Brisbane

Princess provided a $10 shuttle to Brisbane from the ship. There was a nice welcome from the Brisbane visitor staff with brochures and such to take and look at to decide what to do in Brisbane. I got off the ship not quite decided what I wanted to do. There was a hop-on/hop-off bus $25. The Botanic gardens offered free tours at 11 and 1. The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary looked attractive because I did not learn as much as I should have at the other sanctuary and it had some attractive additions. So I went to the visitor center to get the info on how to get there. I ended up taking a city bus out and back. There is also a ferry option which left the city at 10 a.m. and got there at 11:30 a.m. The ship's tour which drove to the Koala Sanctuary took this same ferry back. All 3 transportation options had pros and cons in terms of what shows you could make at the sanctuary. Many liked the ferry ride.

I got to the sanctuary in time to catch the end of the lory feeding (pic. 1). The Lories are free flighted in the trees and come down to feed when food is put out for them. I then went to the sheep dog show and got to see some wonderful border collies demonstrate working some sheep (pic. 2). One border collie kept creeping up to get a head start on the other one which was cute. Then they swapped in a Queensland Heeler. The dogs then jumped on the backs of the sheep and walked across them. I'm not sure of the purpose of the back walking part but it sure was interesting. Before the show the Border Collies were out with the crowd and then afterwards the Queensland Heeler got to socialize.