We have been preparing for this road trip through driving up north numerous times since last year (click here for our Malaysia road trips) to make sure our kids get accustomed to life on the road before we embark on this two weeks road trip in Australia. Its actually the first time we took a plane where its just the four of us, as we travelled with extended family most of the time in the past. As our kids are now old enough to sit on their own on a plane, we decided to go for this adventure as part of our revenge travel this year.
We bought the SIA air tickets last Sept as we spotted a good deal online which cost about SGD$700/pax or SGD$2.8k for our family of four. Our stand is to travel to countries which happens to have a good airfare deal rather than insisting to go to a particular country where the demand happens to be really high – like example if someone who wants to go Osaka at the very last minute got to fork out more than SGD$2k+/pax for just one ticket. Thus, there will be more cost saving if we could pre-plan the trip at least 6 – 9 months in advance.
We took a red eye flight which is taking off just after midnight, thus we reached Changi airport around 10pm to have some night snacks before boarding. The kids hopped on to their in-flight entertainment as soon as they were on board. But they went asleep pretty soon as its already past midnight and the journey will take roughly 8 hours.
Day 1
We reached at around 10am as Brisbane is two hours ahead of us and we waited for a complimentary pick up from East Coast car rentals which is just 5 mins drive away. We rented a MG SUV which is a pretty good size for our family of four at about SGD$50/day for two weeks and additional insurance at approximately SGD$260. These make road trips to Australia relatively affordable when compared to renting a SUV or equivalent car in Japan or even in Malaysia. Petrol in general is about 20 – 30% cheaper than Singapore while parking is extremely expensive in the city area. But they usually have a 2 hours free parking/day perk to attract human traffic to the shopping malls like Springhill Market Place which is near where we stay (they have the supermarket Woolworths there and some eateries that serves sushi, Subway etc,). We drove to Brisbane city – Springhill to checked into our first Airbnb for the next 3 nights which cost about SGD$220/night for a two bedder ensuite apartment which is located at the city fringe. This apartment came with cooking utensils, washer/dryer, basic toiletries and lastly, a dedicated parking lot for our car.
As we had just touched down in the morning after a red-eye flight, we just wish to take it easy by going to the city area via a free city shuttle bus which we could take just below our apartment. We were wandering along the Queens Street shopping strip and ended up at the Wheel of Brisbane. We paid AUD61.75 for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids – age 4 -11) to admire the night scenery before going back to rest.
Day 2
We started the next day early by taking the free city shuttle service to one of their weekend market – The West End Markets which opens on Saturdays from 6am to 2pm . We strolled through to look at all their delicious gourmet and local produce. We had our brunch there while chilling beside the beautiful Brisbane river.
Next, we head over to the Queensland Museum for the Dinosaurs of Patagonia exhibit which features a wide array of life-size dinosaur skeletons from South America’s Age of Dinosaurs. We paid AUD72 which I feel its quite affordable for our family of four to this awesome dinosaur exhibit and the kids can’t wait to see it. Inside, we were treated to numerous life-size dinosaur skeletons and the biggest being Titanosaurus. This exhibit is really interactive for both kids and adults and we were basically there for almost 3 hours to learn about the dinosaurs in Patagonia.
Day 3
We drove out early in the morning to The University of Queensland as we might potentially send our kids overseas for their university education as we want them to have some international exposure. Frankly speaking, we were really tempted to provide this option for our kids as the environment is really serene and conducive for learning. We shall see how everything will pan out in about 8 -10 years time as we might be tempted to move over together as a family.
Next, we went to a nearby mall Indooroopilly Shopping Centre for lunch at their food court which serves a wide variety of Asian food before heading to Mount Cootha which is just a 10 mins drive away. We drove all the way up to the summit at about 942 feet where you could see the breathtaking view of Brisbane’s landscape. For those who wish to have lunch or snacks at the summit, there is a nice café there. But do be mindful that the parking lots are limited and you might have to wait awhile.
Next, we went to the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium which is an awesome place to learn about space travels and the universe. The planetarium might be a small area but there are sufficient exhibits for you and the kids to feel intrigue by the marvels of space. We also went to their Brisbane Botanic Gardens which is just nearby, where we saw a wide display of plants originated in different part of the world. We were slowly strolling through the park to enjoy the cool weather and had our picnic there.
Overall, we had a fun filled day and we will start our real adventure away from the city into the wilderness on the following day. Stay tune for the next part of our journey!
