Brisbane Reminiscence Day 4/ Fun (Wet) Day 3

I woke up to a view like this outside my floor-to-ceiling bedroom window. :(

View from bedroom at 6:20am: Rain!

View from living room at 6:18am: Rain!!

View at 8:26am: Heavier rain! :(

I planned to do much today such as taking the CityCat ferry, and going to the South Bank Collective (crafts) Market and a sunny weather would have been better. All well, we will make the best of it. First thing in the morning, we are meeting my former boss/ PI, David Hogan for morning tea at 9:30am. It is exciting because we are meeting him on his home turf, Brisbane, rather than in Singapore. :) He arrived earlier at 9am due to the rain. Thank goodness we were ready. Not nice to keep your boss waiting. :P David brought us to Flute Food & Wine on Baroona Road, Rosalie. Even on a rainy day, business was good at Flute as it was almost full when we arrived. David shouted (gave us a treat) us and we had pancakes with strawberries and banana and ice cream! :) Yum yum. :) We chatted about work and about life. It was a pleasant start to a wet rainy day. Before dropping us off at my unit at St Lucia, David had to do grocery shopping at the Rosalie Gourmet Market. Both Juliane and I tagged along and we were amazed at the huge varieties of the cakes and pastries being sold at the market and they all looked DELICIOUS! :) There were many other fresh products, organic products that the market is selling, including fresh flowers which Juliane couldn't resist getting a photo with lol. :)

Pancakes from Flute Food & Wine, Rosalie

Delicious pastries for sale at Rosalie Gourmet Market

Juliane and fresh flowers

The rain didn't let up when we were at my St Lucia unit. I wanted to take a last look at my unit. It held many memories for me and I hope there will be more memories to be created in the future (in hope that my children may one day study at UQ too).

The dining area and the living area (stuff on the table belongs to friend who is storing them here during uni break)

The kitchen

The master bedroom

The attached bathroom in the master bedroom

The other bathroom

The second room cum study

The living room (stuff stacked up belongs to same friend)

The spacious balcony

We left at 10:30am for the city. From my place, we could either take the bus or the CityCat ferry to the city. (That's why I love my St Lucia unit, it's in a most convenient location.). I decided to take the ferry even though it was raining as it would be a different kind of experience for Juliane. The ferry ride wasn't too bumpy (thank goodness :P) and we managed to see some of the scenery that we would not have seen if we had travelled by bus or by train. It was quite of charming, looking at familiar sights in the rain on the ferry. :)

Walking to the CityCat ferry terminal: Guyatt Park

A common sight along the Brisbane River

The famous Regatta Hotel on Coronation Drive as seen from the Brisbane River

A CityCat going in the other direction towards University of Queensland

The tall building is the Meriton Serviced Apartment, Herschel Street, view from the CityCat

Our destination in the city: North Quay CityCat ferry terminal

The Wheel of Brisbane and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre as seen from North Quay terminal

Meriton as seen from North Quay terminal. See the low cloud cover surrounding Meriton

It was still raining, in fact quite heavily when we arrived at North Quay, in the city. We made our way to Queens Street Mall and shopped because by shopping, we were sheltered from the rain. :P We bought new clothes for ourselves. :) We finally felt peckish close to 2pm and Juliane decided that she wanted to have pancakes again for lunch lol. Suits me fine as it is my ritual to eat at Pancake Parlour/ Manor/ on the Rocks (depending on which state of Australia you are in) when I am in Australia. We went to Pancake Manor on Charlotte Street (thank goodness, I could still remember where it is! :P) for a late lunch. Juliane ordered Tunnel of Fun from the Childrens menu and I had a Seafood Crepe. Satisfying! :)

Pancake Manor is located inside a former church

Tunnel of Fun: ham and cheese crepe, pineapple ring, chips and salad

Seafood Crepe: seafood in creamy white wine sauce in crepe with saffron cream and salad

We slowly made our way over to South Bank after our lunch via the Victoria Bridge. By now, we were thankful that the rain has stopped and the weather was cool and comfortable for a walk around the South Bank. :)

The Wheel of Brisbane and QPAC as seen from the Victoria Bridge

The tallest building is Meriton Herschel Street as seen from the Victoria Bridge

QPAC and the Old Victoria Bridge Abutment (remains of the 1896 bridge)

The Old Victoria Bridge Abutment (from 1896)

The Collective Market South Bank opens on Saturday 10am-9pm and on Sunday 10am-4pm. I enjoy crafts markets and I am glad that Juliane enjoyed herself too. My ritual is to walk twice round the market. First round, we just took in the sights and during the second round, we stopped at the stalls that really captured our eyes and interest, and we bought some interesting stuff from these stalls lol. :P

The Collective Market South Bank on Stanley Street Plaza

Someone's pet dog waiting patiently outside The Plough Inn (a pub)

River Quay, South Bank

The Brisbane city as seen from River Quay

No lack of wild life in the city

More wildlife

Streets Beach, South Bank

At 5+pm, we started looking for dinner. I wanted my kangaroo meat lol! The first restaurant we saw, Aqua, on Stanley Street Plaza has kangaroo burger but I really wanted kangaroo steak. :S Juliane suggested that we have a look at the other restaurants first. So we walked to Little Stanley Street. However after walking from one end to the other end of Little Stanley Street, we did not manage to find a restaurant selling kangaroo meat! :( We went back to Aqua for our dinner - I and my kangaroo burger, Juliane and her fish and chips.

IMAX cinema on Grey Street

Kangaroo Burger! :) Better than nothing

After dinner, we went for another walk round The Collective Market. The stalls looked really pretty now because they were all brightly lit. :)

The tallest building is Meriton on Herschel Street

At 7:15pm, we took the train from South Brisbane Railway Station back to Roma Street Station. We bought ice cream from the 7-11 store near our apartment to enjoy while we watched television. It is Shark Week on Discovery channel this week. :P 

South Brisbane Railway Station

Meriton at night

Ice Cream as dessert while watching Shark Week lol

Handicrafts bought from The Collective Market South Bank :)

It was a wet day at the start but it provided cool respite for the rest of the day, great for walking around South Bank. :)