Day 38 - The Barmy Army in Brisbane

​Today has been quite the day. After a very nice hotel breakfast, I decided to use geocaches as my guide to explore the city a bit - the plan being to stay north of the river today.

I started my adventure by developing two new fears - one triggered by seeing a portaloo being lifted by a crane at a building site, and the other by meeting some birds with VERY long beaks. I now have irrational fears of being in a portaloo when it is lifted by a crane, and being pecked by these terrifying birds…! (For the record, this is a photo of one of the same kind of bird I saw later as my early bird encounter was with a less photogenic bird).

My first physical Australian geocache came at the site of Queensland’s oldest surviving structure - a former windmill turned observatory and signal station. 

As I headed more into the centre of the city, I came across ANZAC Square, essentially the city’s war memorial and small museum. The museum was fascinating; all the more so as when I was there a man and his (I’m going for..) granddaughter came in, and they managed to find records of his father’s service in WWII. His grand-daughter (assuming that is who she was!) has just signed up to join the navy, so it was all a lovely family story. 

There were lots of AdLabs close to ANZAC Square, but also one physical cache I really wanted to find. Said cache was hidden behind a sign on a bridge, leading me to spend quite a bit of time weirdly feeling behind signs on a bridge. Whilst I was trying not to look suspicious, an Englishman came to ask me if I would take a photo of him. I took the photo, he helped me with me cache, and we talked cricket! 

As I headed to the city centre, I definitely heard a LOT of British accents. Probably more than Australian! I found the Barmy Army HQ in the city and purchased my Barmy Army bucket hat for tomorrow.

I very much enjoyed admiring the Christmas decorations in the centre, as well as some humorous signs.

I was also sucked in by koala based goods in souvenir shops….. From how lovely the souvenirs are in these photos, I think I was actually very restrained with my purchases! I am relieved to know that my suitcase will expand if needed…

I had a light lunch by the river before heading back towards my hotel (via a few more caches!). Whilst it has not been horrendously hot, I did still want to pay the hotel’s rooftop pool a visit. 

I had a lovely couple of hours in and by the pool, chatting to some other cricket fans and reading my book. The views are great from the pool, but I didn’t have my phone with me, so photos will have to wait for another day.

It was then time for welcome drinks in the hotel bar. I befriended a group of four men (most people here are men) - who are all friends and family - and spent a couple of hours with them and a couple of diet cokes.

I am typing this now whilst having my dinner. It will then be time for quite an early night ahead of the big day of cricket tomorrow.