Exploring Queensland, Australia: Brisbane Highlights, Hiking In The Glass House Mountains & Noosa Paradise

Welcome to the Winging It Travel Podcast, your weekly ticket to the world, dropping every Monday and hosted by me, James Hammond, proudly part of the Boy Escape Network. This is a travel podcast that throws out the itinerary and dove straight into the raw, real and unpredictable essence of global exploration, chasing moments over milestones, those spontaneous encounters, immersive sounds and unforgettable stories. Whether I'm hiking up volcanoes in Guatemala,

camping under the stars in British Columbia.

met incredible people, seen breath taking places and collected unforgettable stories. I now get to share them with you, alongside some of the most diverse and well travelled guests from around the world. Expect engaging conversations that bring fresh perspectives and inspiring travel tales. There are also raw, reflective solo episodes where I share personal insights, practical tips and honest stories from the road. This is a podcast for travellers, dreamers, backpackers and anyone who's ever thought, what if I just went for it and travelled. If you're looking for stories to tell, tips to share,

and experiences to inspire, then you're in the right place. There's so much travel content coming your way, it might just spark that trip you've been dreaming about for years. You can find Winging It, a more fantastic travel podcast from around the world at voyescape.com. The link is in the show notes. Let's go and explore the world. Hello and welcome to this week's episode. I'm live in Bangkok in Thailand. I've just had eight days in Australia, checking out Brisbane.

and the Noosa area. So I thought I'd do an episode to tell you all the things I got up to, some great tips in here, the odd story here and there, and any information I think would help you plan a trip in that part of the world. So first off, I arrived into Brisbane from Vancouver and now I actually went via LA because the flight one way from Vancouver to Brisbane is direct. That is about $1,200 Canadian dollars. You go down to LA and it's half the price. So I think that's a better deal.

And you can always get a cheap flight down to LA. So that's what I did. Took about 16 hours and I arrived into Brisbane to scorching hot weather. This time of year, it's a little bit stormy, but it's hot. It's 30 degrees to 35 degrees. You're going to need your hat, the sun cream, your shorts, your flip flops and good walking shoes if you're dotting around the city. Now we stayed at the Brisbane Sky Tower by clicks and for one bedroom apartment, which can house two people because it's a double bed, that's $543 Canadian dollars for three nights.

If you want a two bed apartment, that's obviously four people with two double beds, $7.97 for three nights. Unreal value in the center of Brisbane, top notch, couldn't believe it. Alternatively, if you want one that's slightly cheaper, Roma's Hostel is about $68 Canadian dollars a night for a four bed dorm. There's no frills, there's no brekkie, and it's fairly earthy, but it's right next to Roma station, so great location too. Torkanov stations, public transport in Queensland and Brisbane area is 50 cents a go.

That's on buses, trains and boats. Make sure you tap on and off. But 50 cents is some of the best value that I have seen for any transport across the world. Can't believe it. It also extends up to the Sunshine Coast to Noosa, which I'll come back to in a second. Or we can go south to the Gold Coast or thought around any part of Brisbane. Unreal value. Take public transport. It really is worth it. But there is a caveat. The airport train is around $25 because guess what? That's privately owned and obsessed with making money. So that is

an extra cost. If you want to get an Uber or a taxi that will be more than double that. The trains aren't every 10 minutes, probably every 20, 25 minutes. So you can plan that ahead. I actually didn't get the train coming back because it absolutely pissed it down in rain. I didn't want to get wet with all my clothes and my bag. So I actually got an Uber. So I did actually pay probably about a hundred dollars in total for an Uber there and back. A big cost. Let's get to some activities in Brisbane. Now I'm standing in the CBD. In the CBD, the Skydeck is great value. It's free to go up to the top.

It's got a great lookout point with that glass floor. So if you've got a bit of a fear of heights, don't worry, you can stand on that and not fall off. The views are sensational, 360 degrees around. And there's a few bars up there for drinks around 12 to $15 a drink. That's Australian dollars. Grab a drink, grab a deck chair, grab a table, go and sit anywhere on the balcony and just watch the day go from mid afternoon transition to nightfall with the sunset. Brilliant views and easy activity. And honestly, it is so worth it. Loved up there.

If you want an alternative on the South Bank area, Emporium Hotel has a free rooftop bar as well. Now talking of South Bank, this is an area across the river. South Bank has great cafes, restaurants, and it has a nice little walk along the river, flat, with an added bonus of a city beach too. You can go and get your shorts and dip in there. Lots of people doing that. Very busy this time of year because it's hot and it's bit of shade to sit in too. If you do the park run, at 7am on a Saturday, it runs along this route from bridge to bridge. Talking of bridges, the city is building itself.

to the Olympics, so they're all these bridges across the river. Now, Brisbane doesn't have a beach apart from the little city beach. It's full of rivers. So you're going to see a lot of bridges going up in the next couple of years. So there's loads to walk through. are pedestrian ones only, so that's great as well. And from Southbank to the CBD, you can get there pretty easily across any bridge. In terms of restaurants to note, I went to Kushimaru, which is a Japanese restaurant. Unbelievable food, open till midnight, does great beer too. Always full of Asian tourists or Asian people who live there, so it must be good.

