We docked in the early morning hours at a large industrial port
and took a ship’s shuttle to Brisbane’s city center for $25 US each. The only other option besides purchasing a shore excursion from the ship is to stay on the ship, as no one is allowed to go walking around the industrial port. (Nor would you really want to.)
We pre-purchased an excursion online through Shore Excursions Group. This is the independent excursions company promoted by Dream Vacations, the travel agency I recently started working for.
The instructions for the excursion were, “spot-on,” as our new British friends on the cruise would say. The excursion starting point was a twenty-minute walk from the shuttle drop-off point at the Anzac Memorial which is across the street from the central train station.
We walked through Queen’s Mall, over a bridge, and down a spiral walkway to where the Miramar II was docked.
This boat provided a narrated cruise on the Brisbane River as we sailed by the University of Queensland (the U of Q) and some extremely nice homes. 
There were about 75 stairsteps from where the boat docked to the entrance of the sanctuary.
In the sanctuary, we saw many, many koalas, and I actually caught some of them awake. (Which is pretty amazing since they sleep about 20 hours per day.) An interesting fact about koalas: they are not bears. They are marsupials, and their babies develop in their mother’s pouch just like a kangaroo. Also, like the kangaroo, the babies are called joeys.
The sanctuary is one of the few places where it is legal to hold a koala; however, we did not know we would need to arrive at opening time or book in advance to get the chance to do this. Next time…… well, maybe…….
We saw many of the same animals as we saw in Sydney at Featherdale, but we also saw a raptor show….
and watched a couple of platypuses? Platypi? swimming around, but they were much too fast to catch on camera.
The 90-minute boat ride back to the dock was pretty much a repeat as far as scenery was concerned, but we managed a spot in the shade for the return trip, and the captain played some Australian folk music. (Think US country-western cowpoke on the prairie singing about dingos and koalas and such.)
The captain invited me onto his bridge to steer the boat. I think I detected fear on Hubby’s face.
A view of Brisbane from the Mirimar II.
And a nice view of Mirimar II and the city of Brisbane from the bridge as we were walking across.
Back through the pedestrian mall on Queen’s Street.
On our return to the shuttle drop-off point, we stopped while hubby conducted an experiment: Do Hungry Jack burgers taste like Burger King burgers since the logo and menu are very similar? Verdict: the burger is not as good, but the fries, or chips as they call them, are better.
By the way, I like the Australian potato chips. In my right hand is a Caramello bar shaped like a koala.
We will have two sea days to rest up from all the walking in the Brisbane heat. But I will not complain about the heat. It is cold back home in February in Tennessee.
Next port: Yorky’s Knob – the nearest port to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.