12/02/2026 Brisbane Sauna

Our last full day in Brisbane so we decided it was a fantastic idea to spend it outside with the minimal chance of shade and air conditioning. Destination - Caboolture Historic Village. Now known to us as the place of 70 buildings so authentic they have absolutely no means of cooling, including fans.

First up was a late breakfast at The Gunshop Cafe. No idea why it's called that, there was a complete lack of any guns. The silver haired brigade was out in full force, so we got to hear all the latest about Mavis and her collapsed haberdashery.

I tried a cold brew coffee for the first time, since it was just a hot day and it made sense.

And I never have to try that again, it wasn't great. Just tasted like dirty coffee water. A cup of black coffee that's gone cold is far better.

Breakfast was Chicken & Waffles with a szechuan sauce - and it was really good. Probably didn't need the spicy element today but it was far better than yesterday's choices!

The neighbourhood near our hotel - Brisbane just gives off small town vibes that I really like. Maybe its because it reminds me of New Zealand more than the other cities.

Did a visual safety audit while we were waiting for the train, just to keep my eye in. Graciously I allowed them to proceed.

The place names here are such a strange thing. They are the Anglicised versions of the Aboriginal names. The original name is bir burru, so they have "embraced" the indigenous peoples naming but in a completely botched fashion.   

Arriving at the front, we had pretty much accepted we had made a mistake coming here in this weather, but determined to see it through to the dehydrated end. I've only felt heat like this in Palm Springs and that wasn't anywhere as humid has here.

You know it's a rugged day when the locals complain how hot it is. Our train driver said as soon as she was finished with us she was off home to down a six pack, she couldn't stand this heat.

Always glad to see a model train, although none of them were running. Probably because the driver had buggered off.

They have done a great job with the village, there are so many different stores, each with a collection of related tools, machinery and posters. The only thing missing is information, it had either worn off or just wasn't there so you're just looking around at a collection of mostly well maintained or restored stuff that has no context.  

The post office was the exception, with an what they optimistically call a Hologram. This guy did a piece on the township of Caboolture and the history, beginning when he bought the land. Absolutely no mention of the indigenous people who were there first, and who it was he bought the land off. So Australian.

  

Another collection was the rock gallery. 100s of carefully cut and polished minerals in display cabinets and not a single piece of information telling us what they were. If you like identifying rocks you'd be in heaven here.

The Poultry and Bird Museum - yep, about as grim as you'd imagine. A collection of prize ribbons won at local A&P Shows during the 60's, 70's & 80's. Plus some skeletons of the prize winning fowl.

The military building followed the theme of the rest, at least here they put each era / war into their own cabinet. But still just a collection of stuff with no information at all.

And a bomb.

The Dairy Factory bucked the trend by helpfully labelling the important parts. Nice nod to realism with the inclusion of a cow pat.

Expo '88 seems to have had a lasting effect on Brisbane. Along with the carved Nepalese temple on the South Bank, the Caboolture Historic Village has inherited a bunch of the "art" from it.

Scattered around the place are some truly weird sculptures. Well made, but strange. They have no context or explanation, they are just there, and they are all over the place.

Thankfully there was a corner dedicated to the "rain forest" that gave a lot of shade. It also sheltered a few Water Dragons, who scared the shit out of us when they loudly scrambled away before we spotted them.

The World Expo '88 Toilets. Because.

A final nod to Australia and the Outback, in orange dust although almost completely lacking in flies.

We got back to the train to the city and I have never been more thankful for air conditioning. A 50 minute ride to revive us and get the heatstroke back under control.

We didn't have anything to eat since breakfast so we found a French themed cafe for croque monsieur and fancy things. Sorry Gold Star Bakery, your raspberry slice doesn't cut it.

As always when we head home, we are really going to miss the different types of food available. New Zealand is just awash with the same old boring overpriced Burgers, Indian, Rice/Noodle and Chicken franchises. At home we can never find a place that is interesting - here we have had a hard time choosing which ones to try. And there are so many on our map we haven't managed to get to.

With a severe weather warning in effect we headed back to the hotel, but I still had to get some last minute photos of the buildings. I've seen this one a few times over the week and it has really taken my fancy.

Aside from a couple of pretty big bolts of lightning and some light rain, the storm didn't come to much. This was about the only decent photo I got.

There is a small restaurant / cabana thing at the front of the hotel so we stayed here for dinner for fear the rains and flooding would start. It didn't, it just stayed very warm and the air was just absolutely thick.

Imagine stepping into a wet sauna, and not in a fun way. We are looking forward to the Winter with a renewed respect.

We saw this poor chap on the street, I think he must have been wearing board shorts and fell asleep in the sun. It looked very painful. Probably English.

Despite getting a significant amount of sun this week neither of us have gotten sunburn, thanks to a good amount of Brazilian sunscreen (no, that's not a euphemism, it's sunscreen we got in Brazil) and hats. Far more fogiving than back home.

For a final visit to our local Gelato place, Mango Cheesecake and Chocolate & Raspberry. Probably good we don't have anything like this nearby.