And for me, love the katsu, love everything about it. Corbett and Claude is a very good Italian restaurant with decent value meals. That's in the CBD too. On the South Bank, we went to Arba, which does great breakfast. I love their bacon and eggs with avocado and sourdough toast. Oh, get me there now. And they do great fresh bakery goods as well. I had one like a almond cake thing. That was unbelievable. For coffee, I do love Double Maker. That's towards the casino. Had it a few times actually. We went there.

Must have been about seven years ago now and I remember it from last time so it must be good. And in Southbank we went to Lisboa like a Portuguese style cup of coffee. Very strong, outside in the shade with a cuppa. Dreamy. So finally on Brisbane, I'll come back to that to talk about the cricket later on. A great city to walk around. Easy to get around because it's cheap, or there's bridges, or there's walkways. I love doing the walk of going across one bridge around the Southbank then walk back across the Goodwill Bridge into the Botanical Gardens.

and background into the CBD. That's a great walk. Lots of cafes and restaurants on the way, lots of shade to sit there and admire the views. I would highly recommend that. Right, for a day trip outside of Brisbane, like I said before, transport is 50 cents. So head to Central Station, tap on, get a train to the Glasshouse Mountains. It's about an hour, hour and 15 minutes. And honestly, this is so cool. It's actually the same train if you're going to Brisbane Zoo, if you want to do that. So once you get off at the Glasshouse Mountains train stop, walk to Mount Engungun.

think that's how you pronounce it. Because there's a nice little hike up to the top of the rock and that has the best views of the whole area. Now the Glass House Mountains are like these interesting prods of rock going up into the sky around the area. So it's flat but these little things coming up. So when Captain Cook first arrived, he thought they looked like glass houses from the UK. There you go. That's why it's called that. Plenty of them around but this one specifically has the best views as my friends Mike and Marissa told me because they're locals.

I met these guys for coffee one morning. Then they tried to goad me in on this day to abseil down a rock. I initially said yes, because I didn't look too high, about 40 meters. But when I saw the drop and I was hanging off the edge, I thought twice about abseiling down there. More about the technicality of it really. Wasn't that scared at the top, shaking a little bit. But I got right into the edge, hung off the edge. I just couldn't jump myself over and get going. I'm a little bit scared about doing that. So, bottled it in the end, but I got as far as I could about actually going down. So for me,

That's a win. Next time I'll try and do it and maybe start with something a bit smaller or a bit lesser intimidating because up the top there, the views are breathtaking and you are so high up. I mean, I would say the high cup is moderate at best. Not that tough. The really difficult part was the hot day, probably about 30 degrees to make sure you do take loads of water, sun cream and a hat and a few snacks. And in terms of the technicality of the height, not that difficult. So yeah, couldn't do the abseiling.

They have sat down, Mike and Marissa. took their stuff up from the top and headed down with the boys. About half an hour to 45 minutes hike down. Really nice walk. Enjoyed it. Loved the views. And we finished the day with a pub lunch at the station. By the train station there's a pub. Traditional, classic Australian fare. Lots of meat, beers, cold drinks, air-con. All the things you need. But make sure you check the trains to get back to Brisbane because they're not every 10 minutes. I think ours was an hour and 45 minutes. So we had that time.

I ran out of money. I remember it being really nice, but couldn't enjoy it because I had no money, no job. I was desperate to get a job basically. And I met someone on East Coast. gave me a number. I've had a phone box. I rang them. They gave me a job and I'll straight down to Melbourne and Brisbane pretty much. So on that trip, I didn't actually finish my East Coast trip. I quickly got out of there because I was rapidly losing money, no backup money or anything like that. So yeah, it was time to go back and enjoy it for what it is.

Actually, my friends, Lian and Lyle from the beach and travel wine podcast picked me up from the Landsborough train station. This is the same line as the glasshouse mountains and Brisbane Zoo. And they picked me up, took me in the car and went to Gun Cotton Coffee, which is a coffee roasters based at Yandina station. So that's another stop you can go to too. Really top notch. Would highly recommend. The coffee is insane. I think I might add two actually. Is that good? And the breakfast was equally as good. In Australia, you're going to get the top breakfast and brunch. It's going to be sourdough bread, good butter.

poached eggs, avocado, probably a bit of bacon as well. You cannot beat that. Then they drove me along the Sunshine Coast right up to Noosa before we hung out at a surf club on the beach there for a drink overlooking it. And when I got there, I was like, if you were to tell me when I was probably 14, 15, that Noosa was paradise and you showed me pictures and videos, I'd be like, yeah, that is paradise. It is so nice. It's an absolute dream of a place at the top of the headland up there on the Sunshine Coast.

