Atejade: 10.05.2018
After about 2 hours bus ride, Caroline and I arrived in Brisbane. It only took us 5 minutes from the bus station to our hostel 'Base Brisbane Uptown Backpackers'.
It is a quite large hostel, which you can find in many cities in Australia. We had a 10-bed room on the 4th floor.
In the room, there were already 3 young Swedes who were not very talkative. However, with a lot of alcohol, that was completely different. Our room looked like a garbage dump in the evening and it smelled similar. Unfortunately, for safety reasons, we couldn't open a window, so we had to live with it. The guys were pretty loud and they didn't care if we wanted to sleep or not. Luckily, I am not easily bothered and can eventually fall asleep.
Once we arrived at the hostel, we quickly dropped off our stuff and then went to the city. We went to the Southbank and visited the Ferris wheel and the Brisbane sign.
We walked across the city, listened to street musicians, and treated ourselves to a nice steak in the evening :)
The hostel had a large kitchen, which was surprisingly clean. Cooking was much more enjoyable there.
The next day, we got up early and walked across the city. We went to the Southbank again in daylight and walked through the Botanic Gardens.
Later, I sat at Starbucks and planned my further travels. In the evening, I watched the sunset on the Kurilpa Bridge, which was super beautiful because there were hardly any people and I could enjoy the peace and the view.
On our last day together, Caroline and I went jogging in the morning.
Here, too, there were already a lot of athletes. Whether on bikes, jogging, or doing outdoor training. You can see athletes in every park. After breakfast, I had to say goodbye to Caroline :( We had a great time together and had a lot of fun. She is headed to Cairns and will soon leave Australia. But once I'm back in northern Germany, Denmark is not so far away.
I spent the day alone at the city beach and lazily lay in the sun.
Meanwhile, thanks to the free Wi-Fi network in the city, I was able to book my next hostel and the bus to get there. When the clouds gathered, I went to the nearest Starbucks. On the way there, I also took some programing with me 😀
While it rained gently, I diligently wrote my blog here. Back at the hostel, I met up with Caroline 2, who had also arrived in Brisbane. We cooked together and then went to the city. We got some beer for the road. It was not easy to get it, as you have to go to a bottle shop and they are not always open. The next thing was that we weren't sure if it's allowed to drink alcohol on the street. We just sat outside and listened to a street musician. He sang beautifully but had a hard time keeping people off the street. Brisbane has a relatively large number of homeless people. All the park benches around our hostel were occupied and you could also see sofas and other things under the bridges. Compared to Hamburg, it is still relatively little and people are nice, so you don't have to worry. At least I didn't think about it.
In the evening, I also said goodbye to Caroline 2 and packed my stuff.
The next morning, I grabbed my things and went straight to the kitchen to have breakfast. Then I checked out right away and went to the bus station, as my bus was leaving shortly after 9 am.
I liked Brisbane overall, but after Surfers Paradise, it was a bit too much in the city and with the crowds. On one hand, there was a big contrast, but on the other hand, there were also a lot of athletes and very relaxed people. I think there is a lot to do in the surrounding area of Brisbane. The city center was quite small but beautiful. Everything could be easily reached on foot. Brisbane has many beautiful bridges and also a few really nice houses, but I am more of a nature person, so the next destination is again a smaller place.