Australian State of the Month – Queensland

Here is the next instalment of my monthly feature going through the States of Australia in alphabetical order to check out how they got named, what their flag is like and other things of interest. 

Location – Queensland is the second largest State in Australia.  You find it in the top right hand corner of the country.  Its population is around 5 million.

Origin of name – Was claimed as a colony in 1770 by Captain Cook.  It was originally part of New South Wales.  Named in honour of Queen Victoria.

Nicknames – Sunshine State

Flag

Capital – Brisbane (and is also the biggest city)

Flower – Cooktown Orchid

State Bird – Brolga

State Animal – Koala

State Sports – Rugby League, Rugby Union and Cricket

Signature foods – Lamingtons (since 1901), Macademia Nuts, Barramundi (great eating fish)

Great places to visit – Great Barrier Reef, Fraser Island, The Whitsundays, Sunshine Coast

Famous businesses/brands – Bundaberg (ginger beer), Bundaberg Rum,  Qantas (airline), Billabong (surf wear)

Famous people from Queensland – Steve Irwin (wildlife expert killed by a stingray), Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Brisbane

Brisbane is a relaxing place to visit for us.  Just a short flight.  It is a reasonably large but still manageable city.  I do suggest that you rent a car and don't restrict yourself to the CBD.  Brisbane is the capital of the state of Queensland in Australia.

The city is situated around the river so one must do is to go on a boat trip down the river.

There's good shopping in Brisbane although the biggest shopping centres are in the suburbs – we stayed close to the biggest one in Chermside last time we were in Brisbane and it certainly made shopping a breeze.

Brisbane's climate is just great – it is warm enough even as early as August – although the locals will still be wearing their woollies.  High summer is between December and February – a great time to visit if you can take the heat.

With a car you can visit Mt Coot-ha which has a nice view over the city.

And you can drive to Bribie Island for a nice day trip when you get shopped out.  There's a cute bridge out to the island.  Dolphins were playing around the bridge while we were there but it was very difficult to get a good shot!

Noosa

Having a few days in and around Noosa is pretty easy for us.  It's just a 3 hour flight or so and then a couple hours drive from Brisbane (Queensland, Australia).  If this sounds like a long way to you, well apart from hopping over to Sydney or Fiji it is about the shortest travel time available to visit another country.

We like Noosa because it is not all high rise on the beach, there are good restaurants and best of all the weather is warm even when it is still pretty cold in Auckland – like in August/September.

Things you can do based in and around Noosa include:

Do a cooking class at The Spirit House in Yandina – fab Thai food

Go to the Eumundi Markets – on every Wednesday and Saturday morning

Visit Sunshine Beach and have breakfast or lunch there – or surf, if you are a surfer

Go to the Noosa International Food & Wine festival – 15-18 May 2014 – it's a big one with over 200 chefs and over 25000 visitors attending

Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the major wonders of the world.  

When I stayed in Port Douglas it was only a day trip on a catamaran to go out to the reef and visit a pontoon which enabled you to snorkel and go down in a glass submarine – a bit freaky.  And do remember to make sure you get back on board at the end of the day – you might remember that someone was left behind by accident some years ago and was never found.

The easiest way to get to Port Douglas is to fly to Cairns and then transfer by road – it is only an hour or so's drive north of there.  You are in a semi-tropical zone so you need to check carefully what the best time of year is to visit – it would be too hot in mid-summer and there is also a box stinger season – they are deadly jellyfish so you want to avoid that at all costs.  They do have stinger and shark nets on some beaches but to be honest I didn't feel comfortable relying on them.

Australia is a fantastic place to visit but it does have some natural hazards – like stingers, sharks, venomous snakes and spiders – not to mention crocodiles.  Of course if you stick to the cities you are most unlikely to encounter any of those – but then you are missing out on the elemental Australia.

The great monument hunt at Boreen Point

On a recent trip to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, we set out on a day trip from our lovely holiday apartment on Sunshine Beach (La Mer) and went to the North of Noosa for a bit of an explore.  I noticed something on the map called the Eliza Fraser Monument at Boreen Point.  So off we went.  Well finding this monument was not easy even though Boreen Point is a tiny place.  But my better half was determined that it wouldn’t get the better of him.  After casting around for over half an hour we finally found it.  I won’t give away the secret since that might spoil someone else’s fun.  Here is the monument we finally found.  It is ironic that the monument is to the person saved rather than to the convict who saved her!

The Eliza Fraser Monument 

Close up of the inscription

Lunch at Blue Anchorage, Bongaree on Bribie Island, Queensland

This was an idyllic spot found quite by accident on a half day trip out of Brisbane as respite from shopping.  Bribie Island is very interesting in itself. Woorim Beach was nice. We happened onto the Bongaree area which we preferred over the more Pauanui like canal development area further up the inside coast. 

The little restaurant on the coast at Bongaree called Blue Anchorage was a lovely place for lunch.  Good food.  I had baby barramundi fillets crusted with a red pepper, candied tomato and caper salsa topped with salt and pepper red claw crayfish and tiger prawn skewers finished with salsa verde. It lived up to the description except for a slight amount of overcooking on the crayfish.  As you can see from the pic, the setting is lovely.

Blue Anchorage, Bongaree

Spirit House Thai Cooking School Yandina

If like me you have spent years trying to get the balance of Thai flavours right and failing, I recommend going to the Thai cooking school run by The Spirit House near Yandina in Queensland.  Not only is the restaurant which is co-located spectacularly sited, the food is to die for.

The cooking school runs half day sessions for up to 16 people at a time.  It cost A$125.  I have now finally made a red curry that tastes authentic.

Spirit House sign

In case you were wondering, I am not sponsored by anyone/thing I mention in this blog.  I am just doing it for fun.