Brisbane

We arrived into Brisbane on quite a hazy day.  I don't think it was smoke, it felt more like atmosphere. It takes quite a long time to reach our dock at Brisbane Cruise Ship Terminal from when we first enter Moreton Bay.  We meander along the Brisbane River for many kilometres and we remark it how much has changed.  It is still an industrial area but even the industrial sheds are surrounded by green lawns.  We wonder if it has been a Brisbane Council initiative to "green" the area and we find out later from our tour guide that is indeed the case.
The place where we dock at Hamilton was not so very many years ago a place that you would not want to be.  There were a lot of old sheds and not much more.  Now there are dozens of multi story apartment blocks lining the banks of the river and there is a vibrant feel to the place.

Today we are heading to Tamborine Mountains for a lunch and a wine tasting.  We originally chose this tour because we thought it would be good to go somewhere a little cooler but unfortunately it was almost as hot on the Scenic Rim as it was in Brisbane.
Our tour took us through the heart of Brisbane City and being Sunday it was remarkably free of traffic and our driver could take the bus at a leisurely pace through the precinct.  I was very impressed with the amount of greenery in the city.  Even the beautiful old Moreton Bay Fig that sits proudly in the middle of Edward Street (?) still remains. Kudos to you Brisbane.

From the city centre we made our way onto the freeway before eventually turning off at Beenleigh.  I know this area quite well as I have a sister living at Beaudesert that is not far from where our tour will take us.  Our first stop was at the amazing Skywalk.  I say amazing because to build this sky walk over the top of the tree canopies is an engineering miracle.  If you were a little scared of heights this walk is not for you as it is very high.  The walk is only 1.5km round trip and you are encouraged to take your time so it took us around 30 minutes to complete.  It is a beautiful rainforest walk that I highly recommend.

By this time we had built up an appetite (said with tongue in cheek) so it was off to our lunch stop at the quant old St. Bernards Hotel at Tamborine.  We were served a two course alternate drop meal of either chicken or steak and cheesecake and fruit salad to round it out.  A glass of wine or beer was also included with this very delicious meal.

It was only an hour stop for lunch before we were once again back on the bus to drive to the arts and craft street in Tamborine.  Being Sunday it was very busy so Philip and I found a nice quiet restaurant were we could sit back with a beer and do a little people watching.  This area reminds me of the Maleny/Montville area on the Sunshine Coast with all its trendy little shops that are actually very over-priced.....

From here we were taken to a local winery, whose name escapes me, for a wine tasting.  All the grapes are sourced from the Granite Belt and I am particularly fond of the wine from this area although most would say it is a little too sweet for their liking.  We were seated with a lively group so the wine tasting was very enjoyable.  And no Kate.  We did not order thousands of dollars worth of wine as we did from our last wine tasting :-)
We were back on board the ship by 5.30pm for our sailing at 6.30pm.  We decided to open a bottle of champagne and not have any dinner tonight even though it was our second last night onboard. This cruise has gone so fast! Tomorrow we have our last day at sea before docking at Sydney early Tuesday morning.  We then have three days to explore before flying home on Friday.  I also managed to score tickets to the quarter final of the ATP on Thursday.  I am beside myself with excitement and wouldn't it be great if we got to watch the Aussie team.  Fingers crossed.