There were just a few things we wanted to see in Brisbane today. We walked to the Windmill. It was built by convicts in 1828 to grind flour. At the time there was no one who knew how to operate it. So they installed a treadmill to use to punish convicts who had broken the rules.
From there we took the train to Chinatown. The lions at the gate we turned around when a fang shui expert said the way they were facing was bad for business.
Our next goal was to walk across the Story Bridge. There are 3 bridges in the world that can be climbed. One is Sydney Bridge, the 2nd is a bridge in New Zealand, and the 3rd is Story Bridge. This one looked more intimidating, not as tall, but steeper.
Anyway, we walked across it to Kangaroo Point. We continued walking past Kangaroo Cliffs. By this time it was raining, but someone was climbing up the cliff wall. It looked like he was going up shear rock and he made some amazing moves. He almost made it to the top, but we heard him say it was too wet to keep going.
We were walking on a bike/walk trail that went all around the point and into the city proper. They seems to have these trails all over Brisbane. By the time we got to the South Bank the rain was really coming down, so we stopped for lunch. This is the area where the Expo was in 1988. There were lots of cafes and an area of shops. Soon after lunch the rain increased, so we stopped for coffee and a blueberry glen - braided sweet bread with blueberries.
We moved on and only made it to the Nepalese Peace Pavilion before the rain got heavier. The pavilion provided shelter, but we were working our way to the State Library, so we hurried and were thoroughly soaked when it reached it. It was a beautiful structure. There was an older library on the site and the new building was built around it. They merged beautifully. The library was open to the elements at the ends of some levels. And there were glass walls that gave a wide open feel to it all.
There was an exhibit called "Live! Queensland Band Culture". It covered marching bands, dance bands, rock bands, Aboriginal bands from early in the state's history to the present. Brisbane was home to 60,000 US soldiers in WWII and they had a major influence on music here. They brought swing, jazz and jitterbug here.
We decided to take a ferry ride on the Brisbane River. We bought a Go Card yesterday, a prepaid card for transportation and we can use it on bus, rail and ferry. We went downriver and upriver. It was lined with houses and apartment buildings. In the old warehouse district, wool storage warehouse had been converted to apartments. It was a really nice ride and the lady who made the announcements chatted with us for a long time. She had been to the States, bought a motorhome and traveled from California to Tennessee.
The city looked beautiful at night with the lights on in all the buildings, but we hadn't realized how long the ferry ride would take. It was dark when we got back to our stop and getting close to time for the last through bus to the caravan park. We hurried and made it with 5 minutes to spare.
Pictures - Chinatown gates, Carp sculpture, Brisbane, Jeanne on Story Bridge, Man climbing Kangaroo Cliffs, Walkway covered with bougainvillea, Nepalese Peace Pavilion, Queensland State Library, Interior, Ferris Wheel
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