Brisbane - guided by a Brisbane Greeter.

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In December, Margot volunteered to become a Brisbane Greeter for the city council. Anyone can visit their site and ask for a free guided tour of Brisbane for up to 4 hours. Google 'Brisbane Greeters', if you are interested.
Margot has been on a number of training walks and, this coming Sunday, is taking her second group out.
Yesterday, Jenny and I joined her on a trial run, for Sunday's outing. The walkers meet at City Hall, but on this occasion, we commenced from South Brisbane station.

View after a 50 metre walk from the station.

Southbank parklands was created on the site of the World Expo, hosted by Queensland in 1988. It was an amazing event at the time, but its legacy is a wonderful parkland on  the Brisbane River, with restaurants and entertainment.  

View across to the city, with the Meriton Hotel now our tallest landmark.

The Nepalese Peace Pagoda is only 1 of 3 outside Nepal. 80 tonne of Nepalese timber was carved by 160 Nepalese families over 2 years for our World Expo. It was so popular, the Brisbane City Council bought it after Expo, so that it could remain in Brisbane.

Adjacent to the pagoda is the rainforest boardwalk and liana garden seats. These were created to represent the the twisting vines of the forest. 

The beach at Southbank!

We walked as far as the Southbank Pier 3, to catch the free ferry to Docklands and back to Riverside.

 Riverside Restaurants

 Customs House

 Story Bridge

Coffee and an exploration of the Customs House built in 1886 followed.

A walk through through the Botanic Gardens led us to Old Government House, completed in 1862, shortly after Queensland separated from New South Wales.

 Side view

 Entrance

From here we visited The Cube - a must visit for young science fans. It is one of the world’s largest digital interactive learning and display spaces, as part of Qld University of Technology.

Here visitors can participate in explorative, inspired experiences in what is part science lab, part digital engagement hub.

A short walk away was the Goodwill footbridge, for our return across the river, to Southbank Station.

We had visited familiar places, but we returned more informed of our heritage.

                              

                          Walking 'down under' with friends is so rewarding and enjoyable!

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Brisbane Forest Park and its Ecualpyts

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Yet again we travelled through heavy rain to our destination, Brisbane Forest Park.  It abated to a fine drizzle as we enjoyed our coffee, before hiking the Araucaria track and Corymbia circuit.

This 6.5 k hike was most enjoyable as the path hugged the indented shoreline of Enoggera Resevoir. The thick cloud cover reduced the affects of the temperature, so we weren't too sweaty on our return. The foreshore was  abundant with wildlife. 

The path took us through a variety of vegetation.

The gentle tinkling of bellbirds accompanied us, as we watched red tailed wrens darting from bush to bush. Ducks, moorhens, shags and other birds dived amongst the water lilies, whilst in the the protected legs of the reservoir, our eyes were drawn to the perfect reflections on its surface.

The sudden appearance of 2 large goannas and a red bellied black snake on separate occasions, had our heart rate racing. Research on my return assures me, that although quite venomous, the  red belly is happier to slither away than attack and its venom is rarely deadly. I also refreshed the 1st aide procedure in case of a bite.

A further 5 k's had us parked in Bellbird Grove. Here we enjoyed our particularly healthy lunch, with an open view across a grassy field, to a tree lined creek. What a wonderful picnic spot for families.

We may have been in Bellbird Grove, but their absence was particularly noticeable, after their contribution to our earlier walk. We set off on the Turrbal Circuit, which linked in with the Golden Boulder Track, a total of 3 k's.

Some ominous clouds hovered as we set off again. 

These trails took us through very different country to our morning hike.

Both tracks had us stunned by the variety colours of the eucalypts, after their shedding of their bark. I just wished I had taken the vivid red of our earlier walk. 

  

  

                                                     

 

                               

                                          

                                                                              

 

                                    

                                        

The Golden Boulder track informed us of the early history of gold in the area. We had no prior knowledge of this.

This trail was quite open bush once we had crossed the dry creek bed.

Lower down the trail, we discovered the creek had formed a pond, with its dark waters reflecting the gums on its bank. We found a small wall had been built to create a dam.

Our final walk was just  few k's on from Bellbird Grove, or so we thought. 15 k's later, we finally parked  at Jolly's Lookout. There were spectacular views down to  the Samford Valley. After another quick 'cuppa', we tried to set off on the Egernia Circuit, a short 1.5 k's through rainforest, but the entrance proved elusive for some 10 minutes, but was well worth the effort looking for it. A Grand finale to another awesome day walking 'down under' with friends.

Thank you for visiting. I would love to read your comment.

For my friends who have difficulty leaving a comment, click on google, click on URL but only write your name and then click publish. Then you have  to type some letters in a box. If you don't succeed with them just try again.