Exploring Brisbane

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, 

yet so that he cannot find out what God has done

from the beginning to the end."

-Ecclesiastes 3:11

After two days (M, T) of school orientation, I spent the next two (W, Th) exploring my city. 

[side ♪: below is a map of Brisbane. I live by the South Bank train station. The Gardens Point campus is on the other side of the river (Kelvin Grove is much farther north). I’ll be referring to many places throughout this post, and you can refer to the map to get a better picture of where everything is.]

Brisbane Map

On Wednesday, I went to the Farmer’s Market across the river at the Myer Centre Brisbane. On the way, I passed the Ferris wheel (The Wheel of Brisbane) and the hipster “Brisbane” sign (see below). I discovered that Macadamia nuts and sausages are very popular in Australia. There was also someone selling KANGAROO JERKY. I tried some (it was very hard) and will smuggle it back (maybe). 

Brisbane

I spent the rest of the day wandering around in the tan square; it’s basically a shopping mall, kind of like Melbourne. The area is also known as Queen Street Mall. I found the Brisbane library and Dymocks Brisbane, the biggest bookstore in Brisbane (hm, don’t know what’s up with me and bookstores… I thought I didn’t read…) and spent a decent amount of time in there gleaning useful knowledge: looking at pictures in cookbooks, scanning inspirational autobiographies, and flipping through funny self-help books. I’ve also found that I’m drawn to shops that sell intricate, intriguing, yet useless and expensive items. They’re so interesting to look at, but I don’t have the money to ever buy them.

I came back to the apartment and cooked dinner! It was quite delicious, if I may say so myself 😛 Ended the evening playing Super Jenga in the lobby of our apartment and won two laundry coins. Pretty good, considering that it costs $4 to wash and $4 to dry a load of laundry (btw, all prices are in AUD).  

Today I decided to explore farther away so I rode the CityHopper, the free ferry that takes you along the Brisbane River (it makes stops along the light blue squares).  It was much slower than I imagined, so after I got off at Captain Burke Park (the tip, near Brisbane Jazz Club), I walked the rest of the way back along the bank. The scene is very nice, and there’s another fake beach (I need to go to a real beach soon). The panorama below is from Kangaroo Point Cliff Park, where I climbed many steep steps to get to the top. I think my legs are getting more used to all the walking and climbing, so it wasn’t as painful. 

Faux Beach 2

View from Kangaroo Point

After lunch, I walked down Stephens Rd to Boggo Road Gaols (not shown on map), a prison no longer in operation. Sadly it was closed, but the lady there gave me a brochure with the information. It seems like a place that Beau and my dad would enjoy seeing (if/when they come visit me!), so I’ll put it on my bucket list for now. On the way, I stumbled on the Gabba Fruit Market that was selling apples for 99 cents/kg (so of course I bought some). I also found a couple of antique/vintage stores near The Gabba (a sports stadium) selling trinkets, furniture,… collections of beautiful, old, but pretty useless things. Wandering through the stores reminded me of my grandmother’s shelf, where she collected souvenirs from all the different countries she visited. But more important, it reminded me of Matthew 6:19-20, that we’re not to store up treasures on earth, because stuff will get stolen or deteriorate. Rather, we are to invest in what is eternal and lay up treasure in heaven, because that will not ever fade away. I wondered how I could store up eternal treasure here and was pleasantly surprised later this evening (keep reading). 

Earthly Treasure

I just came back from Bingo night downstairs (I won another laundry coin :)), and I ran into another SCU student I didn’t know was also studying abroad at Australia! Keiko and I took Spanish 3 together Spring Quarter of freshman year, and even though we’re not really friends, we always saw each other around campus and would say hi. I’m surprised, happy, and slightly burdened. God doesn’t do this just for fun to humour me; I believe that He’s situated us in the same apartment building together on the other side of the world together for a reason. I didn’t even really pray, but God showed me someone (eternal treasure!) for me to invest in while I’m here.

[For those who pray, below are a few prayer requests. Please pray that:

- I would be able to share God’s love with Keiko intentionally and not be afraid to verbalise my beliefs and share Jesus with her.

- for tomorrow night! I invited Pink (Malaysian QUT student studying Commerce that I met at Bingo) to the breakfast for dinner event hosted by a Christian group on campus. Pray that she will enjoy her time there and be willing to invest more time in the Christian group and get to know Jesus! Thank you!]