Monday May 19, 2014

Ralf and Mat picked up our bikes from the bike shop, we had them packed by the bike shop, instead of messing about packing them ourselves.

Today we went up to the Coot-tha Lookout and walked up to the J.C. Slaughter Fall.

We followed the Aboriginal Art Trail to the Falls, but discovered there were no actual falls as it is the dry season.

No disrespect meant to Aboriginal Art, but sometimes it looks like finger painting.

It was a nice walk.  One of the things we like about Australia is that in most of the parks they provide BBQs in the picnic areas.  If the BBQ is not gas they also provide the wood for the BBQ.

After the walk we drove back into the City for lunch and visited the Botanical Gardens.

Mat had been to the Botanical Gardens before with his parents and had a guided tour with a botanist.  He became our expert-in-residence for the gardens and pointing out various plants and also spotted two curlews.  In the middle of the City two curlews, lovely.  Most people were walking by them and didn’t even notice them, which isn\’t surprising as they are very well camouflaged.

After the botanical gardens we played on the swings.  The playground area was designed to be completely accessible.  Mat was pushing me really high!

Brisbane is another City in Australia that have bikes to hire.  The bikes are designed for short trips around the City.  You register to get a card and then the first half hour is free, then it becomes progressively more expensive.  If you took one for a day, it would be cheaper to buy a second hand bike.

We had a lovely dinner and then packed for our trip to Alice Springs.  It is supposed to get quite chilly at night, we are taking some warmer clothes and jackets.   We have a very early flight tomorrow morning – 6:00 a.m.