Mount Coot-Tha is the mountain nearest to Brisbane, located just 6 km from the city. I left early in the morning with my very ordinary bike to make the ascent to the top. The climb was tiring but the result is worth it! Once at the top, I was awarded with a magnificent view of the Brisbane River and the city.

Brisbane view from mount Coot-Tha

In addition to the look-out and a restaurant, there was a short hike through the forest. The hike is a loop that can be done in just under an hour. The forest is relatively more lush than the conventional semi-tropical forest usually found around Brisbane. Throughout the hike, there are some reconstructions of aboriginal art visible on rocks or trees.

Aboriginal art (on the rock)

Brisbane has two botanical gardens, a small in the middle of the city and a bigger one on the side of Mount Coot-Tha. It was a classic botanical garden, full of diverse and varied vegetation and a few sculptures. The park was quite large, covering 52 hectares and contained a planetarium and a Japanese garden.

Sculpture in the botanical garden

Mount Coot-Tha is worth it, the view was awesome, and the climbing was not too time consuming.

I heard that this place can become a nice romantic date on a starry night …

During the Easter weekend, we were invited by an Aussie (a real one, which explained the difficulties I had in understanding him) to Stradbroke Island or ‘Straddie’ for locals. The peculiarity of this island is that it is made ??entirely of sand, with a lot of vegetation, but with sand as the foundation and the ground.

We left Brisbane early, took the train to Cleveland. Once arrived at the station in Cleveland, we left our stuffs in our friend’s place and headed for the Ferry:

Ferry going to Stradbroke Island

The journey took half an hour. The weather was sunny and windy. The island is 38 km long and 11 wide, with three small hamlets in the north. The rest is covered with vegetations.

Once on the island, we took the shuttle to the east side of the island – the life saving club. From the club, we learned that sea is rough – no surfing for today.

Rough sea

This long beach itself is 32 kilometers long. Due to the strong wind it was not possible to go to the beach, so we went hiking along the coast instead, escorted by a local guide (a friend of our friend).

We ended on a more sheltered beach, where we tried Bodysurfing (the body is the board).
Not exactly easy at first but great fun once mastered.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is a reserve for Koalas. Located thirty minutes from Brisbane, it houses 130 fur balls in the park with other local animals (Kangaroos, Dingos, Emu and other reptiles).

The park runs a lot of educational tours around these animals – we learned the life cycle of a Koala which consist of very little movement and mostly sleep. They eat only one type eucalyptus which is actually poisonous to them and during their early days their mother give them bacterium to help to fight the toxicity. This process which takes most of their energy exhaust them at the end of the day, earning them the reputation as an inactive ‘lazy’ animal. They are also not much of a drinker (unlike their Homo Erectus counterparts on the Australian soil) as the water in the eucalyptus is enough for them.

All in all, these animals are cute and adorable but it’s pretty hard to take a picture with their eyes open.

Joe

Koala

Koaka

To remind us that Australia is (very) far away from the rest of the world:

Distance Sign

This is the city where I spent five unforgettable months, between the University (a little), international mates (all the time!!), student associations (often) and mother nature. I left the freezing cold French winter and arrived during the Australian scorching hot summer (consider yourself lucky to have 35° C – under the shade)

I spent the first few days exploring the city – the Southbank man-made beach by the river, the Botanical Garden in the heart of the city, the piers with the river ferries and water taxi, busy CBD and its street malls …
Initial findings – Australia  is Awesome, people are very friendly (but accents are not easily comprehended at first), the cost of living is slightly cheaper than in France, the vegetation and greenery around is lush. All is good.

Life as an international Student for five month at the Queensland University of Technology,  can be described as: part time student and full time party animal! It was great to be able to chill out and mix around with people of all nationality among which many were Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Malaysian and Japanese. What more can i ask for, i’m getting best of both worlds – east and west!

What i like about Brisbane:

• The friendliness and ‘laid-back-ness’ of the Australian
• Free Salsa lessons on Friday nights in the center of the city.
• Supportive international students groups and association such as QUT East West
• The man made beach in Southbank
• Great BYO house-parties (especially in West End)
• The water taxi (Cat City)
• The sunny climate
• The city which has a pleasant and dynamic vibe all the time.

The pool-beach in Southbank

The view from the City Cat

Brisbane Botanical Garden