Day 27 - Downunder 2016 - Sun - 10/23/16 - Brisbane

Talk about a quickie! We arrived in Brisbane around 7am and docked at the cruise terminal located on the river that meanders through town. Since we didn't need to disembark until 9am, we had a leisurely breakfast and I uploaded a large number of my daily blogs. We met with our little group of 6 and proceeded off the ship where we met our guide for today, Charlie. Charlie is a volunteer for Brisbane Greeters which is an arm of the local government which promotes tourism. The tour is free and no tips are accepted, although contributions can be sent to the Brisbane Greeters.  

Charlie led us to the high speed ferry which would be our method of transportation from the ship to the downtown area. These ferries called Watercats are catamarans and they are a major way of getting around and are pretty cool to travel on. The ferry made multiple stops on both sides of the river before reaching our stop in downtown about an hour later. We then strolled our way to the lovely botanical gardens where the flowers and trees were beautiful, the birds prolific, and an excellent example of repurposed ground. Upon entering the garden, we spotted this unique looking vehicle which seemed to be used for hauling person's in wheel chairs. The driver parked the vehicle and exited it in his wheelchair. He was quiteapproachable and I learned that he designed the vehicle and it was constructed from the front of a wrecked vehicle and a custom rear chassis. It was VERY professionally built. I'll have pictures in my photo album which will be posted at the completion of the cruise. Leaving the garden, we walked by the technology university and towards downtown. Along with the way we saw many historical buildings including the original government office, post office, print shop, and the treasury building and many more. The latter building is now a casino. On the main shopping street, the TI office uses the very ornate lobby of a former theater. It's drop dead gorgeous!

Following a visit to the ANZAC Memorial we made our way back to the ferry for our hour ride back to the ship.

Onboard the ship we enjoyed a small snack to ride us over until dinner before watching the sailaway until the Sunday church service at 4pm. Dinner this night was back in the Main Dining Room where all three couples had RV's in addition to cruising. This led to a very energetic table discussion.

The evening's entertainment was Francis Diatschenko, a very good classical pianist from Darwin. Given that we had previously seen the movie, we adjourned to our room to watch the World Series of Poker and get to bed a little earlier. On the way back in our hallway, we detected a sewer smell. Hopefully that's not a bad sign of things to come!

While the destination is important, savor the journey.