Hooray! Today is Arthur's birthday! In Brisbane! And he's got it!
We have a full day—a full day—to see something of the city and make the most of it. We're staying in a motel in the suburbs and taking the bus to the Westbank (in Brisbane, of course). A beautiful stretch of fun along the wide river. A walking path runs along the river, with views of the CBD's skyscrapers on the other side.
There's also a swimming pool, because bull sharks swim in the river. They usually don't bite, or sometimes only a little.
We'd picked a nice pastry shop for lunch that served crêpes. It was just a few blocks away, which meant another fifteen minutes of walking, in the big city. Crêpes and galettes from a real French chef, enjoyed outside on the patio chairs, another 28 degrees Celsius.
You can cross one of the bridges to the city center on the other side. There you'll find offices, museums, and the shopping district, Queen Street, with De Merken.
On Queen Street, a musician (we think he's Aboriginal) is playing the didgeridoo. Listen, and note: the sound doesn't stop for breath, using a technique called "circular breathing."
Bought a couple of nice presents for Arthur: cockatoo socks (from the bookstore) and a boomerang ('designed in Australia').
To the botanical garden, beautifully laid out. We were going to have cake at the teahouse, but it closed again at 3 p.m., as you often see here.
We walked to a coffee shop near QUT University. They had a delicious cake, and we were given some pastries to take with us; they had some leftovers and were closing. What the heck, at 4 p.m. on a Friday?
To Cangaroo Cliff via the accompanying bridge, where we met a few Australian women. We chatted for a while.
The cliff is a walking path along the river with plenty of running and cycling paths. You can also climb the cliff.
Finished the loop and walked back to the West Bank.
We happened to stumble upon a small big band performance on the grounds of the Maritime Museum. Beautiful location, great music, we listened for a while.
We had dinner at the Thai restaurant. After dinner, it was pitch black again, of course. I took some nice shots of the skyline on the other side.
Arthur's food isn't good (no peppers in it, probably a bit too much), but he's slowly recovering. He got off the bus too late and ended up walking an extra 1.5 km.