Today was our final day staying at the Degnan residence in Pullenvale. They live in such a lovely home with wildlife on their door steps and great views out over the woodland.

With the weather remaining mixed, and a little wet, we decided against a beach visit and instead took a trip into Brisbane to visit the Museum of Modern Art and the nearby botanical gardens next to Brisbane River.

Before heading into the city, Michelle carried out her daily ritual of feeding cashew nuts to the waiting wallabies, baby joey and also the odd lizard and bird that came close.

To have these animals appear at close quarters was a real thrill and made us realise just how diverse and tropical this part of Queensland/Australia truly is.

As Paul was committed to a work call later in the day, he kindly dropped us close to Queens Street, in central Brisbane and then headed back home to prepare for his meeting.

We then went for a wander around the main pedestrian area where the high end retailers of the ilk of Louis Vuitton along with everyone’s favourite Zara are located. Andy was on the search for some sun glasses after mislaying his favourite pair of Ray-ban’s the day before. Fortunately the sales were still on and a bargain was secured from David Jones department store!

After the successful purchase we made our way down to the river, passing the elegant former Customs House soon to be renovated to form part of Brisbane University.

The building was previously occupied by the Star Casino, but this has been relocated to the new development next door on Queens Wharf.

We found our way across Victoria Bridge, one of the many that traverse the Brisbane River and headed to GOMA bistro next to the Queensland Art Gallery.

The Queensland Art Gallery sits across a number of buildings along the river frontage, where a significant amount of works are being done on the roads and river in advance of the Olympic Games in 2032. Great that the city is getting ready so soon!

We found our way to Maiwar Green moments from the bistro, only to discover it was closed for refurbishment so we detoured to the Library Cafe close by.

After our pit stop we went into the Museum of Modern Art to explore the many varied pieces of art and exhibits. It’s an impressive place and full of a diverse range of art, with a bias to textiles that our daughter Amelia would have loved. The pictures taken below are in part for her and hopefully give some inspiration for her own Textile degree course at Loughborough University.

The range of textiles and images was endless so we tried to focus in on the pieces that grabbed our attention and stood out for the rest. It was great to see the diversity of work and creativity from artists across Australia and New Zealand.

Following the culture of the art galleries we returned to the riverfront and stopped at the iconic Brisbane sign to grab a photo with the city skyline in the background.

A little further on we reached the urban Streets beach where young and old were enjoying a dip in the pool and then relaxing on the sandy beach that’s been created on the South Bank.

We meandered on through River Quay Green, crossing the new Kangeroo Point bridge and the botanical gardens.

Despite our concerns over the weather, we got lucky and had a dry and sunny day in central Brisbane crisscrossing the river from the South Bank to the North and enjoying the views from the latest new bridge at Kangaroo Point. Having walked the best part of 15k around the city, we returned back to Pullenvale via train, and Paul kindly picked us up when we got close to Kenmore.

Once back at the house we had another encounter with the local wildlife who were keen for a snack before dinner. It’s incredible how quickly they got used to us feeding them and as a result they got ever closer to the point where you could almost reach out and touch them.

Tonight we had our final dinner with Paul & Naomi. They’ve been so very kind and generous allowing us to stay for the last 4 nights and we’ve loved spending time with them. Michelle in particular was such great friends with Naomi when they worked together all those years ago at Rush Common Primary in Abingdon in the early 2000’s. It’s great they’ve remained so close and can quickly reconnect. It’s going to be tough to say goodbye tomorrow, but we need to return to our travels up to the Sunshine Coast, where we plan to stay for the next couple of nights.