Day 4 - Take it Easy

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3 full days of walking all over Brisbane and, boy, if Blake and I aren't tuckered out! We slept in, finally. After 3 days of waking up at 3:30am due to jet-leg, light, and birds, we both made it to 7am! We decided to tone things down a bit and just head into the CBD (Central Business District) and the South Bank for a little walking R&R. We've learned which roads to avoid walking down, so we get to enjoy the city instead of feeling like future roadkill! And we've started to feel more confident with the various public transit systems, including our favorite CityCat and CityHopper ferries. 

We took the CityHopper, it's FREE, down to Anthology Coffee where they had a perfectly easy breakfast for me to order on the menu that was not only delicious, but beautiful! Porridge (a seemingly all encompassing term for hot cereal grains) with poached pears, almonds, and coconut milk yogurt made for a delectable start to my day. Blake had the British sounding beans and toast, although he got to it faster that I could get a picture! You can see a bit of it up in the corner of this picture. Take special note of the IMPOSSIBLY custardy poached egg. Pure wizardry. 


We next wandered into the City Botanic Garden, which is really more of a large city park with beautiful landscaping and enjoyed seeing some lizards sunning themselves. We saw about 12 in the whole park, and they seem to be a mainstay feature of the landscape.


The gardens also contained beautifully maintained lupine and pansy gardens with ornamental cabbages and kales, a virtual feast for the eyes! We thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the park. 


Our favorite stop was this magnificent Banyan Fig tree, which sends down vertical roots from it's large branches which in turn become massive new trucks to support the nearly horizontal branches. It boggles the mind that is used to lollipop and triangle shaped trees.


We finished our day with a ride back to New Farm, the suburb where we will spend our final night before heading off on our surfing adventure tomorrow! The CityHopper provided great views of the skyline, including the beautifully lit Story Bridge (pink), as Blake says "What's the Story?"... We've yet to look into it.

Tomorrow we venture down to the Gold Coast, and Surfer's Paradise, where Blake will simultaneously fulfill his dreams of surfing and of making me surf. One of us is VERY excited....

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