» Travel

So, while I was in Brisbane, Australia, I decided to check out the game of Cricket. I found there were two sporting complexes in the area that weren’t too far away from where I was staying, so I went to the one named Gabba, also known as the Brisbane Cricket Ground. Cricket is the only sport played there. You can also watch the soccer and rugby union play or enjoy a game of Australian rules football. In fact, the Brisbane Lions AFL team and the Queensland Bulls both play at the Gabba.

Before the game, I talk a little bit of a history tour of the Gabba. The land was originally designated as a site for cricket back in 1895. In fact, the first cricket match ever played there was between the press and the parliament in December 1896. Up until 1931, though, no official teams played regularly here. These days, though, the Gabba is one of the few premier venues in Australia for cricket. Surprisingly, the Gabba is also used occasionally for other sports such as Greyhound racing and cycling. This place actually seats around 42,000 people and is quite the interesting concrete Colosseum.

I was pretty stoked about being able to attend my first cricket game in Australia. Unfortunately, the day was a bit overcast and, thanks to intermittent rain showers, the game had to stop a few times. The Sri Lankans team was playing rather slow that day, and the rain made the game even less enjoyable. The drinks were nice, though, and I enjoyed learning more about the area and the game of cricket. The Australians won the game in the end, so the mood of the crowd picked up pretty nicely.

All in all, I enjoyed my time watching my first cricket game at the Gabba. It’s not something I want to do regularly when I visit, but at least now I can say I have went to a cricket game.…

So I haven’t updated this for awhile as I have been over in Brisbane Australia on one of my many spur of the moment trips.

My mum has told me for years I should put my impulsive behaviour when it comes to travel to good use. So decided awhile ago I would try my hand at travel writing. Here goes, but I’m sure its more for my amusement then anything else.

Brisbane Australia is the capital of Queensland and is the third largest city of Australia. With its scenic beauty, friendly atmosphere and fine temperate climate, Brisbane Australia draws many tourists both from Australia and around the world. I couldn’t resist a trip to Brisbane. The beautiful Australian city is a cosmopolitan place with superb food and a vibrant, lively arts scene. In Brisbane, although there are modern high-rise buildings with steel structures and glass components, traditional wooden cottages as well as historical buildings can still be found in the city. Due to the city’s beginning as a port, most of the historic buildings are found near the river. Brisbane Australia has some world-class galleries, museums, theatres and art centers. Besides lovely gardens and parks, there are also plenty of open-air spaces for eating and drinking. Tables and chairs are commonly seen spilling onto the sidewalks. Some fine restaurants and classy cafes are located there too.

The Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Brisbane City Botanic Gardens and Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary are also places anyone wouldn’t want to miss visiting. The Brisbane Botanic Gardens is located at the foothills of Mount Coot-tha Forest Park, which is about 8km from the city center. The Botanic Gardens has more than 20,000 specimens from 5,000 species of herbs, shrubs and trees. Popular attractions include a Japanese Garden, a Tropical Display Dome, a Lagoon and Bamboo Grove, Fern House, National Freedom Wall and eucalypt groves. The Aboriginal name of Mount Coot-tha Forest Park means “place of wild honey”. This name is given to it because of the tiny bees found in the area. The park has remarkable views of the surroundings and it offers good walking trails and wonderful picnic areas for strollers and picnickers.

I also had the opportunity to stay and work with my friend Ben in his Gold Coast Building Rectification Business. The experience was tough work, especially in the summer heat. His business is thriving in the area due to Brisbane’s high number of tropical storms and heat in the area that has been erratic over the last 10 years. Especially with the floods that happened during the summer of 2010-2011 . Working with my friend for just a day there made me realized that, building rectification is a highly technical, yet delicate task and requires a lot of knowledge. Trying to not only fix something; especially with water damage and also have to solve the issue so it doesn’t happen again is tricky business.

Successfully solving building issues requires knowledge of physics, biology, dangerous tools, advanced techniques, and more. They are exposed to different kind of risks, like: Working near power lines; Gravity, working on sites that have had water and fire damage can undermine structural integrity and can make moving around a little difficult and you really need to think. It was really a cool thing to experience as I learnt a lot from just a day working with him. Prior to this I didn’t even know what building rectification was.

As you can see from the above, Brisbane Australia is lively city with marvelous historic buildings, lovely gardens and a fantastic hub of arts and cultural activities. Also, there are couple of businesses thriving there due to the city’s characteristics and nature. By visiting some well-known art galleries, museums and performing arts centers there, you can gain wonderful insights on the art scene there. Besides, Brisbane offers wonderful food served by some superb restaurants located there. My trip to Brisbane was a relaxing and enriching one!

Thanks once again to Ben for letting me crash with him and also my mates Paul and Mick.

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