road trippin': to brisbane, qld

At the end of July, Shane and I got our stuff packed for our road trip, up north, to the Airlie Beach in the Whitsunday Islands. We stopped at a few places along the way and back, which we did in about a 2 weeks time. It was a bit of a rushed trip trying to fit in as much as we could in the 2 weeks but we had an amazing time, and it was our first trip together. If we had more time, we probably would have went all the way up to Cairnes but there's always another time for that.

On the road! Shane with his mo after our weekend in Brisbane and Rainbow.

So, I'll be breaking this into a few posts and first up is our weekend in Brisbane and camping at Rainbow Beach..

We left Old Bar at about 8:30 am on Friday, July 29. Went to Taree to get a few things for our trip and filled up. The day's destination was Brisbane, Queensland, which was about a 7ish hour drive. We got some pies from Fredo's along the way and I tried a Kangroo pie, which was my first time trying kangaroo meat. It wasn't too bad because it was ground up and had lots of sauce had a tiny bit of a gamey taste though. I got to see The Big Banana at Coffs Harbour on the road haha! They have this thing in Australia where they have "Big Things" all around the country. So the big banana is an example of one of the many big things! I also saw The Big Prawn in Ballina and Taree has The Big Oyster haha.

Fredo's Pies. So many choices, so hard to choose! Roo pie on the right. 

The Big Banana at Coffs Harbour

The Big Prawn at Ballina

We stopped at Byron Bay for a couple hours for a late lunch (it's about 5 hours north of Old Bar) and the weather was just a bit average, it was cloudy and a bit rainy. We had our late lunch at Burgerporto and they had delicious fries. We walked around the main street and did some shopping and went to check out the beach.

Delicious chicken burger from Burgerporto

A few pics of Byron Bay

Then we were back on the road. We got a call from one of Shane's friends and he was asking if were going to Splendor in the Grass (music festival), which was about an hour out of Brisbane, but we didn't even know that was on. If Shane would have known Splendor was on we would have left Thurs night to go to it. Anyways, we got to, Shane's friends, Ian and Tess' place at about 5pm had a few beers, ordered some pizza and chilled out. Driving for long periods of time gets to you.

The next day Tess and Ian took us around for some sight seeing. We did a nice scenic walk around the water, Botanical Gardens, Queen Street Mall, across the bridge to the other side and back around. Then we went to a beer garden for some drinks. After, on our way back we stopped at a nearby pub by their house for another drink and put on a few bets on the races.

Skyline of Brisbane

Walking through the Botanic Gardens

Another view of the city

Treasury Casino & Hotel, Brisbane Square, Over the bridge looking back at the CBD

Tourist bikes, foot bridge (pedestrian bridge), Queen Street Mall

On the bridge looking at the city, there's the Brisbane Wheel on the Promenade.

Clem Jones Promenade

Ian and Theresa, our gracious hosts for the weekend!

Had lunch at Plough Inn after our walk. Shane got a massive lamb shoulder.

Trying to make some money on his didgeridoo

Had a few drinks at the Breakfast Creek Hotel

Kids' game room

It was Shane's friend, Josh's birthday party that night so we went back home and got ready to go out. We went to a really cool, and huge pub Eatons Hill Hotel, and we had a really great time there. They have a dining area, where they had a kids room with video games (great idea to keep the kids entertained), and dining area was separate from the bar and dance area, there was also an upstairs which I only found out about the next day haha. Didn't really take many pics, we were having too much fun ;)

Night out for Josh's birthday

I really enjoyed the brief time we had in Brisbane, during our sight-seeing walk, I got a good sense of a very chilled out and relaxed vibe from the place. There's a lot of art and culture here and it's a big city without being too overwhelming like Sydney can be, also the weather is always beautiful up here. Definitely would love to come back again.

On our way out of Brisbane we visited the birthday boy at his place. Hung out for about an hour and then we were off to Rainbow Beach for night. It was a good 3 hour drive, and we drove past many tree plantations. It was really neat to see because the trees were all neat and aligned! We camped the night at Inskip Point, camping ground, about 15 minutes out of Rainbow Beach and found a really great spot right on the beach in between some trees. Waking up the next morning to the beach and waves, with the sun just risen, was simply beautiful and memorable. I've always wanted to camp on the beach and my first time couldn't have been any better than that experience.

