Chill Out and Déjà Vu With Good Friends In Brisbane :)

We arrived Brisbane domestic airport after our non-stop, 5 touristy days in Sydney.

We were a bit stunned by the SIZE of this domestic terminal! It must be 20 to 50 times larger than our Wellington terminal!

What we did not realise is that Brisbane Airport  is the sole passenger airport serving Brisbane, Queensland and is the third busiest airport in Australia after Sydney Airport and Melbourne Airport. Brisbane Airport has won many awards. Brisbane is currently served with 46 domestic destinations in all States and Territories and 32 international destinations. For the 12 months ending May 2011 total passengers were 20,056,416!

The reason we came to Brisbane was to catch up with our good friends from Karori, Boon and Jackie (B&J). They moved to Brisbane in 2005 and that was the last time we had a chill out with them, goodness; EIGHT years has vaporised!

Boon took a shot of me and LB near the South Bank, Brisbane in 2005.

Boon and Jackie at the lookout, hazy Brisbane city in the background; 2005.

In 2005 we were staying with B&J in one of these luxurious apartment facing the Brisbane River!

Interesting tenant's toy in the car park of the apartment we were in, 2005.

So to join in the fun, I bought a New Toy too ;)

Staying at that apartment gave me a chance to capture this stunning rainbow over the city of Brisbane in 2005. I only have a Nikon Coolpix 8400 then ;)

Pardon my rant... that was then, this is now...

So what were the highlight of our 5 days in Brisbane?

Catch up, chill out; food, food and more food and with a little shopping thrown in for the ladies ;)

First, the shopping bit...

If you like shopping, especially if you are young... The Queen Street Mall is a pedestrian mall located on Queen Street in the center of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The mall extends approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) from George Street to Edward Street, and has more than 700 retailers over 40,000 square metres  (430,000 sq ft) of retail space, which includes six major shopping centres.It receives over 26 million visitors each year.  - Wikipedia

If you have too much $$$ to burn, The Treasury Casino, also known as The Treasury is a casino in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It also houses a hotel, five restaurants, seven bars, and a nightclub!!

Food Glorious Food...

Isn't this what traveling to other country all about?  To taste and enjoy what we cannot get (in quality and variety) in Wellington!

LB and I have some really robust Korean fare at Lee's Korean BBQ at Pinelands Plaza, Sunnybank Hills. We found this delightful restaurant by driving Boon's car, a short distance from his house ;)

We love the heated (very hot) stone bowl which kept the food piping hot, the kimchi is lovely too!

B&J took us to Ikea Logan, a giant complex featuring Scandinavian modern style furniture and accessories. Include storage options, lighting, decor products, kitchen appliances and pet care!

Ikea Logan's restaurant also serves cheap but good food. The grilled salmon  with vege and potato cost A$9.95 !!

Then there was the crispy soft shell crabs and sushis at the Oishii Sushi Bar !!

But the highlight of our gluttony must be the giant mud crabs!!

We were at this very popular Asian Supermarket (can't remember name) that Boon and Jackie frequent.  I bought THREE giant mud crabs (3.5 kg!) and the shop worker actually washed and cut them into big pieces for us!  I also bought a kilo of big prawns... all for A$86.00!  Sooooo cheap ;)

All ready for the wok, the three giant mud crabs in chunks. (iPad Photo)

Master chef Boon all ready to cook the mud crabs :)   (iPad Photo)

Chilli crab ala Boon, nearly ready!   (iPad Photo)

Dinner is served!    (iPad)

Chilli crabs with sauce from Singapore, yummy!!  (iPad)

Simple steamed prawns with garlic and soya sauce.

Boon and Jackie live in a very nice house in Sunnybank. House in Australia is very different from that of New Zealand, since there are no earthquake in Brisbane; the house is build with bricks. Boon's house came with a nice pool and covered car porch.

The dinning room and some of my photographic work displayed on the wall!

Time to say goodbye! Thanks Boon and Jackie,see you back in Wellington soon!

Hello Wellington! It is good to be back!

Boon, do You Remember the "Flying Saucer" we bought in 2005?  :)



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Zǒu Mǎ Kàn Huā @ Sydney & Brisbane

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