Stand Tall, Shine Bright

We finally made it to Australia! When we moved to Korea, we said this was the one place we wanted to make it to before leaving.

On Saturday, we hopped on a bus to the airport and headed down under! After a 10 hour flight (which Avera rocked!), we landed in Brisbane at 6:30am on Sunday to start our twelve day Australian adventure.

First things first, we picked up the rental. So for whatever reason I drove (this may have been an accident as I got in on the wrong side of the car and didn’t want to tell on myself 😜). It immediately became the most terrifying experience of my life. It’s like trying to eat with my left hand; my brain just doesn’t work that way!!

We then settled in at the Manor Apartment Hotel on Queen Street. It was absolutely perfect! Located in the heart of Brisbane, yet quiet and ideal for a baby.

We were able to take a quick nap then hit the streets of CBD. We decided to stay close, but take advantage of every second we had. We crossed the bridge over to South Bank to check things out.

On our way back, we picked up a late lunch outside the Treasury. Another great perk to the location of the hotel, we were able to enjoy all of the activity of Queen Street while remaining a couple minutes from our room.

Queen Street offers the best of shopping, restaurants and entertainment.

Day two we took advantage of the city’s “Hop on Hop off” bus. Hopping on the tour of Brisbane route we were able to hit many of the highlights. I highly recommend seeing the city this way!

Avera loved it!!

A more than pleasant surprise, we discovered the movie set for the new Thor was just a couple of blocks over. Of course we made this our first stop!

They brought in yellow NYC cabs and turned the streets into a New York scene. Look for us in the movie 😉

Our next stop was back to South Bank for lunch. We found a great restaurant with a friendly server, then took a break in the park across the street.

We walked over to the man made beach and discussed how we’d fallen in love with Brisbane.

Hopping back on the bus we went to Brisbane city lookout. It was such a beautiful view!

We walked down by the river and enjoyed the local atmosphere, taking in the sunset.

Tuesday’s agenda brought on Australia’s natives: kangaroos, koalas and tasmanian devils! We drove out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

Here we were able to pose with a koala named Fingle.

We walked around with the free range kangaroos.

Avera just reached right out and pet this little guy!

She even let him eat out of her hand.

Tuesday afternoon we enjoyed more of the Brisbane life on Queen Street. We had lunch, took another walk to the Thor set, and visited some tea shops.

We spent our last evening in Brisbane taking little miss to get her ears pierced! Always a champ!

Wednesday morning we hit the road… Click here for our adventures from Byron Bay to Newcastle.