ahoyne9My last trip before heading back to the United States. Arriving from Rotorua after spending a full day busing and flying to Brisbane from Auckland. This trip happened just as COVID was starting to ramp up but no restrictions were in place. I went to Brisbane for two reasons, I wanted to check out the Gold Coast and it was significantly cheaper to fly home from Brisbane. I spent a half-day at the famous Koala Sanctuary and was able to feed and pet Kangaroos!
The conversion rate at the time of writing this post was 1 AUD = 0.75 USD.
Day 1 – Arrive and Relax 02.18.2020
After 3 weeks of traveling in New Zealand and a flight to Brisbane that landed in the evening, it made sense to take the night off to relax. I walked around to find a local supermarket to make dinner and then called it a night. I did end up staying in an Airbnb near the city center, you can check out the place I stayed here. If you’re new to Airbnb use my $50 off referral code on your first stay.
Day 2 – Head to the Gold Coast 02.19.2020
Decided to take a trip to the gold coast for a day trip, check out the beautiful beaches, and go up a sky tower. You can check that post out here.
Day 3 – Last Day Abroad 02.20.2020
I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, this was recommended by people I follow on IG so I figured I would check it out. I took the bus from the city center which took approximately an hour. Trans Link is the public transit in Brisbane, which includes the bus, tram, train, and ferry. From the city on Queens street, you will take the 445 or 430 to get to Lone Pine, the bus schedule is here and the cost was AUD 4.11. The rates for taking transit are based on Zones and I recommend getting a GoCard during your stay. I was able to get any amount I didn’t use refunded back onto my credit card.
If you book online for the Koala Sanctuary you can save 10%, the cost to book online is AUD 37.80 (USD 24.50). The sanctuary has over 70 species of Australian native wildlife. Depending on the time you arrive you can take a picture with a Koala, if I recall it was AUD 20 which is donated to the sanctuary. I got there in time, but the time slots were full so I, unfortunately, missed out, but I was lucky enough to pet a Koala on my trip to Perth.
The only wildlife I didn’t get to see was the Tasmanian Devil, which oddly enough was one of my top 3 things I wanted to see during my time spent in Oceania. They do have an exhibit there but after spending 20 minutes looking for one to come out from hiding, I gave up. My favorite part about the exhibit is you can buy kangaroo food and then walk into the kangaroo sanctuary to feed them. The kangaroos are very friendly and will let you pet them. They are wild Emus in this sanctuary as well but they do not care for humans and would just walk away, which is probably for the best since they can run up to 50km/hr (30MPH). Right as I was making my way out of the sanctuary I passed an employee that had a Dingo on a leash. These dogs are beautiful and this one was very friendly and let strangers pet him.
With this being my last night abroad, I decided to walk as much of the city as I could (10km; 6.3mi) and find as many rooftop bars to enjoy the skyline as. The first stop was Sixteen Antlers Rooftop Bar, which is inside the Pullman & Mecure Hotel. The second one was Elixir Rooftop Bar, which I was completely underdressed for and did not stay long. I did stop outside a few other bars throughout the city but these were the two with the best views of the Brisbane skyline.
Sixteen Antlers Rooftop Bar 
Elixir Rooftop Bar
My 14 month trip to Oceania is complete, I am now heading back to the United States to see my family and to begin work. I leave a better person, I am more confident with solo travel and more educated with my new Master’s Degree in Finance & Economics. I look forward to everyone reading about my trip and time spent in Oceania. Please do not hesitate to leave comments and ask questions.
Cheers!
Nice that you visited my city. Brisbane has a lot to offer though I find foreigners never make it too far out of the CBD. I don’t know why, I feel a lot of what makes Brisbane great is its suburbs, parks, neighbourhoods, cafes and so on… 🙂
This is great to know! I think this type of stuff is completely hidden on trip advisors and other travel blogs. Unfortunately, when I went I didn’t give myself too much time to explore, I like to venture out to hiking paths too and completely missed that in Brisbane. What areas do you recommend most? Cheers
Oh for hiking paths there’s Mt Coot-tha which I guess isn’t too far from the CBD. If you’re looking for nice areas to visit – there’s Sandgate/Shorncliffe/Redcliffe great for an area nearby water. Over the southside of the river, Bulimba is ideal!
Thanks, mate, very useful. Hopefully, I’ll be back soon to knock some of these off the list. Ideally, covid is all said and done in the coming year. Cheers!