Brisbane Australia

Hi Guys,

Brisbane Australia – Pacific Ocean 27 February 2011

(Longitude: 27 28’South   Longitude: 153 02’East)

(Time +10 GMT)

Brisbane, in Queensland. is delightfully situated on a loop of the Brisbane river, the Aurora docked further towards the coast. The river is wide and muddy from the recent floods and a typhoon that came through. There is not much evidence of the flooding as about 5,000 people, armed with buckets and mops came in from the outlaying areas to help with the cleanup. They have done a super job.

We took an excursion up into Brisbane and the Koala sanctuary where there are many many koalas. The city is similar to Chicago but the dwellings have a unique Queensland architecture, with timber walls, lattice screens, shutters and corrugated iron roofs, we did not see great mansions. The vegetation is sub-tropical with many different plants, although we know that South Africa has benefited from the cottonwood (for the mines) and the mimosa trees, there is the sound of many birds.

The koala sanctuary is a mini zoo where I had the opportunity to view some of the most unusual animals on this planet. A Tasmanian devil, an ornery critter about the size of a badger, a golden possum, monitors; dingoes; cassowary; raptors; a duck billed platypus, an aquatic mammal that lays eggs and suckles its young. A very energetic animal about 3 ft long that forages around under water in the rocks for food. The bill is quite rubbery and is only used for grasping. A wombat, with brown fur and is about the size of a  Beagle but with more sturdy legs and a huge head and brain, apparently quite friendly; We went into a huge enclosure with young kangaroos hopping around. They share the same enclosure with wallabies and emus, quite an experience to be so close. And today I bought a ticket and became a koala hugger, “crumbles” was her name. There are a huge number of these bear like creatures at this sanctuary. Each koala is exposed for 15 minutes to the public where the koala is placed into your arms and a photo taken. In the wild they live for perhaps 8 to 10 years, in this sanctuary they had one just die at 23 years of age. We go for coffee in an outdoor eating area and we are quickly surrounded by several 2 ft lizards. They seem quite tame as the children pet them. On the way back, we stopped at 10 - 15 minutes just outside of Brisbane at Mount Coot-tha to enjoy a stunning view of Brisbane in the bend of the river and the surrounding countryside.

We spent the afternoon wandering around Brisbane down on the banks of the Brisbane river and had lunch at a local café.

Roy & Susan Mount Coot-tha

Have you hugged your koala today

Brisbane

Brisbane on the Brisbane River

Eats, Shoots and leaves

It is hard to believe that the first recorded European discovery of Australia was made by Captain Cook in 1770 and Australia was settled by the convict First Fleet 18 years later, a little over 200 years ago. The Australian Aboriginal people had inhabited the continent for millennia and we later learned that there are over 800 distinct languages and dialects to be found amongst the aboriginals.

So here we are in Brisbane on the 27^th February, we left Valparaiso Chile on the 8^th February, I ponder that by this route we have taken 19 days to cross 8,363 miles of the Pacific Ocean We have made 5 stops along the way of approximately 5 days (maybe less), however, we have been at sea for 14 maybe 15 days. So, at 23 or 24 MPH, one can cross the Pacific in just about 2 weeks. It makes me think about Magellan, Drake, De Gama, Cook, Bligh and those other intrepid explorers who did not have GPS, decent time pieces and had little reference to where they might be going or what they may bump into and did not have benefit of 20 plus MPH. Rather like the Apollo trips, everything that you needed had to be packed. Well, the Apollo astronauts did not find the delights of the Polynesian girls when they reached their remote locations, they could only try a little golf.