21. Tuesday - Lunch Cruise

Tuesday 10th January

Well today is my birthday and I'm going on a river cruise on the Kookaburra Queen. I pre-booked this before I left home. It was starting to get warm and was pretty hot by the time I arrived. You had to exchange your voucher for a ticket at the ticket window. The staff had put balloons on my table. Which was nice of them.

Above: Kookaburra Queen
All aboard - The Kookaburra River Queen Paddlewheeler is a Brisbane icon, plying the Brisbane River for over 20 years. Cruising on the river for lunch or dinner is a very pleasant way to while away a couple of hours. And what could be better than cruising down the river while enjoying your meal - you even have live entertainment in the form of "Col" on his accordion.

Above: My table
IN this collage, you can see my table, the lower left shows culinary delights and Col the entertainer is on the right photo. Lunch consists of a three course buffet which includes a fresh carvery, hot and cold buffet selections including international dishes, salads, fruit, desserts, tea and coffee. Wine is extra. You board at noon, depart at 12.30om and arrive back at 2.00pm. The cost was $42 which is pretty good value. If I was in Brissie again, I'd do the cruise again too.

Above: Story Bridge
The Story Bridge is a steel cantilever bridge and spans the Brisbane River between the northern and the southern suburbs of Brisbane. It opened to the public on 6th July 1940 and is 74 metres high. With a length of 777 metres, it's the longest cantilever bridge in Australia. The bridge is illuminated at night.


Above: Onboard entertainment
"Cheeky Col" played his piano accordion and started up with "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to which many of us sung along. This was followed by a rollicking good time with many "Golden Oldies" being played.

 

Above: Kookaburra Queen
All too soon the cruise was over and we are once again back on dry land, out boat once again in dock.
All in all, a very pleasant time and a wonderful birthday memory.

18. Brisbane - All Bus Timetables

All Bus Timetables for Brisbane TransLink areas.

TransLink Maps for Busway network, NightLink network, Inner Brisbane zones, Train network, NightLink stops, TransLink regions, Ferry network and Brisbane City bus stops.

17. Mt. Coot-Tha

Bus Number 471 goes to the Mt. Coot-Tha Lookout and Botanical Gardens. Timetable is below:

Outbound - To Mt. Coot-Tha Mon - Fri
Inbound - From Mt. Coot-Tha Mon - Fri

Outbound - To Mt. Coot-Tha Saturday
Inbound - From Mt. Coot-Tha Saturday

Outbound - To Mt. Coot-Tha Sunday
Inbound - From Mt. Coot-Tha Sunday

A 1 km walk to bus stop (15 mins). Buses run hourly from 9.30 until 3.30pm then every 35 minutes.

12. Gold Coast

Timetable for the Gold Coast Airport to City and City to Airport

11. Eumundi Markets

After a bit more research, direct trains from Brisbane to Eumundi are limited but there are more services getting the train to Nambour and then a connecting bus.

This website I love Eumundi markets has very good information detailing public transport bus/train times as well as connecting buses from Eumundi to Noosa Heads

Market Opening Times
Wed - 8am to 1:30pm and Sat - 6:30am to 2pm

WEDNESDAY'S

Train/SunBus from Brisbane Central to Eumundi
DEPART: Brisbane Central - 5:50am and 8:00am
ARRIVE: Eumundi - 8:35am and 10:25am

NOTE: Transfer from train at Nambour Station to connecting Sunbus No: 630 to Eumundi


SunBus/Train from Eumundi to Brisbane Central
DEPART: Eumundi Station - 11:30am, 1:30pm, 2:30pm, 4:20pm
ARRIVE: Brisbane Central - 2:33pm, 3:55pm, 4:56pm, 7:11pm.

