Brisbane and done
I didn't know anything about Brisbane, but it was the airport that the awards program was willing to fly us out of, so we planned to spend a few days there before heading home. Then they changed our flight to depart from Melbourne! We considered skipping Brisbane altogether, but the airline was willing to fly us to Melbourne on their dime, so we stuck with the plan to end our adventure in Brisbane.
While looking for lodging options, I found a 2br apartment in the heart of the city with parking, laundry, and a heated infinity pool on the roof, for under a hundred US dollars a night. I though surely there was a catch, but no, it was spectacular and very convenient. There was even a decent pan-Asian place called Spice Den on the ground floor that provided a fine dinner on our first night. It was great to be able to send Alice up to get ready for bed while Jason and I went around the corner for breakfast groceries.
I don't know if it was jetlag, but we were all a bit logy on Thursday and by the time we made it to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (the largest and oldest in the world) the koala-holding slots were all sold out. But we saw many, many koalas and finally saw a living platypus, the last of the major “strange beasts” on my list. There was a raptor show and a sheep-herding show, as well as lots of kangaroos and emus and lizards and birds, even a mostly-awake Tasmanian Devil.
After a couple of hours we were happy to head back to our apartment and then down to the river for a free ferry ride through the city. The City Hopper was quite full, but at the first stop we had to change boats and in the process scored the front bench on the covered upper deck. So we spent a very pleasant hour snuggling down the river, looking at all the different areas of the city's waterfront.
I suggested Italian for dinner and Jason picked Otto, in the next block over. The most memorable feature of the decor was the spinning magenta lampshades. Dinner was one of the top meals of our trip. Alice had the carpaccio and tortellini stuffed with short rib and marrow, with an apple ginger mocktail and the chocolate dessert. Jason had amazing honeyed goat cheese and the sweet & sour pork belly. My starter was a fresh take on vitello tonnato, with amazing flavors. My main was barramundi over tomato and eggplant--good, but overshadowed by the other courses--and my dessert was a delicious strawberry mascarpone yogurt concoction.
On Friday we spent the morning shopping for a few last souvenirs, then went back to the flat for a swim in the incredible rooftop pool. In the evening we went to Rogue Bistro, a very well-reviewed restaurant in an industrial zone on the north side of the city. It was very fun--we did the Ark, where you pick three mains and three sides and they plate those for two to share, plus we added some starters and desserts and Alice fell in love with truffle butter. It was a lovely, low key day for a change.
For our last full day we decided to spend it in Brisbane's Cultural Precinct. Spread along the river bank are the Galley of Modern Art, the Queensland Gallery of Art, the Queensland Museum, the State Reference Library, and the Performing Arts Center. There's also The Edge, an incubator with free public workshops, a design computer lab, tool room, 3D printer, laser cutter, etc. We spent time at each place and asking the Riverwalk, where there is a public pool and playground, the Wheel of Brisbane, a craft fair, and more.
We grabbed dumplings for dinner (grilled duck gyoza!) and took our seats in the Playhouse for Dark Emu, a dance piece by Bangarra, a contemporary dance troupe of dancers with Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander backgrounds and a commitment and connection to the land and its peoples. Dark Emu is based on a recent non-fiction book challenging the idea of Aboriginal people having been hunter-gatherers, which was part of the justification the English used for seizing the land. The dance is very powerful and supported by very specific sets and costumes that really enhance the work. We're had first heard about Dark Emu in Sydney, where we also overlapped, but it was Peter Monk’s strong recommendation that made us really eager to experience it for ourselves.
When we began to talk about dining options in Brisbane, Alice's I've request was that we have another tasting menu. For our last meal in Australia we had our first ever breakfast degustation, the four-course menu at 85 Miskin, out in Toowong. They served us maple toasted granola with yogurt and berry compote paired with a mixed berry smoothie; a poached eggs with chorizo, charred eggplant puree, and ciabatta paired with their own apple-fennel soda; jamon Serrano on toast spread with honeyed goat cheese; and a wattleseed waffle with violet ice cream and coffee, or tea. It was definitely a tasty and memorable way to round out our trip.
At long last it was time to head to the airport. We flew Brisbane to Melbourne to Beijing to Chicago to Boston. The only significant layover was six hours in Beijing, but that was made much easier than the one on the way out by being slightly cooler (87F instead of 97F) and by having done it so recently that it was fresh in our memory. We slept most of the way to Beijing and then more fitfully on the long leg back to the US. I watched four movies again in this direction (Fantastic Beasts, Avatar, District 9, and Love, Simon). We got into Boston early, hopped in a cab and were home just about 6pm, 44 hours since we left for the airport in Brisbane.