Our little camp setup

Camping at Inskip Point at Rainbow Beach, and waking up to this.

new zealand - queenstown

It's been a few weeks since my last post! I was lucky enough to head back to Calgary for about 6 weeks for work and to visit friends and family which was so refreshing! So I have been a bit busy with that but now I am back in Oz and thought I should continue with my blog posts about the adventures I've had!

So let's continue with New Zealand!  The rest of the trip we spent in Queenstown.

Simone and I - first night out in Queenstown

Our first night in Queenstown, we found a cheap place near the town centre for a pretty good price for being last minute. We wound down with some wine and cheese, watched some TV and then Simone and I decided to check out the town and go for a walk. Then we ended up going to the first place with good music and had a really good and random night out!

The next day Kristy and Alicia wanted to go check out some wineries. So we checked out went for a drive and had a yummy lunch at Amisfield Wine Company. We also checked out a little winery, Chard Farm. After lunch, we went to check into the Novotel Hotel, where we would be staying for the rest of the trip. I had a little nap while the girls went to book our day trip to Milford Sound.

That night we went around pub hopping after having a bite to eat the famous Ferg Burger in town and yes it was very delicious! It's always so busy in there, lines ups out the door!

Amisfield Wine Company - Wine Tasting & Lunch

Cute place called Chard Farm for bit more wine tasting.

Dinner at the famous Ferg Burger

The busy line ups at Ferg Burger

Excited to try my burger!

Enjoying our delicious burgers and more!

Milford Sound was so beautiful! It was a bit cloudy and rainy so that was a bit unfortunate, but looking back it was still really amazing to see. It was a really long day though. It took the bus 5 hours to get there and another 5 hours to get back. The ferry through Milford Sound was about 2 hours and we had a buffet lunch. Words can't describe how pretty this place is, and I can only imagine how it would be if it was a nice day out, so I'll the photos do the talking. We also stopped at a few places along the way to Milford Sound which was pretty cool! It had also started snowing this day too, so we were all getting excited about hitting the snow the next day.

Along the way to Milford Sound,  Snowy mountains one minute... and a few steps later and we're in a rainforest

Milford Sound - At the ferry terminal

Spotted a dolphin swimming along side our ferry

We got to check out The Remarkables for a full day and a half day at the Coronet Peak. Both days were equally windy, snowy and cold. Some of the lifts were shut down because of the extreme windy conditions which kind of sucked because I was looking forward to checking out their mountains. The Remarkables was more of a beginners mountain. I think Coronet would have been really good but I didn't get to explore the place because only one lift was open. So I can't even really compare it to the Rockies.

Ready for the snow!

The Remarkables - very snowy and windy conditions

Skiing lessons for Simone and Kristy

Coronet Peak - Very windy day

Beautiful view of Queenstown on our way up to the mountains

The nightlife in Queenstown is a lot of fun! We went out almost every night and we discovered new places each time. There are so many little alley ways and streets full of cafes, clubs, bars, restaurants, shops so we could just hop around from one place to the next! It's very lively each night as well so there was always something to do.

On our last day in Queenstown, we woke up to snow everywhere in town, which the locals said that it's rare that they get that much snow in town. It was really cool for the girls because they rarely get to see snow. It made me appreciate the snow though to see the excitement in their eyes! Haha. Queenstown was really beautiful with the snow everywhere. We had some brunch at this cute little place close to the lake and then we had a walk around the shops for some last minute shopping.

Overall, I would have to say NZ is a trip in itself. It was nice that we got to see a snippit of a few things in the south island but there was so much more to explore. 9 days was fun, and I had a really great time with the girls and made some really good friends, but I wouldn't have mind if we stayed a bit longer! Well that just means that I'll have to make another trip back sometime and explore some more, perhaps the North Island, which I hear is really picturesque.

Our last night out in Queenstown - we went for Mexican