Australia - Day 2: Brisbane CBD

We woke up early and feeling fresh after a good night's sleep at the clean and comfy Hotel George Williams and all ready to go to Gold Coast. But before that, let's have breakfast!

His: Coffee. Hers: Filtered Green Tea

Mushroom terlazat

Single serving of eggs and toast. Big portions FTW.

I know I've mentioned that Hotel George Williams offers free breakfast via the purchase on Wotif.com but I actually misunderstood the offer. They only gave AUD5 discount per stay so we had to pay AUD20 for the both of us after discounts. It took all my guts not to convert it back to Malaysian Ringgit. Chanted "We're on vacation. We're on vacation. We're on vacation. We're on vacation." and I felt much better. Ha ha. Well, the breakfast was superb so that helped. The tomato was fresh and grilled to perfection. Nothing like I've ever tasted in my life. Ahhh... the sweet, sweet taste of vacation.

After we've filled our tummies we actually went back upstairs to our room to use the washroom before continuing our adventure. Adventure la sangat kan. I've a thing against public loos although I'm sure the public toilets here are much cleaner than Malaysia. But still. Do remember that the checkout time for most hotels in Australia is 10am. Their check-in time is usually 3 to 4pm although I think some hotels don't mind early check-ins provided that you've informed them earlier and depending on room availability.

The waitress at the hotel cafe was one of the many friendly faces we met during our trip. She enquired about our destination and when we told her we planned to walk all the way to the South Bank train station to catch the train to Gold Coast, she suggested to go to a nearer station which is Roma St Station... the station we got off from the airport the night before. We just politely smiled as we purposely chose to take the further route to get a glimpse of Brisbane CBD. The walking distance is about 2.1km! Throw in a heavy backpack each into the equation,  no wonder we both lost weight by the end of the trip. So the route that we took was as below:


View Larger Map

We left the hotel at about 7am but actually it was already very bright at 6am while we were having our breakfast.

Bicycles for rent near the hotel.

"City Roos" by Christopher Trotter

Deserted traffic. Hey there's an oxymoron for you. It was 7am on a Saturday.

Beer for breakfast. Aussies. -_-

City Cat. Read that it's a good way to see the city but we didn't have time.

Crossing Victoria Bridge, en route to South Bank station.

PHOTOGRAPH      Circa 2012

The Wheel of Brisbane

Man-made beach at South Bank

They don't just teach these kids to swim, they are teaching them how to save lives!

Only realised there's indeed a Max Brenner outlet in South Bank after I browsed through our photos much later after the trip. And I thought I couldn't find the South Bank branch while there. Pfft. I found out about Max Brenner while searching for food that we should try while in Australia. Apparently they have a few branches in Singapore and the Philippines. So Max Brenner, the bald man who loves Chocolate, when are you coming to Malaysia? Max Brenner on South Bank is located on Ernest St, also right next to the Weekend Market at Little Stanley St. We were there too early so most of the stalls at the market have yet to open. Well there's always a next time right?

Even with careful planning we still had to ask around for the exact location of the train station. Turned out that we had to get off the main road on Tribune St (in the map it should be somewhere near Gandhi Curry House) and walk onto the pathway in the photograph below. The train station is further up and on the right.

Almost there!

Aanddd we're on time! I couldn't wait to SHOP at Harbour Town!

That concludes my entry on Brisbane CBD. Since we were there for very limited period, I can't say much about the city but it did provide a first glimpse into the Australian lifestyle: early risers and boy are they an active lot! We met at least 20 cyclists along the way and I kept telling Mie that I would definitely cycle more actively if we migrate here. He replied, "Ha". So much for being the supportive husband!


*****
To read about Day 1: KL - Brisbane *click here*