Category: Australia

Brisbane..or should I say Brizzie!

“Brizzie” it is because those who live in the capital of Queensland like to shorten words. Australians are “Aussies”, mosquitos are “mozzies” and my cute cousin’s sunglasses are “sunnies” and so on and so on…

Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia. It gets 283 days of sunshine per year.

We visited in April and had blue skies and a very pleasant 75 degrees. Perfect!

You know what else is cool about Brizzie? There are Water Dragons and the native (and protected) white Ibis roaming everywhere.

Oh-and you will also see these wild turkeys all over the place. Here’s one living in harmony with a Water Dragon.

Getting around Brisbane is fun and easy thanks to the CityCat. This well run, public transport ferry network is a great way to get around the city or just stay on it and cruise down the Brisbane River. Which apparently, is always full of Bull Sharks and always brown so no swimming in it!

Tip-try to time your CityCat ride with sunset!

We loved exploring both the Brisbane Botanic Gardens as well as Roma Street Parkland. What totally gorgeous and beautifully landscaped places to hangout out while in the city! We were impressed!

We stayed at the Meriton Suites right downtown and it happened to be in Brisbane’s tallest building….we were all the way up on floor 71! We had an awesome view!

Brisbane also has an inner-city, man-made white sand beach complete with a lovely lagoon. It’s called Streets Beach and it’s not to be missed during your trip to Brisbane!

We had a great time in the land of OZ!

Next up…Singapore

Brisbane, Australia- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

We really enjoyed our 5 days in Brisbane!

It was jam packed with cuteness! I mean, just look at the adorable things I got to hold…

You probably won’t be as lucky as we were to find this cute little guy at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary…

Meet cousin Lincoln! He loves eyes, noses, he’s fascinated by elbows as well as busses and motorcycles! He also loves to say Helena’s name a lot! We got to hang out with him all day. Hurray for family! ❤️

There was even more cuteness to be had at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Yep, I’m actually holding a koala-and you know what, they are heavy! And they have sharp claws!

Koalas spend about 20 hours a day sleeping and they weigh between 10-30 pounds. They are actually pretty antisocial and bond with just their mothers and offspring. I’m holding Sargent and even though he just pooped, (but luckily not on me!) I still love him and his round head and spoon shaped nose! Aww!

Did you know the closest relative to the koala is the wombat?

Of course the girls loved it there too! And we also fed kangaroos. Wow! All in one day…pretty cool!

There are lots of kangaroos in the country-actually estimated to be over 40 million! That means they totally outnumber the Australians!

The largest of the Roos is the Red Kangaroo-it can be about 5 feet head to butt (not including their huge tails) and can weigh 200 pounds! Kangaroos can hop up to 15 feet per jump and get speeds to 25 even 30 miles per hour! When they move slowly, they use their tail as a fifth leg. We saw a lot of this as they approached for food. We also got to see a bunch (or rather a mob as they are called) hop away together as we were leaving.

Next up…riding the City Cat, Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, Roma Street Parklands and Streets Beach