In Australia, we continue to encounter a plethora of spectacles that will not be forgotten quickly when we return home. We truly relish the amazing Australian scenery, exciting demonstrations, performances and various public events that we’ve experienced during our travels. Since our days in Brisbane are numbered, we refuse to take anything for granted, and we plan to ensure that we remember every spectacular experience when we return home.
We’ve noticed that the people from Brisbane really enjoy getting out of the house on the weekends to attend big events whenever possible. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade (held on the Saturday before the big day itself) was no exception. City workers closed many of the major roads downtown well in advance of the parade, and large crowds of people lined up and down the streets to witness the grand event. To obtain a good vantage point of the parade, we picked a spot near the Port Office Hotel, a heritage building with a very popular pub that is frequented by many of the locals. An event organizer told us earlier that this location was a prime spot from which to view the parade. At this position, the general parade participants and bands all stop for a moment to perform a salute to the dignitaries who are observing the parade from this spot. People from the community and outlying areas (many dressed in green) all gathered for the parade with tremendous enthusiasm. From the side of the road, the crowd cheered, clapped, and rallied spirit for floats, bands, costumed characters, politicians, dance troupes, and other participants.
Crowd Gathers By Port Office Hotel for St. Patrick's Day Parade
From the moment that we first read about the Spectacle Garden at the Roma Street Parkland on a travel brochure, we wanted to ensure that we paid a visit to this incredible green space located in Brisbane’s city centre. When Trevor first stepped out of the car near the rainforest and fern gully section of the park, he practically jumped 3 feet off the ground after he almost stepped on an Eastern Bearded Dragon (a lizard) that was wandering around casually. We subsequently encountered many of his little lizard friends (and even baby lizards) everywhere throughout the park. We quite enjoyed eating our lunch beside the pond and watching the ducks, turkeys, birds and other wildlife frolicking around. At the Spectacle Garden, we found brilliant seasonal colour and unique subtropical foliage as promised in the brochure.
Roma Street Parkland
Upon visiting the Irwin family’s Australian Zoo in Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast, we found it virtually impossible to see everything in the park in one day. The late Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) founded the zoo originally, and his wife Terri, daughter Bindi and son Robert continue to operate and develop the world-class facility. The Irwins also continue to add new displays to the zoo regularly, and we were a bit overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place. During our visit, we found animals from Asia, North America and Africa as well as the Australian animals that one would expect to encounter in an Australian Zoo. The daily afternoon show at the Crocoseum is attended by hundreds of spectators, and features the feeding of a huge crocodile. We would never ever consider attempting to do something this crazy, but the zoo staff appeared to know what they were doing. We were able to document this spectacle by shooting a short video.
Poster for Bindi Irwin's Daughter's Birthday Celebration at the Zoo
An Elephant Struts His Stuff
Croc Feeding at the Crocoseum
After driving for two hours up the Sunshine Coast north of the city, we stopped to investigate Noosa Heads, a very popular holiday resort town. When we arrived, we were surprised at how well the buildings of the town have been camouflaged from the beach area. We were quite impressed at the manner in which the town has preserved the trees and beaches along the shoreline. It was sunny and extremely humid as we walked along the spectacular trail following the shoreline at Noosa Heads National Park. Numerous people in bathing suits (young and old) carrying surfboards passed by us as we traversed the trail. We spoke to a well-tanned, older gentleman in his 70s or 80s (dressed in a bathing suit) who was about to carry his equipment down the rocks into the water. He laughed when we told him that we hoped he wouldn’t fall off his surfboard. “That’s all part of the fun,” he said.
Tea Tree Beach at Noosa Heads National Park
Finally, we must mention another phenomenon which is uniquely Australian; signs advertising pie shops along the highway. Just like in Canada, we frequently spot the big golden arches of MacDonalds that may be found everywhere in Australia, and we see countless signs for KFC and for Hungry Jack’s (Australian version of Burger King) and for pizza joints and other fast foods. Australians, however, also love to eat a good meat pie, and we discovered Beefy’s pies along the highway near Bribie Island and also on the freeway leading up to the sunshine coast. On the highway back to Brisbane from the Gold Coast, we came across the Yatala Pie Shop where throngs of people were lined up inside the store and at the drive-through to purchase savoury meat pies and sweet pies for dessert. We were advised by our Australian friend Alan earlier on our trip, that meat pies are best served warm. During a subsequent picnic lunch, Trevor successfully warmed up meat pies from the Yatala bakery at one of the electric barbeques that are provided for free public use in many of the parks and recreation areas throughout Australia.
Yatala Pies (Off the M1 Motorway)
Electric BBQs (Barbies) in Australian Park
Our days are numbered in Australia, but we will be sure to take full advantage of every minute in this country to enjoy the other spectacles that still await us.
