Bustling Brisbane

This morning I set out to explore Brisbane by bicycle. I hopped on the Air-Train (an eco-friendly train that is rather pricey to ride, but super clean and safe) with my bike to get to the city center. The city has a network of paved bike/walk trails that crisscross the town. There are multiple bike only bridges across the Brisbane River as well as quaint markets & cafes. Thousands of bikers, runners and walkers were out this morning enjoying the beautiful winter day. Just imagine couples enjoying brekkie at the Botanical Gardens, kids swimming at a public pool and friends climbing 100 ft bluffs and you'll understand why I biked for over four hours. There was something new and outdoorsy around every turn; I just couldn't get enough of it.


The trail was great, but as soon as you left the quiet pedestrian centered venues you were immediately tossed into a bustling city centered around automobiles. At times the bike trail would spit me out onto a city street where (luckily Damian warned me) cars and bikes don’t necessarily get along. When this happened, most of the time I wound up walking my bike on the sidewalk not only to avoid the clash between bikes and cars, but also because riding on the left side of the road takes a lot more effort than I expected.



All the biking made me hungry so I wound up parking my bike at the Southbank Streets Beach. This area consists of three large blocks of outdoor markets, cafes, beaches, river views and street acts all in one. For lunch I ate a fish sandwich at an outdoor café. During lunch I was introduced to the largest city-dwelling scavenger I’ve ever come across, the ibis. Numerous of these ~2 ft tall long beaked, reptile-faced, black and white birds ran around the tables hoping someone would look away for five seconds too long so they could grab a quick fish sandwich snack. At first I thought it was entertaining. Heck, ibis aren’t all that common in the States, but I abruptly changed my mind when an ibis took flight right behind me. The sound of the wings being stretching out was startling but when the bird's wings grazed the back of my head I nearly threw my sandwich in the air. Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting it. The young bloke who was tossing chips (fries) to the bird, however, was. My lunch quickly ended.



Overall, I can tell Brisbane has a lot to offer. Now that I have a shallow feel of what's in Brisbane I can begin to dig deeper.

Arrival

After 26 hours of flying (this does not include the short layovers between flights), I arrived in Brisbane. Right now I can’t stand the idea of returning to the US merely because I am sick of planes, recycled air and apple cranberry juice. But I guess if I want to get home I’ll have to get over that.

I currently live in a five bedroom house on the crest of a hill in Sunnybank, a Brisbane suburb. The house, as well as two neighboring houses, is owned by a family of five that recently moved to Gosford, which is located outside of Sydney. It’s setup as an urban farm with edible gardens and a water collection system. There are multiple large rain barrels that probably hold more than 1000 gallons each. While I’m here I’m going to take care of the gardens and get them back into order. At first glance there doesn’t appear to be too much work, but looks can be deceiving.

The other four rooms in my house are occupied by four working class blokes, and an older gentleman who lives in the additional room located in the backyard. Last night when everyone got home from work I could immediately tell living with them would be entertaining. They all like to party, joke around and hear about the US. One of the guys, Damien, came home earlier in the day so we got to know each other a little bit. He works for the Coca-Cola bottling company here in Brisbane, but aspires to join the military. He was kind enough to drive me to the store to get groceries and a plug converter (which unfortunately wound up not working). Riding with him was, well, rather frightening. Being on the left side of the road was one thing, but the way he as well as all the other Aussies drives would send my mom into a tizzy. He could tell I was nervous so he tried to ease my nerves by talking about all the cool places I should check out in the area. We made it back in one piece with no dents in the car so I guess it was a successful trip.

The sun finally rose on this glorious winter day (it’s ~60F degrees right now). It’s time to get moving. Check back soon for more updates & hopefully pictures.