don’t know any restaurant that has a wait for brunch at 1:30pm on a Wednesday! We shared a breakfast sandwich and their famous banana bread. It was delicious!

On Friday night we went to the Gabba to watch the AFL semi-finals! We had great seats right behind the goal posts, so we saw lots of action.

On Saturday, we joined a group of Canadians to watch the Canada vs Australia women’s soccer game. The Canadian women’s soccer team won gold at the last Olympics and played really well. It was fun to sit in a group of Canadians all wearing Canadian gear when they won the game!

In the evening, we went to Brisbane Riverfire Festival. As the starting event to a 21 day city wide festival, there was a huge firework show along the river. Fireworks were set off bridges, barges in the river and from buildings. We found a great spot a few hours before the show started and camped out to get a great view. The show lasted for 20 minutes and drew a crowd of more than 500,000 people into the downtown core.

This week, we are off on our first road trip! We are headed to Sydney to spend a week in the city. We are looking forward to revisiting some of our favourite spots and exploring what has changed since we left three years ago.