NOTE: Transfer from SunBus at Nambour Station to connecting train to Brisbane Central


SunBus from Eumundi to Noosa Heads
SUNBUS NUMBER: 631 and 630

DEPART: Eumundi at 11:20am (Bus 631), 12:20pm (630), 12:20pm (631), 1:30pm (630), 2:20pm (631) and 3:20pm (631)
ARRIVE: Noosa Heads at 12:00, 12:40pm, 1:00pm, 1:55pm, 3:00pm and 4:00pm.


SunBus from Noosa Heads to Eumundi
SUNBUS NUMBER: 630 and 631
DEPART: Noosa Heads at 7:25am, 8:10am, 8:45am, 9:05am, 9:55am and 10:55am
ARRIVE: Eumundi at 7:50am, 8:35am, 9:20am, 9:30am, 10:30am and 11:30am.

It looks like it isn't possible to combine Eumundi and Noosa on the same day as the last bus departs Noosa Heads at 10.55am. Unless there is another bus service but I would very much doubt it. So I'd have to go to Eumundi on the Wednesday and Noosa Heads on another day. I haven't written up the Saturday timetable as there are more services on the Wednesdays.

Hire Car v. Public Transport
Eumundi is just over an hour north of Brisbane along the Bruce Highway Sunshine Coast and is 20kms west of Noosa. Perhaps it might be worth while hiring a car for two days, that way I can stop at other places along the way and detour back through other village in the hinterland.

Some other websites

About Eumundi Markets
Sunshine Coast Journey Planner

10. Day Trip to Eumundi Markets

The Eumundi markets I am told are held Wednesdays and Saturdays. There is no longer a morning train service to Eumundi I was told, but on checking the Translink website it appears there is.

Brisbane to Eumundi
For Wednesday 11th January
Take train GMPN-X - Roma Street to Gympie North Express

Depart Central Station: 9.37am; Platform 3. Central Railway Station, Cnr Edward And Ann Street, Brisbane City
Arrive Eumundi Station: 11.49am; Eumundi Railway Station, Memorial Drive, Eumundi

Fare is Concession, $12.80 each way. With Go Card it's $7.04 (off peak) and $8.80 peak times.

Return Trip
It looks like there are two options open to me, either the ROMA-X - Gympie North to Roma Street Express which leaves Eumundi at 2.09pm and runs express to Brisbane arriving at Central Railway Station at 4.17pm, or the 6.41pm ROMA-X - Gympie North to Roma Street Express leaving Eumundi at 6.41pm and arriving at Central at 8.39pm.

Again, it's a case of stay a short while to get back at a reasonable time or hang around till all hours and get back much later than I want to. What a pain. It means I'll only have 2 hours from the train station to the markets and back. Maybe there's a bus that would make it a more reasonable journey. Sigh.

9. Brisbane to Maleny

Depart Central Railway Station : 8.34am
Arrive Nambour Railway Station : 10.22am

Hinterland Connect Bus Service
Depart Nambour: 11.02am
Arrives Maleny: 11.53am

Return Journey

Depart Maleny: 3.52pm
Arrive Nambour: 4.43pm

Connecting train -
Depart Nambour: 4.30pm
Arrive Caboolture Railway Station 5.33pm
Transfer at the same stop

Take train IPSW - Caboolture to Ipswich

Depart Caboolture: 5.52pm
Arrive Central Railway Station: 6.56pm.

Fares:
For the train, this is a 17 zone journey, (travelling within zones 1 - 17) so cost is Concession, $10.20 each way - that's $20.40. If I get a Go Card the fare would be $7.01 each way - a total of $14.02. Plus the bus fare which on their website is given as $2.00 each way for concession. Either way it's a lot of money for very little in my opinion.

There is an earlier bus from Maleny but it leaves at 1.02pm which would only give me an hour at Maleny which would make the journey not worth it - a long time travelling for 60 minutes!

Might be best to look at going to Eumundi and Noosa Heads (on separate days).

Edited to add:
I have just realised that I would arrive back in Nambour after the train leaves. Damn, the timetable given in the bus website is wrong. Timetable for Nambour to Maleny