Free Days in Brisbane

[6 May- 7 May]

 

After Fraser Island we headed back to Brisbane. Here we had two free days. On our first free day a few of us went out to explore Brisbane a bit.  To our luck we were in Brisbane for a special occasion, Buddha's Birthday. So, we started out the day by heading to the Buddha Birthday celebration. At the celebration there were lanterns hung all over, live music, vendors selling various souvenirs, a variety of live dance performances, food vendors and much more. The celebration was packed with a variety of people, everyone there to celebrate and enjoy each other's company. After we had spent some time at the celebration we took a walk and came upon a market. The market had hundreds of people with items for sale set up in small areas. These items for sale ranged from handmade leather working to gently used clothing. We spent some time walking through the market, and checking out all that was for sale, but the market was so large that there was no way for us to cover the whole thing. After that we walked around the area more, and found a mall and some other street shops. Then we headed back to the hostel to make dinner, something that we had started to get good at coordinating. Later that night we headed back to the Buddha Birthday celebration for fireworks.  They had quite a firework display! The fireworks were set off from a boat in the water, but there were some fireworks that came from other locations that seemed to be coming straight out of the water. On our second free day in Brisbane we had a more relaxing day. We headed down to a man made beach for much of the day. There are man made beaches in places like Brisbane mostly because for part of the year swimming in the ocean is not safe, so a man made beach allows the luxury of sand and a place to swim without the dangers of deadly jelly fish and other such things. The beach was crowded, it was clear that we were not the only ones with the ingenious idea to spend the day relaxing on the beach! After enjoying the water, sun, and sand for a while a couple of us took a walk to check out the rest of the area by the beach. It turns out that there was even more in the area to do than we expected. There was a kiddie water park, areas to barbecue, a pedestrian bridge for walking and riding bikes, along with a small park. After a few days in Brisbane I can say that I like it here!

 

-Kathleen D.