On Christmas Eve I flew to Brisbane for my overland trip from Brisbane to Cairns. I arrived in a very quiet city, but luckily my hostel had a Christmas dinner going on. On Christmas day I decided to go out to Mount Coot-Tha, just outside of the city, since everything in the city was closed anyway.
As it turned out I wasn’t the only person who thought this was a great idea. Although the public bus going up the mountain wasn’t too busy, many people went to the lookout for a view over the city or a lunch in the restaurant. From this point there really was an amazing view towards the city and the surroundings.
After a snack and staring out towards the city I found my way to one of the walking trails. The trails are really good, mostly good for walking as well as biking, really wide and without too many things to stumble over. I was wearing my dress and sandals, but most people were dressed to run a marathon. The first path, towards the JC Slaughter waterfall was quiet and went up and down until the big waterfall parking lot.
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but there certainly was no waterfall. It was really hot and although many people were having a picnic and some did the waterfall walk, there wasn’t really anything to look at. I decided to continue on the Aboriginal art trail and didn’t find much art either. At the very end of the loop I found the warning that the art had been there for some time and some of it may have been returned to nature.
I walked about halfway back up the track I came from and crossed the road towards the botanical gardens. The path had a warning sign about planned fires. It didn’t seem like there were any at the moment and I descended the steep, but short trail towards the back entrance of the gardens. There was hardly anyone in the back part, just two tourists who seemed to be lost. It wasn’t until I found myself closer to the entrance that I saw many people celebrating Christmas on the grass with a picnic.
This Christmas was unlike any others, but turned out pretty well. I made my way back into the city to meet my travel group and we had a barbecue in the park together. I didn’t feel particularly Christmassy, but I had a wonderful day anyway. And got to take some nice photos in the gardens.
