Upsidedown Rooties - Brisbane

And so, here we are (or there we were) half way through the holiday and planning to spend the last two weeks in a hotel near Brisbane. Originally we were going to spend two weeks in Cairns as the weather is slightly nicer. As we couldn't find any accommodation we liked we had changed the flights to spend two weeks in Brisbane at the Novotel Twin Waters. Twin Waters is a resort hotel that has all the modern conveniences of hot running water, a swimming pool, someone else cooking the breakfast and most importantly - a kids club! Yes, I admit, we deliberately chose the Novatel primarily because it had a kids club. That meant that Rhonda and me would get a little time to ourselves.

The rooms we had were really nice. There were two rooms that linked together so Nicola and James had their own bedroom.	Compared to the previous weeks sleeping arrangements, this bed seemed larger than our mobile home!

A Bath! Might look uninteresting now, but it was a notable feature having spent the week in a camper van.

Kids Club (The Dolphi Club in Novotel Speak) is great fun, you get to meet lots of friends

And get your face painted	Every day James came home as Spiderman

The other great thing about the Novatel was the wirelss internet connection. As a result I spent several evenings in the lobby with my laptop working. Courtesy of Messenger I was able to speak to mum as well without paying for a phone call. (I'm not sure if I mentioned earlier, but I managed to lose two mobile phones on this holiday!)

You can hardly go to Australia without meeting a Koala bear. Normally they sit in the trees and sleep.	Sometimes they'll come and say hello

When my parents took us to Australia, I remember going on a train through a field of Pineapples. Ever since then I can remember knowing that Pineapples grow out of the ground (as opposed to under ground or off a tree if you see where I'm coming from). The place we went to was "the Big Pineapple".

I suspect mum and dad have a photo of us as children sitting on this wall	A field of pineapples - see, they grow on the ground, not on trees

Enjoying the shade in the woods around the Big Pineapple	They had a nice little zoo area too

Nicola took this photo. Not bad for a seven year old and better focus than Mummy!

While in Brisbane and having hired a car. One of the reasons was so I could go to a BNI meeting. For those of you that don't know, I'm in a BNI group in England, its basically a group of local business people that help each other, mostly by letting each others contact know what each of us do. We all get to know each other really well and many of the people I've met through BNI have helped me grow my business. BNI is an international organisation and it just so happens that one of my old BNI friends from Rochester, UK emigrated to Australia to marry his Australian girlfriend. He happens to be the current chairman of a group in Brisbane, so I planned to arrive in the morning and surprise him (BNI meetings start at 6.45am and finish at 8.30am). The surprise was as much mine, because when booking the hotel I hadn't counted on it being so far from "Brisbane". During normal traffic it would have been a 3 hour drive. Having left at 3am, I discovered that with no traffic it only takes 2 hours.

Still, it was worth it. I've met several new people and discovered a fantastic restaurant in Brisbane (well, Gold Coast). If ever you're in that part of the world, I can definitely recommend a visit to "Christabella's" (no web site but their phone number is 5528 8268. In the Harbour Town shopping centre,Cnr Gold Coast Highway & Oxley Drive Biggera Waters Queensland 4216). Breakfast at a BNI meeting is normally basic, but at Christabella's it was exquisite.

Having 'been to work', I erm, went to work. I spent the rest of the day looking round kitchen shops in the Gold Coast seeing the differences between Australia and the UK. It might sound a strange thing to do on holiday, but it could be I've found the next big thing...

Back to holiday mode, we drove quite a distance going too and from various places. Often we'd take the long way and see some of the country side. That means you've got to put up with looking at lots of shots of scenery.

There are a lot of hills around Brisbane. For some reason I didn't expect that. It lead to quite a lot of winding roads.	Hills also have the advantage of creating good long distance views.

Brisbane is in the middle right on the horizon (I think, the holiday seems like a long time ago now)	You can't have scenery photos without a sunset picture.

Some views have unforgettable names...

...fortunately the others often have sign posts.

Its a Kangaroo (no, the one on the right)	Now its moved, its on the left. On the right is a young Kangarootie

If you've ever been called a Wombat, this is what the person meant. A small furry animal with sharp teeth. The keeper wouldn't get in the pen until the Wombats were distracted by food and on the other side.	The Kangaroos back

She's smiling now, but the gray furry thing on the left is about to hold tight...	See, I told you so. I remember when I came to Australia with my parents holding a Koala. I also remember the way I had to hold it (arm underneath like a tree branch) and that it had sharp claws. I believe travel really is an education.

The day before we went 600 Americans visited, and all wanted to hold a Koala. Fortunately we visited on another day and our group of 4 made up at least a quarter of the visitor numbers that day.	So we had time enough to hold a Koala, have some photos taken, and from the Koalas point of view, have a nap.

Seaworld!

Having got the car, we took the two hour drive down to Seaworld so Rhonda could fulfill one of her lifelong ambitions - swim with dolphins.	Nicola went first, She's standing in the previous photo, and now she's in the water stroking its belly. Her verdict? "It's soft".

James was too young, but he didn't seem to mind.	Mummy got a go too.

Cripes! Its Australia Zoo (Home of the Crocodile Hunter although like me and my home, I'm told Steve Irwin is rarely there).

At first, we had no plans to go to Australia Zoo. We found all the hype off putting, and a Zoo wasn't high on our list of things to see. However, almost everyone we met that had been said it was worth going to, so we changed our plans and went. I have to agree they were right. It was very well presented, clean with plenty of space for the animals, lots of staff walking around answering questions.

Go on, say it.	"Doesn't look like a crocodile to me"

Well if it was, I wouldn't be this close taking a photo.	We chose to let the children feed the Giant Tortoises rather than the Crocodiles.

Australia Zoo has a large presentation area where they show some of the more dangerous animals they keep. Like this dangerous keeper, who has caught a poor unsuspecting snake and decided to parade it as a scarf.	This keeper is trying to draw a crocodile out of the water, without getting eaten. Sometimes, the crocodiles get away and start roaming round the Zoo like the one in the next photo...

..so although Steve Irwin looks really tough when he's catching a crocodile, it might just be a case of editing out the ones that are a little tame.	Back at the show, and the crocodile missed his lunch (or should that be keeper) and settle for a rat instead.

So Dolphins feel soft, what do snakes feel like?	Uh oh, I see no keeper (burp!). Isn't that typical, something interesting happens and I'm looking the other way.

There are other animals at Australia zoo.	That reminds me, what do you get if you cross a Sheep and a Kangaroo? A wooly jumper.

The animals are friendly too

New Friends

We also made some new Friends at the Hotel. Richard is British but lives and works in Australia. I don't have a photo of him but did get one of all the children playing together...	After Richard introduced them to Chocolate Fondue!

You can probably guess what's on their christmas list

Almost the end

We had a great time in Australia, all that was left was the flight home...	... and some time to dance in the departure lounge.

Well, it did all start with a Wedding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still looking? Well there's nothing more to see. If you're really bored you could always email steve@rootskitchens.co.uk and say "Hello, I was so bored I went to the end of Upsidedown Rootes - Brisbane and carried on scrolling".