Brisbane

3277 KMeve of 17 - 18 September 2011

Brisbane, almost an unexpected bundle of joy. We arrived around 8pm on Saturday 17 September. Luckly we were able to park right in the city centre with no parking fee because it was the weekend!Whilst exploring we stumbled a square filled with carnival things, with almost an Alice in Wonderland feel.We found out a show was on called "The Dream Menagerie".The ticket man described it to us as; "Bit of a strange one, its sort of like a magic show, with a midget and a donkey!"It sounded just like the start to an awful joke!Tickets purchased we dined in Pie Face for dinner (one of the Fraser guys had recommended it to us!).The show was out of this world!We were in hysterics as the characters paraded through the audience, covered us in a sheet, had a really tall dopy man climbing a ladder which fell onto the audience! (it stopped at a safe height - don't fear readers!).They pared members of the audience up for a wee dance - Sam bagged himself a beautiful bald guy! The fun was endless!The audience was showered in almost shredded paper blown out by a giant fan!To top it of the donkey was simply paraded around the audience a couple of times!Almost so they could just say there was a donkey in the show! Incredible!

Sunday was a busy day, filled with walking and exploration - probably needed after our outstanding breakfast in the Gunshop Cafe.Sam's friend had said we couldn't miss this place... so we went to town.I was almost ruined by the "Canadian French toast, caramelized banana, double smoked bacon, candied pecans & maple syrup" while Sam devoured the "Double smoked bacon, poached eggs, tomato, herbed hollandaise and sourdough".My my.No joke we couldn't move.

We eventually managed to walk over to South Bank where there was a great market and even better lagoon.A stroll down the riverside lead us past their version of the London eye (not nearly as big) towards the Modern Art Museum.The whole stretch (minus the lagoon) reminded me of London's South Bank with the eye, Tate Modern and being called South Bank as well!!

A swift walk back into town we hit the shops... what a shop!Sam had been hunting for shoes since the terrible incident with the espridrill in the night at the full moon party! And believe it or not, but in the same shop I found the best value killer heals I have ever seen in my life!We walked away over the moon!Back to the van before driving up to South Bank for the scheduled Laser Show over the river.But before that a wash was needed - a swim in the lagoon then a freezing shower in the public facilities!Very nice!

New shoes on we spectated the excellent / poor laser show!Lets say our opinions were rather split!From there we drove, let me rephrase, Sam drove so dam hard through the night to ensure we were at Byron Bay for the morning.What a trooper.

I loved Brisbane.Not sure what it was that captured me, but we had an incredible day and a half.