Friday, February 14th—Our 41st Cruise Day—Brisbane, Australia

Friday, February 14^th—Our 41^st Cruise Day—Brisbane, Australia

We departed Sydney, Australia, about 6:00 PM on Wednesday, February 12^th and had just 1 sea day, before our next port of call—Brisbane, Australia. We would have just 1 day in Brisbane—arriving at 8:00 AM on February 14^th (Valentine’s Day) with “all aboard” at 5:30 PM the same day.

Brisbane is not on the coast of Australia, but rather lies about 20 miles inland and up the Brisbane River—which flows into Moreton Bay and eventually the Coral Sea in the South Pacific Ocean. So for our entry into Brisbane, we followed a pilot boat slowly up river until we reached the Brett’s Wharf Cruise Ship Terminal. At Brett’s Wharf we were docked—which is always more convenient than taking a tender.

We had been to Brisbane just once before—a very brief visit during a 2 week school vacation in 1974—40 years ago—and we remembered almost nothing about the city from that visit.  On that trip, we started from our home in Morwell, Victoria and drove along the coast through Sydney, finally reaching Brisbane after many days of driving. We had vastly underestimated how far it was and how long it would take us to get there, and eventually we decided just reaching Brisbane was a goal unto itself. So when we arrived, we spent just an hour or two in the city before retracing our steps back to Morwell for the start of the next school term. In that case, our vacation was the journey—not the destination!

This time we were very fortunate because we had two friends—both of whom we met during our 2012 world cruise--who lived in Brisbane and had some time to spend with us to show off their beautiful city and the surrounding area. Our plan was to spend the morning—until about noon—with Colin and Elaine Rose, who would take us to some sites around the city and then back to their home for morning tea. Afterwards, Colin and Elaine would drop us off in the city where we would meet with Jo Pofandt—one of the sisters who so kindly had taken us to the Blue Mountains during our second day in Sydney. (Jo had flown back home to Brisbane after meeting with us in Sydney.) Jo would then take us out of the city to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and afterwards, return us to our ship. So once again, we were doing this port on our own and not on a ship tour.

Colin and Elaine picked us up at Brett’s Wharf about 8:30 AM, and we immediately took a drive to a Wellington Point Park on Moreton Bay—east of the city center of Brisbane. The day was overcast, so we didn’t have tremendous views, but Colin and Elaine were great about pointing out some of the interesting sites across the water. Afterwards, we drove to their beautiful waterfront home in Wynnum which is on Moreton Bay near the mouth of the Brisbane River for tea and fruitcake. It was so much fun catching up with them! Colin and Elaine were on our afternoon trivia team during our 2012 world cruise (See our 2012 blog!) and are among our most valued friends. Both have a great sense of humor, so we all fit together very, very well and hopefully we will see each other again soon.

After our visit to their home, they took us west on a drive up to the top of Mt. Coot-tha for some spectacular views of Brisbane. Again, it was a bit overcast, but we still had some great views of the City of Brisbane and its surroundings. Colin and Elaine then dropped us off in the center of the city about noon—they had a wedding to attend that afternoon, and needed some time to get ready.

We had made arrangements to meet with Jo in the city about 12:30 PM, so we had a few minutes and found a pub in the city for a sandwich and a couple of quick beers. As planned, Jo picked us up and we drove for about 30 minutes southwest to Fig Tree Pocket where we reached the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (the world’s largest Koala Sanctuary) on the Brisbane River between Kenmore and Annerly. Even though we had lived in Australia for almost 5 years, and even though we lived where Koalas were not uncommon, we had never actually held a Koala. So this sanctuary was our chance.

The sanctuary actually has much, much more than just Koalas. Inside we were able to see koalas, Tasmanian Devils, Cassowaries, Kangaroos (which we fed), crocodiles, emus, wombats, platypuses, small, 2 foot lizards that seemed to be freely running around everywhere and more. But the highlight was holding a Koala and having our picture taken. Koalas are surprisingly heavy, and before holding them, we received instructions. To hold a Koala, one must intertwine your fingers and hold them at your waist. When placed into the cradle made by your fingers, the Koala will grip onto your chest with its forearms, and there is your photo opportunity! Koalas really aren’t very “cuddly”, but they are cute and the ones that are habituated to humans will not bite or claw when picked up—which is what wild Koalas would do.

After visiting the animals in the sanctuary, we took a moment to walk down to river to relax and enjoy the day. The beauty of gum (eucalyptus) trees on a river bank reminded us so much of our farm house and the Morwell River in Driffield where we once lived. That was a favorite time in our lives, and it was a treat to be in this similar setting.

We left the sanctuary about 3:30-4:00 PM, and drove back to the City of Brisbane—we didn’t want to have to rush to make our ship. But as we got near the ship, we realized we had time for a very important stop—a Dan Murphy discount wine and liquor store. We love Australian wine, and really enjoy a glass of wine (or two!) in the evening on our veranda before bed. Since our next stops after Australia would be Papua-New Guinea, Yap Island, The Philippines, China, and Thailand, clearly the best place to stock up on wine and other spirits would be Australia. Fortunately our ship will allow us to bring on-board all the wine and alcohol we can carry, so stock up we did! (In fact, Bill is enjoying a glass of that same Australian wine as he types this!)

After another wrong turn getting back to the ship--similar to what we did going back on the second day in Sydney—Jo dropped us off near the gangway at about 5:15 PM—with 15 minutes to spare! We thanked Jo and said our goodbyes to her, went to our room to drop off our wine purchases, and then went up to deck 8—the Lido Deck—for the sail away party. This night was a “Formal Night”—meaning we were expected to dress in formal attire—followed by a Valentine’s Day Ball. But we really don’t know how to dance very well and were tired, so we skipped the formal night and ball and enjoyed a glass of the Australian wine we had just purchased in our room.

We departed Brett’s Wharf and Brisbane about 6:00 PM and had a beautiful sail down the Brisbane River with a gorgeous sunset over the city as we left. We entered Moreton Bay and continued east into the Coral Sea where we turned left and headed north. We would have two full sea days before our next port of call—Cairns, Australia arriving at 7:00 AM on Monday, February 17^th.