Going Coastal!

Our little campervan adventure sent us running around a confessedly small part of southern and eastern Australia in a mad and relentless sort of way. We needed some R&R and found it in the sleepy city of Coffs Harbour. Perhaps, that's not a fair way to describe it, but we arrived on the last weekend of a school holiday and it seemed like many of the families had made scarce of the small city and we were, by and large, left with the retirees and those not able to afford a trip to other parts.

We took several days of much needed rest, worked on our tans and enjoyed a couple of restaurants, but mostly, we enjoyed the extra space and ability to really cook again.

Yup, us by the pool

After we tanned up and rested, we headed off to Brisbane by train and bus. 

Brisbane is a beautiful city on the river. It's much like Melbourne, but on a smaller scale, which makes it even more walkable.  It has lots of restaurants, beautiful paths through the Botanical Gardens and along the river and a decent autumn climate. (I don't know if I could survive their summers, but it hovered around the 30 degree Celsius mark, while we were there, with river breezes to offset the warmth.)

The free, man-made city beach in Brisbane

We came across a Hari Krishna parade on Sunday, which was pretty interesting. I hadn't realized that there was still such a large contingent of believers out there, but the proof is in the pictures.

Krishna parade

Guru in a toque (aka beanie)

Pretty heron

How apropos!
Robertson on Robertson

We only spent three days there, but enjoyed the food, sights and weather before heading off to Cairns to discover the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. (We're finally going to put the underwater camera to the test!) But I'll leave you with a few more images of Brisbane.

Is that really something you need to advertise?

Along the river

Pretty building at night in Fortitude Valley
(A Brisbane Neighbourhood)