Sunday Markets, Coffee and Parking

Yesterday being Sunday we decided to take in the Eagle Point Market in downtown Brisbane. This market is setup along the river walk so it has an attractive back drop.

There are some very nice walks along the river in Brisbane and you can cross over to the south bank and visit the attractions there. We recommend that you take a river cat boat ride. I think the complete trip on the river cat takes about 2 hrs and 20 minutes and it does not cost very much if you go during the week from 9 to 3.

Anyway we checked out the market and then proceeded to Queen Street. Queen street is pedestrian mall with the mayor department stores, malls and a casino. There is also daily entertainment as well.

We wandered through the malls just looking, not buying. We stopped for lunch in one of the up scale malls.

Drinking coffee in Australia will be a new experience for you.Australians are tea drinkers. So for breakfast they like a cup of tea. A lot of them will only have instant coffee at home. Because of this they may not have a coffee maker.

Australians do drink a lot of coffee but they tend to go out for their coffee. You can get coffee almost any where. The coffee that you purchase at coffee shops or restaurants is from an espresso machine.

You can order a flat white, a short black, tall black, latte, cappuccino or other special types of coffees. You will not be able to order coffee from different countries and will not be able to order filtered or drip coffee unless you go to McDonald's or Starbucks.

A flat white is a shot of espresso with milk. A tall black is a shot of espresso with water and short black is espresso.

When we got back to the car I found I had a $60 parking ticket. I read the sign many times and decided that I could park there as it was Sunday. Another couple was also there debating if they could park there. They had come to the conclusion that they could park there but when they found I had got a ticket they moved on. This is one of the more confusing parking signs that I have seen. I am thinking about contesting it but probably will not.

I have a new rule- if the signs are confusing find some where else to park.