Back in Brizzy

 We arrived in Brisbane, the jet lag already setting in!

Our friends Jen and Brian (who you may remember from past OZ visits here and here) picked us up from the Airport and took us straight to our hotel; thankfully they appreciate jet lag more than most and didn’t expect a long catch up!

We were staying in the Brisbane Hilton (My TA review here). Oh my, it’s very posh! There's a beautiful marble clad foyer which is where their restaurant and bar were found too! Checking in was lovely and quick as Mike is a Diamond member of the Hilton Honours reward scheme.

Inside the Hilton

Our room was and 3x as big as our one back home, with city views, huge bathroom, a desk and cozy arm chairs.

Our Hotel view with Brisbane Town Hall in the centre :)

We were so pooped, we didn’t fancy going out so we ordered room service. This was my first time having room service, I was ridiculously excited (small minds!) and we ordered a classy selection of 

pizza, chips and milkshakes!

Room Service

With a very full belly and snuggled in my white fluffy hotel dressing gown we hit the sack.

On our first full day in Brisbane we decided to reacquaint ourselves with our favourite city. We had a wander through the city centre, over the river into the South Bank. After a couple of ours we headed back to the hotel with jet lag setting in and Mike (we later found) had a mild case of food poisoning.

After a nap, Mike’s phone lit up with a message “Pig and Whistle? Now-ish?”. How better to ease us back into the Brizzy life than dinner at an English pub – irony!

Our message was from Peter and Renee, who you may also remember for previous visits to Australia here and here. It had been two years since we’d visited so we had a lot to catch up on! We’d finished by 8pm and it was still 22 degrees – I could just feel my limbs thawing out already!

Finally by day two we were starting to move into the appropriate time zone! After a lovely complimentary breakfast at the Hilton, and another walk around town, we headed to Brisbanes’ Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) after hearing about a fascinating exhibition called Falling Back to Earth by Cai Guo-Qiang.

You all know by now, I’m no expert in art. But I really do not know how to explain Mr Guo-Qiang’s work other than with the word Epic! There was Heritage; made up of 99 animal replicas all drinking from the same lake. Then there were 99 wolf replicas all running/flying towards a glass screen called Head On. The symbolism of 99 suggests that the sequence is not complete leaving room for expectation and questions but you’re better off looking at my photos that taking my word for it!

Heritage

Head On

Head On

By late afternoon we were staving and decided on a “dinner” of pancakes at Brisbanes 24hr Pancake Manor! For the first time in about a decade, I left my camera AND my mobile at the hotel, so just imagine, three large pancakes, smothered in berrys, ice cream, marshmallows, chocolate sauce and cream all melting on top... diet? What diet?

L x

Return to Oz - Culture and Food

Instead of gaining more pounds, Mike and I thought we’d increase our brain power with a bit of culture and history. So Sunday we decide to go to the Queensland Museum, The Queensland Art Gallery and to the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).

It was a drizzly, damp grey day and a few of Aussies asked “are you not cold?” “Why would you come out on a day like this?” we explained that we’re British and if drizzle scared us we’d never go out!

Queensland Museum is a free attraction and it seemed that all parents within a 25 mile radius were going to make the most of this!! A few times, kids would point stare and ask “is she/it a handicap?” I’ve found and decided I don’t like this word; handicap is one above all that I cannot stand, it makes me cringe!

Anyway once I stopped being an exhibit all on my own, we wandered round the marine, dinosaur and nature sections; lots of cabinets full of creepy crawlies, stuffed animals and life size replicas of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops heads.

Turtle

Dinosaurs 

There were also exhibits on the 2011 floods, the rights of aboriginal culture and history of Queensland and its people. Although I loved the museum and what was on show; the lay out was very disjointed and in my option badly planned.

After a couple of hours we’d seen all on show and I think Mike had, had enough of all the children we almost ran over, so after a quick lunch we moved on to The Queensland Art Gallery and Goma.

I personally know very little about art/artists but it doesn’t stop me appreciating it. I loved both galleries, but The Queensland Art Gallery appealed more. I found some of the modern art in Goma odd and not very artistic, but as I say - each to their own and I’m personally a self confessed old school art fan, the older the better.

Modern Art

Glass Art

There is currently an exhibition dedicated to Australian Art – 6 rooms in fact showing pieces from “European occupation of the continent to the 1970s”  - my favourite in the main gallery and a collection of work from Queensland High School/College/University students was my favourite in GOMA.

Old School Art

After filling up on Art and History we needed to continue our food tour lol! We were meeting with Mike’s University friends Jenna and Brian (you may remember this!) who in the year since I last saw them have; got married, toured New Zealand on their Honeymoon, bought a dog, and had a house custom built – they’re like a poster ad for emigrating!

Last year Mike and I went out to unsuccessfully find a Mexican restaurant he had visited with his colleagues, well.... we finally found the said restaurant in Fortitude Valley – Monrezuma’s.

We sat in the outdoor restaurant so I didn’t really see inside, but the menu was comfort food, you know the type, carb loaded, rice filled and cheese covered! I opted for the taco’s, the only dish set not accompanied with potato’s or rice. I was amazed only getting through 1 ½ of them – stomach isn’t the cavern - I thought it may have become!

L x