Wednesday March 6, 2019 PORT 2: BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
Morning spent at Lone Pine Preserve to see Qualas, kangaroos and other assorted animals. Went privately with friends Ilya and Nana. This was not my choice but (1) I knew this was something one was “supposed” to do when in Brisbane; and (2) BGM wanted to do it which meant, good or bad, it had to be done because, if it were done, she would have built in her head that she missed something really great so it would have been lose/lose not to have gone. BGM said afterwards, “I was underwhelmed”.
We took taxi both to the Preserve and back into the center of the city, walked around some. I went into a very nice wine store and bought two bottles of Tasmanian sparkling wine, highly recommended, and two bottles of a Shiraz that was voted “wine of the year”. Bought a bottle of local hot sauce but we now have enough hot sauces from the various ports we have visited, that we may never again need to buy hot sauce in our lifetime even if we were 30 years younger.
We had arranged to meet other friends, Gary and Alex for lunch in order to celebrate outstanding medical test results for Gary who is fighting some serious health issues. BGM picked the place for lunch, and when we walked in and I saw the menu which I found basically incomprehensible, she thought her life might be in jeopardy. However, as more fully described on the attachment, lunch turned out to be among the best culinary experiences of our trip.
We then did some more shopping and bought quite a nice necklace as a birthday gift for Diane whose surprise 50th birthday party we are attending iin a couple of days. She is will be only 50, about the age of some of my shoe, but she has cystic fibrosis and does amazingly well even thought she has a large oxygen tank with her wherever she goes. It is amazing how well some people we have met on this ship deal with serious health problems. It is even amazing that they are on the ship at all.
Would not normal mention and manicure salon, but we walked into one run by a Vietnamese woman named “Sue”. She was an unbelievable character and quite an entrepreneur. Turned out she had three shops in Brisbane and had her nephew working for her who gave me a foot and leg massage which really helped me with some paid I was having because of all the walking and exercise I have been doing.
HOT TIPS: TAXIS ARE VERY REASONABLY PRICED IN BRISBANE. ALMOST A ONE HOUR RIDE COST 60 AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS ($42). THERE IS LOTS TO SEE IN BRISBANE SO START OFF EARLY. I WOULD SKIP THE QUALAS AND GO TO THE FARMER’S MARKET INSTEAD.
We give our experience in Brisbane, another place in which we would like to spend more time, an A.
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