Brisbane and the Gold Coast

After four days in Sydney we flew north to Brisbane.  We spent a day in Brisbane and then drove a couple of hours south to Byron Bay along the Gold Coast.

We enjoyed our brief stay in Brisbane.  It is about half the size of Sydney, but still a large city.  Brisbane is built on the banks of a river.  We walked the few blocks from our hotel to the river ferry stop and took the CityCat, a powerful catamaran, across the river to the south bank.  The south bank has a long strip of green space running alongside the river.  It contains or borders parks, pools, playgrounds, performance halls, museums, restaurants, and the Brisbane Wheel.  We spent the afternoon strolling along, the girls played on the playgrounds, we went up for a spin in the Brisbane Wheel, and visited the Gallery of Modern Art with its contemporary aboriginal art exhibit.

the sand beside the pool beside the river

swinging high

the Brisbane Wheel

spinning high

contemporary aboriginal art

Charlotte's famous!

From there it was on to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (and the first time driving a car in three months).  More than just koalas, it had kangaroos, platypus, dingos - a whole menagerie of Australian wildlife.

people and kangaroo shared an open enclosure

this resting area was off-limits to humans

a rare pure-bred dingo

platypus at play

Then it was on to the Byron at Byron, an eco-friendly resort built amidst a tidal wetland along the coast.  Our rooms were nestled in the trees away from the main building.  The property was extensive with long wooden boardwalks crisscrossing the wetlands.

We had heard that one of the local attractions is a place called Crystal Castle, just a few miles from the resort.  By a strange coincidence we learned shortly before we left that it is owned by a Green School family, whom we then briefly met.  By an even stranger coincidence they are our next door neighbors at our new villa.  They are also good friends with the owners of the Byron at Byron resort.

We felt that we had to check it out, so we drove along obscure back roads, and up hills, until we reached the Crystal Castle.  The owners are long-time dealers in crystals - among the first to wholesale crystals in Australia.  They have turned their hilltop store into a destination.  There are many walks with Hindu and Buddhist statuary, intended for meditation and reflection.  Huge crystals and geodes line the walk.  One can have one's aura photographed, one's Tarot read, and spiritual counseling.  There is a restaurant, a playground, face painting for the kids, and a labyrinth.  Most remarkably, they are in the process of building a Buddhist stupa, the first one in Australia, with the blessing of the Dalai Lama.  Tibetan monks roamed about the property helping to prepare the stupa.  There was a lot of excitement as the spire had just been added the night before, and an evening of prayer and chanting was scheduled for that evening.

the stupa under construction

We spent most of the rest of our time in Australia jumping waves and playing in the sand on the beach at Byron Bay, a small resort town with the largest, widest beach we'd ever seen.