It was an amazing trip. I am so grateful to those who house sat and looked after Sadie and let us park our car for the summer and took in extra work at T@F to make it possible for us to be gone so long. And thanks to all of you for following along at home.
Bed now. Tomorrow we start unpacking.
While looking for lodging options, I found a 2br apartment in the heart of the city with parking, laundry, and a heated infinity pool on the roof, for under a hundred US dollars a night. I though surely there was a catch, but no, it was spectacular and very convenient. There was even a decent pan-Asian place called Spice Den on the ground floor that provided a fine dinner on our first night. It was great to be able to send Alice up to get ready for bed while Jason and I went around the corner for breakfast groceries.
I don't know if it was jetlag, but we were all a bit logy on Thursday and by the time we made it to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (the largest and oldest in the world) the koala-holding slots were all sold out. But we saw many, many koalas and finally saw a living platypus, the last of the major “strange beasts” on my list. There was a raptor show and a sheep-herding show, as well as lots of kangaroos and emus and lizards and birds, even a mostly-awake Tasmanian Devil.
After a couple of hours we were happy to head back to our apartment and then down to the river for a free ferry ride through the city. The City Hopper was quite full, but at the first stop we had to change boats and in the process scored the front bench on the covered upper deck. So we spent a very pleasant hour snuggling down the river, looking at all the different areas of the city's waterfront.
I suggested Italian for dinner and Jason picked Otto, in the next block over. The most memorable feature of the decor was the spinning magenta lampshades. Dinner was one of the top meals of our trip. Alice had the carpaccio and tortellini stuffed with short rib and marrow, with an apple ginger mocktail and the chocolate dessert. Jason had amazing honeyed goat cheese and the sweet & sour pork belly. My starter was a fresh take on vitello tonnato, with amazing flavors. My main was barramundi over tomato and eggplant--good, but overshadowed by the other courses--and my dessert was a delicious strawberry mascarpone yogurt concoction.
On Friday we spent the morning shopping for a few last souvenirs, then went back to the flat for a swim in the incredible rooftop pool. In the evening we went to Rogue Bistro, a very well-reviewed restaurant in an industrial zone on the north side of the city. It was very fun--we did the Ark, where you pick three mains and three sides and they plate those for two to share, plus we added some starters and desserts and Alice fell in love with truffle butter. It was a lovely, low key day for a change.
For our last full day we decided to spend it in Brisbane's Cultural Precinct. Spread along the river bank are the Galley of Modern Art, the Queensland Gallery of Art, the Queensland Museum, the State Reference Library, and the Performing Arts Center. There's also The Edge, an incubator with free public workshops, a design computer lab, tool room, 3D printer, laser cutter, etc. We spent time at each place and asking the Riverwalk, where there is a public pool and playground, the Wheel of Brisbane, a craft fair, and more.
We grabbed dumplings for dinner (grilled duck gyoza!) and took our seats in the Playhouse for Dark Emu, a dance piece by Bangarra, a contemporary dance troupe of dancers with Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander backgrounds and a commitment and connection to the land and its peoples. Dark Emu is based on a recent non-fiction book challenging the idea of Aboriginal people having been hunter-gatherers, which was part of the justification the English used for seizing the land. The dance is very powerful and supported by very specific sets and costumes that really enhance the work. We're had first heard about Dark Emu in Sydney, where we also overlapped, but it was Peter Monk’s strong recommendation that made us really eager to experience it for ourselves.
When we began to talk about dining options in Brisbane, Alice's I've request was that we have another tasting menu. For our last meal in Australia we had our first ever breakfast degustation, the four-course menu at 85 Miskin, out in Toowong. They served us maple toasted granola with yogurt and berry compote paired with a mixed berry smoothie; a poached eggs with chorizo, charred eggplant puree, and ciabatta paired with their own apple-fennel soda; jamon Serrano on toast spread with honeyed goat cheese; and a wattleseed waffle with violet ice cream and coffee, or tea. It was definitely a tasty and memorable way to round out our trip.
At long last it was time to head to the airport. We flew Brisbane to Melbourne to Beijing to Chicago to Boston. The only significant layover was six hours in Beijing, but that was made much easier than the one on the way out by being slightly cooler (87F instead of 97F) and by having done it so recently that it was fresh in our memory. We slept most of the way to Beijing and then more fitfully on the long leg back to the US. I watched four movies again in this direction (Fantastic Beasts, Avatar, District 9, and Love, Simon). We got into Boston early, hopped in a cab and were home just about 6pm, 44 hours since we left for the airport in Brisbane.
It was an amazing trip. I am so grateful to those who house sat and looked after Sadie and let us park our car for the summer and took in extra work at T@F to make it possible for us to be gone so long. And thanks to all of you for following along at home.
Bed now. Tomorrow we start unpacking.