Saturday, December 25, 2010

The Sydney to Brisbane drive (Day 8)

Who knew that our visit to Brisbane would be this wet? It did not help that it was a public holiday, which had the city deserted with not many places to choose from to grab a bite. We parked our car at Post Office Square, which unfortunately, was badly damaged during the recent flood.


We headed to a very quiet Queen Street Mall in search of brekkie and settled with Milano.


We were served by two waitstaff, whom we both thought were really friendly and helpful.


Audrey had something light - the ham, cheese and tomato croissant.


I, on the other hand, had eggs florentine spinach (eggs, mushroom, spinach and hollandaise sauce on toasted muffin) because God knows how much I love my eggs!


Milano
Queen Street Mall (George Street end), Brisbane, QLD 4000
07 3210 0305 (Tel), 07 3003 1294 (Fax)
E-mail: admin@milanos.net.au
Sunday to Thursday 7:00am to 12:00am
Friday to Saturday 7:00am to 2:00am


We then locked into the GPS directions to the University of Queensland. It was not until we were driving in the direction of the airport that I realised something was wrong with where we were going. I checked again and oh no, we were going to the campus in Cairns! I quickly re-entered the St. Lucia campus as our destination and we were re-directed through a maze of posh homes. There were 'ooh's and 'aah's all around and one home had Audrey asking: Do they have a son our age?

UQ was beautiful! They had a lovely lake in the middle of campus with a boardwalk. They had a ferry stop in uni, as well! While we were scouting around for a toilet, we also took the chance to look for any Harry Potter-looking buildings. I mean, after all, they are the third oldest university in the country.

The search was not in vain. They had a section, which was similar to the Quadrangle in the University of Sydney.






Why am I not studying here?

Satisfied, we drove back into town to look for other places to visit, as we still had plenty of time before our flight. We decided to stop at Chinatown, as we drove past it on the way to St. Lucia.


Located in Fortitude Valley, which is a district known for its nightlife (bars, clubs and adult entertainment), it did not feel as 'Chinese' as the Chinatown in Sydney.


It was rather quiet other than the tour groups that entered and exited the Asian restaurants.


You would be able to tell that it was Chinatown because they had Chinese characters on their street signs!


Our last stop was St. John's Catheral in the middle of the city. It is funny how you fit into your itinerary places you stumble upon.






Too bad it was not open. Otherwise, we could see the interior. I would think that it would be grand inside, as the outside suggested.

St John's Cathedral
373 Ann St, Brisbane, QLD 4000
07 3835 2231 (Office Tel), 07 3835 2240 (Service Time Tel), 07 3832 3173 (Fax)
E-mail: brisdean@anglicanbrisbane.org.au


And that marked the end of our roadtrip! Next roadtrip would hopefully be around the same time next year (or perhaps slightly earlier in September or October subject to work and study schedules, as well as weather). Another week of fun to save up and look forward to!

No comments: