The next stop on my Australian adventure is gonna give me a little break from all the hiking. It also marks the start of seeing a new state, Queensland. Welcome to Brisbane! It’s Australia’s third city, at least that’s what I heard it referred to as. There’s really not a whole lot to see here, but I thought there was enough to spend a day wandering around the city. I actually spent three days here, but only one exploring the city itself. As usual I started with the Queensland Museum and the Queensland Art Museum. And as usual, I was greeted straight away with my old friend, the Muttaburrasaurus.

The museum was actually kind of small, especially the dinosaur section, but I enjoyed what they did have. This crocodile skull was a good introduction to what was coming up in a couple of days.

I enjoyed the Queensland Art Museum more. They had a really good collection of aboriginal art.

Also in the Art Museum was this tiny little door, seen below left. Turns out a local artist, Mace Robertson, started leaving these tiny doors in various out of the way places around the city just for fun. Do fairies live there? Mice? You’re guess is a good as mine. It was kind of fun finding them while walking downtown. I did cheat and look online for the locations though.

There were a few more tiny doors scattered further outside of downtown, but I have other plans today and limited time. Plus it’s raining, bleh! The water just follows me everywhere. Brisbane is split down the middle by the Brisbane River. The views from the bridges are pretty amazing.

On the other side of the river is where all the historic buildings are. First was the Old Government House. It was built in 1862 for Queenslands first governor.

And just down the street was the Queensland Parliament building. It was closed to visitors this day, unfortunately. I was also reminded of how I had planned to see the Tasmania Parliament building the day I left Hobart a few weeks ago and totally forgot. Oops!

Queen Victoria has two, count ’em, two Australian states named after her, but she has a statue in every state that I’ve visited so far.

These next two buildings are the oldest surviving structures in Queensland. The Commissariat Store was built by convicts to store all the food and supplies that were coming in from abroad. Yup, Brisbane also started out as a penal colony. The first two floors of the Commissariat Store were completed in 1829. The third floor was added in the 20th century. The other building is the Old Windmill, completed in 1828. It contained a treadmill that convicts would have to walk on to grind grain as a punishment. It could also use wind power, but there was never enough wind to be useful, so the convicts pretty much did all the grinding for the colony.

Brisbane’s Town Hall is the largest town hall in Australia. It was built between 1920 and 1930. There was a small city museum inside, but the best part was the views from outside of that super tall clock tower.

Those kangaroos like looking up that clock tower too. They know a cool building when they see one. I took a picture of the church across the street just because I thought it was pretty. And since I’m the CEO here at Holy Crap Adventures, I can do whatever I want.

That’s pretty much it for downtown Brisbane, like I said, there’s not a whole lot to do here. I did make a couple of awesome day trips from here though. A good distance south is Springbrook National Park. I planned to come here to see one waterfall, but I discovered there are several amazing falls here. Lucky me!

Before seeing the waterfall I intended to see, I first did the better part of the Twin Falls loop hike. I didn’t realize at the time, but the trail took me up and over Twin Falls, so I ended up seeing Rainbow Falls first. The trail meanders along some really cool cliff faces until you turn the corner and BAM! A beautiful four gusher right in your face. I lingered for a bit and then walked around behind the falls and moved on to the next one.

The next waterfall was Goomoolahra Falls. Don’t worry, I keep saying it wrong too. I don’t know if this was four tiers, five tiers or what. I could only see the top three. The rest of the water tumbled down below my feet into the abyss. It sure was pretty though. I gave it an eight on the gusher scale and then made this my turn around point.

I didn’t even notice the view on the hike out. On the way back though, wow! I’m not sure what town that is in the distance. It’s got to be one of the beach towns just south of Gold Coast.

Eventually I found the trail that goes down to Twin Falls. I think it’s a solid five on the gusher scale. I wish I could give extra points for the idyllic location, but rules are rules. To get back up I had to walk around behind the falls. The pictures of Twin and Rainbow Falls from behind are pretty horrible though because the sun was right in my face from back there. Anyway, there was also a side trail to an upper viewpoint that I missed on the way out. I’m sure glad I didn’t miss this one completely.

Just a couple of miles down the road is my original planned stop, Purling Brook Falls. I spent so much time at that Twin Falls hike though, that I didn’t have time to do the whole Purling Brook loop. Oh well! I made it out to the main viewpoint anyway. This very long drop got a seven on the gusher scale.

When I got back to the carpark the pademelons were out in force. I think the one in the last pic had a bun in the oven. Just look at that pouch!

For my other day trip I went to probably one of the most famous zoos in the world, Australia Zoo. I watched so much of the Crocodile Hunter back in the day that I couldn’t resist visiting. Steve Irwin is absolutely all over that place. Pictures of him, his family, and the word ‘Crikey!’ printed on every sign everywhere you turn.

They had all of my Australian favorites, of course. It poured rain the entire day too. I don’t think the kangaroos were too happy. Neither was I, honestly. This was both a very fun and miserable day all at the same time.

The wombats didn’t seem to mind the rain so much though.

I also got to see some dingos for the first time ever. I thought they would be different somehow. I don’t know why I was surprised when I saw them and thought to myself, “They’re just dogs.” Ha! I wanted to bring a couple of them home with me.

The otters are always a treat. They’re so energetic! And the first time I walked by the red pandas they were hiding, but on my way back through one of them came out to run around.

The stars of the show were definitely the crocodiles though. I remember some of these crocs from the show. All of these guys were rescued by Steve Irwin himself when they were in danger of being killed by locals for becoming nuisances in various ways. It was kind of like meeting celebrities. I was star struck!

Unfortunately, I can’t remember which one was which now, except for Acco. He’s the biggest croc in the zoo. He stayed submerged every time I passed by, so I couldn’t get a picture. This eerie, shadowy one will have to do.

In addition to the real crocs, here’s one that Steve carved out of a fallen tree… with a chainsaw. Is there anything that guy couldn’t do?

The reptile house was impressive too. I got to see some of the world’s most venomous snakes that I’ve been hoping NOT to see in the wild. The inland Taipan, below right is considered the winner, the most venomous snake on earth. The brown snake, however, I was told is the only one of these Australian snakes that tends to be aggressive. The rest just try to slither away.

None of these snakes really stand out visually. I would find it hard to know what I was seeing if I did manage to spot one in the wild. I prefer our own homegrown rattlesnakes. Very distinctive looks and they give you an extremely loud warning when you’re getting too close. Very considerate of them.

The Southeast Asia section was fairly small, but I always love seeing hefalumps. They also had tigers, although only one of them was out. Stupid rain!

At the far end of the park was the Africa section. There were a few giraffes, a couple of zebras, and three massive white rhinos. None of them seemed to mind the rain at all though.

The same cannot be said for the cheetahs or the meerkats though. The cheetahs didn’t look amused and the meerkats took shelter underneath a heat lamp. I knew they were smart.

After the crocs, I think a very close second place for stars of the show goes to the ring-tailed lemurs. They had a whole island to themselves. You’re allowed to go out there and follow them around all you want. They’re just running loose. They didn’t seem bothered by the rain either. I spent quite a long time watching them.

Well, aside from the pouring rain on two out of my three days here, This was a really fun stop. The break from all the hiking was nice too. My body was feeling the wear and tear. Now I’m headed west into the outback to see how much more my body can take. Stay tuned…