Australia Zoo, Brighton Beach, Mt Coot-Tha, The Gabba and Brisbane life

We have had a rather busy few weeks; both of us have been working hard. Jonny is now working as a barista in a coffee shop in the city centre. I have been working for Deloitte for the past 7 weeks and I’m now being placed with another company in the city centre; I love working in the city skyscrapers. We have been lucky when it comes to shifts as we both work Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 which means our weekends have become rather important.

My office with a view

Here are a few of the more fun things we have been doing with our weekends.

We have found a little spot in Brisbane that we have fallen in love with; it has become our own little retreat. Mount Coot-Tha is a peek which is almost 300 metres above sea level offering unbeatable views of the city. It is just a 20 minute drive from our house so we have become regular visitors to the look out. We particularly love heading up the mountain after work with a picnic to watch the sunset over the city.  

View of city from Coot-tha

Sun goes down

City lights

It was our anniversary in February and we decided to treat ourselves with a day out at the home of the Crocodile Hunter, Australia Zoo. 

Jonny with the one and only

Our first stop at the zoo was the new Africa safari. As with all the enclosures at the zoo it was huge with plenty of different spaces for the animals to enjoy. The Africa section was home to Zebra, Rhinos, Giraffe and Cheaters. However their biggest Rhino had to be separated from the rest at the time we were visiting as it was mating season and he started showing his dominance towards the poor Giraffes.

Our next stop was to see the Asian Elephants, seeing the beautiful, enormous creatures brought back some of our amazing memories of the time we spent at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. Seeing these gorgeous animals again made us realise just how much we learnt to appreciate their intelligence and gracious mannerisms.

With Steve Irwin being known as the Crocodile Hunter and for his love of reptiles it was no surprise this was the area where the zoo excelled. The enclosures for crocodiles act as a centre point of the zoo. Most of the crocs had been rescued by Steve from all different parts of Australia. He captured them from rivers and creeks where they were causing issues for the locals by attacking pets and scarring away tourist.

Feeding time

Jonny the croc hunter?

My knid of croc

This was actually my second visit to the zoo; I have always claimed that visiting the zoo cured my fear of snakes. Before visiting the zoo for the first time I couldn’t even look at a snake on the TV without wanting to cry with fear. At the zoo staff were able to educate me teaching that snakes do not need to be feared if they are understood. I left the zoo with a new found respect for snakes not being able to remember what I had been so scared of. When Jonny and I decided to visit the zoo together, I wanted to prove to myself I was over my fear of snakes by holding one. Jonny was not so impressed with the idea; he didn’t even want to be in the same room as me and a snake to take the photo. However when we arrived and saw the snakes we spoke to the staff and Jonny found he was becoming more relaxed around the reptiles. Before we knew it we were both sitting with Charlie, a 5 year old, 9 foot python wrapped around us.

Us with Charlie

The zoo carried a strong message of conservation, they educate visitors about animals in such a way people leave wanting to do their part. They allow more interactive with the animals than any other zoo we have known. We were able to feed Kangaroos, stroke Koala's and hold baby alligators which were experiences we will never forget.



Me feeding a Kangaroo

With the baby croc

Jonny feeding the roo

New best mate|? 

Our Koala

We had a day out on Brighton beach; I couldn’t resist a visiting my cities namesake. As expected Brighton in Queensland was very different to the Brighton I left behind. There are no funfair rides, crowds of tourist or killer seagulls; instead there is a beach where the sea goes out for miles leaving wet sand which is adored by seabirds. We did enjoy walking along the beach and sitting in the sunshine with a picnic but it did feel like a long way from home.

Australia has its very own Brighton beach?

We managed to get tickets to see Australia vs Sri Lanka in a one day match at the Gabba. Watching an international cricket game was something that Jonny was desperate to experience during our travels. The game was much closer than expected and as we were secretly cheering on Sri Lanka we were disappointed they were unable to beat the Ozzys. We were very much entertained throughout the day as the colourful audience got involved and behind their teams. Even though we sat in sticky hot conditions for 9 hours the time flew and we had a great time.

The Gabba

The Ozzy's win

 
Finally we wanted to share an experience which we found so impressive. Last Wednesday a power line came down on a train line just before rush hour. As expected this caused the trains to stop temporarily and therefore some people had delays of up to 90 minutes. A 90 minute delay is not unheard of in England however here 90 minutes was described as chaos and unacceptable. As a way to say sorry the following day Queensland government gave all public transport users free transport. Therefore every bus, ferry and train would be running for anyone without a charge. We took full advantage of this and used the ferry as a tour bus and viewed the city from the water for the first time which was just lovely.

City view from Brisbane river

We are still very much enjoying our travels, we always knew this part of our trip would have a slower pace but were pleased to be keeping busy at the weekends.