Last day tomorrow, supposed to be raining so we've saved the galleries and museums along the South Bank. 

11/02/2026 To the Beach

Unlike the previous days which started with heat and humidity today started with oppressive heat and humidity. Lovely. We kind of had a half-arsed plan to have a look around some of the Northern Suburbs but there wasn't a lot of practicality to that. As it turns out, we had a day out that thankfully didn't involve too much walking, in among the "normal" people of Brisbane.

Breakfast was a pretty average experience, I think it was a corporate type cafe with lots of suits around. I absolutely refused to pay $20 for two eggs on toast, so this is what $10 toast and jam looks like.

And $12 banana bread that was tasteless and doughy. Plus the coffee took ages to arrive. We were very near to the Sugar n Spice cafe we went a few days ago but that had a line out the door, so we chose to skip it. We chose poorly.

The corporate hub of Brisbane. Maybe, lots of suits and office type buildings, and a drugged out couple dancing and twirling across the grass.

We managed to miss the train we were aiming for by seconds and the next was a half hour wait. Usually not a big deal but it was so damn hot in the station we took a train that kind of took us in the same direction, with a bus to finish the trip. We got off at Petrie which I only assume they used as inspiration for Mad Max, or maybe The Walking Dead. It was a bit desolate. Next was a bus ride that took an hour through suburbia, sitting near some woman who demanded anyone who got on to stop looking at her, and an elderly bloke who produced the most frequent and ample burps we've ever heard. 

Getting off at Redcliffe we noticed there were some amazing clouds, or as a Redditor put it "a 22 degree halo and a circumhorizontal arc" I've never seen any so clear and large before. Before I could get a better shot away from buildings and trees with my grown-up camera they had dissipated. Right place at the right time.

Despite only being a couple of photos after breakfast, this was a few hours later so time for lunch. Classic Aussie chicken schnitzel, which was pretty damn average. It would have been okay but I'd had the one from the Colombian place the other night which was so much better.

Right next to us was Bee Gees Way - a pretty neat memorial to the Gibb brothers who spent their early years in Redcliffe. Neither of us are fans of their music but it was an interesting walk along reading about their achievements etc.

And because the weather demanded it, we went to the beach, but not in the water. Way too many sharks, jellyfish, snakes, spiders and venomous fish to be messing about in the water.

This was a strange area, it should have been busy as anything, and full of brand new developments but it was just a sleepy, mid-1900's rural township with some art deco facades and very few tourists.

Maybe because it's a bit of a pain in the ass to get to, and very seasonal although you'd think even during mid-week it would have been busy.

The ice cream shop embraced the 1950's feel, if only they embraced decent ice-cream. It just tasted like overly sweet sugar.

We did a bit of planning and worked out the most efficient way to get back to the hotel, and on the way experienced the most excellent bus driver. Behind us was a bunch of high school boys, including an excitable one who had a high pitched pubescent voice which meant everyone in the bus got to share in his conversation. Until we came to a red light and the driver turned around, looked over his glasses and made it very clear nobody else wanted to hear what he had to say, have some consideration and be quiet.

Brilliant.

Next was the train, which had young woman who was a compelling case for the destruction of all social media platforms. I swear I could feel my brain cells dying just overhearing her phone call. All "brah" and "she's got an open relationship but hasn't posted it yet" and "he can go back to jail for another 20 years". Compelling stuff.

People in Brisbane have a fantastic habit of waiting for people to get off trains and busses before getting on. So when we got out at Central Station at 5pm there was an utter wall of people waiting to get on - and nobody moved! There was a gap between the masses for us to leave through, and everyone just waited. It's like being in a city of grown-ups!

For the first time we got back to the hotel before dark and not at the point of utter exhaustion, so it was time for a swim! The water wasn't as warm as Buzios but it was warm enough to just slide in and relax.

I also found it was quite challenging to get a selfie underwater. Who would have thought?

Dinner was at a local Italian restaurant, supposedly Street Food but I'm skeptical. It fronted on to a tree and bush grotto thing so it was an amazing spot.

Carbonara balls, with aioli for some reason. Not a great combination.

I had the tortellini with radioactive pea sauce - this more than made up for the aioli atrocity.

Louie had the Burrata pizza which was a bit much, bloody great ball of mozzarella, pistachios and flaps of ham-adjacent meat sogging up the base.

There is a mall thing right next to the restaurant so we had a look into the Farmers Market supermarket. 

These things were massive, and I think a hell of a lot cheaper than NZ. 

Bananas are more expensive here, but they have six different varieties! 

They've also got the shiniest apples I've ever seen. These bastards were polished.

In the background is a woman who insisted on educating me about mangos, and I am now aware that Honey Gold mangoes are the best type, and they are expensive in this market. I would have bought a bunch but I didn't want to feature in the next series of Border Patrol with mangoes hidden internally.

After all this, they didn't have what we were looking for (Sugar free Solo) so we had to go to the Woolworths next door.

That ends the second to last full day here, tomorrow promises 36c, 90% humidity and possible heavy thunderstorms and rain so that sounds special.