White sand beaches, warm waters to chill in, great coastal walks, palm trees, cafes, restaurants, great walks. went to Hell's Gates, which is about a 45 minute walk from town. Not too difficult, mostly paved or at least a designated path. And at the top of that headland, we saw a pod of dolphins. That was incredible as well. But Nusa itself is just full of independent shops, cafes, restaurants, great vibes. And to get there is pretty easy. So can get the train to Kuroi.

right at top, then a bus from there to Noosa. So in total that costs you a dollar. It probably take around two hours. Now you can get the Greyhound bus, which we did on the way back because we didn't know that public transport was so cheap. That's about 35 to 40 Canadian dollars and it's almost direct from Brisbane. They stop off at a few places along the way. And we did that going back to Brisbane. Not too bad, no dramas. Greyhound is pretty reliable. We stayed at an apartment in Noosaville, which is the town to the left, accessible by boat for a $16 return. And it's a bit more upmarket.

more of an older crowd, but has great value apartments to stay in. We stayed at Munnar Beach Apartments in a four bed one. So that's a total cost of 9.33 Australian. So around 2.33 a night. If you're in pounds, that's two to one. So I think that's unbelievable value given the location and how easy it is to get into the main part of Noosa. Noosaville has great little cafes, independent shops and restaurants as well. Our favorites are Double Shop and Depot Noosa for coffee. They're both next to each other. So we hopped between the two. That was great.

If you a local cheap option for food, we actually went to the local fish shop, Red Emperor, for fish and chips. That's great value as well. You are going to have to get used to fish and chips in Australia. It's full of chips, fish, chips and chips. Nooseville has a lovely walk along the river, so you can keep going as far as you want. It's flat, it's easy, it's in the shade, great views along the front of the river and the spit that heads towards the Nooseville town. Give me Byron Bay vibes. It's smaller, but it's full of rich.

young Aussie school leavers like 16 to 17 year olds, they just left school and they go for a nice little chill out for a week. mean, who's paying for that? They're getting brunch, they're hanging out, hanging out on the beach. I guess my main daddy are paying for it, I suppose. But so that's a little weird vibe. Way busy on a Monday and Tuesday, weirdly. But when I was last there, many years ago, not as busy. But overall, a dream day trip or dream stay from Brisbane, it really is easy to get to. Honestly, go to Noosa. You won't regret it. Lots of walking, chilling out in the sea.

There's no jellyfish, so you can go in without a wetsuit. Calm water is because of the bay, so it's not like waves coming in. If you go further down in Noosa, there's probably bit more of a wave, but you can do some low-key surfing, but really it's not a surf a town, it's a chill out town. Just sit on the beach with a drink, talk to your friends. I absolutely dream. I want to finish with this. I did go to Brisbane for half of it being the Ashes, which is a cricket match between Australia and England. It happens every two years.

30 to 50 pounds, so maybe $100 a ticket. We got days one to four, it's a five day game. We didn't think it would go to day five. Most test matches finishes within four days, these days. And yeah, we had a great time watching England get absolutely tanked by the Australians. A highlight was Joe Root getting 100. That might not mean anything to anyone, but for Joe Root, one of the best England batters of all time. Him getting 100 in Australia for the first time ever, he's about 34, 35, is a big moment. That cements his place as an all time great. That was on day one night.

And this was an interesting test match. It was from 2pm to 9.30pm. So it starts in the day, ends at night. So a really great experience. I I love watching cricket for three or four days. It's a whole day affair. You get really engrossed. There's loads of action going on. Sometimes not on some occasions, but mostly just sitting there hoping for the best. It really is a thing for me. And if you want to watch and get an idea of what it's like, you can head to my YouTube vlogging account, which is Roaming With Hammo. I did a YouTube vlog every day.

for the cricket there. So there is four episodes on there to watch because we lost in four days. And I did day one watching a test match cricket and then on day two morning I did the episode, finished it, uploaded it, then went to play. So it was really full on days up at 7.30 doing YouTube, then going to the cricket round for two, watching the test match, not back till midnight. That sort of routine. If you want to know more about that sort of thing, click to my YouTube account that's in my bio or in my link tree and you can watch.

what goes on at the cricket. It's not full on highlights. It's like reaction to stuff happening. Me and my friend talking a little bit of shit because it's a long day. don't have stuff to talk about all the time. So we delve in some really random conversations. Good fun, good natured, spoiled by the cricket and the result. But actually as a whole enjoyed visiting the Gabba. We haven't won there for 40 years and I can see why. Next time I'll come back in four years time and go to Adelaide and complete the set. Cause I've been to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. So that was the ashes. To summarize, that was just

watching England lose, Joe Root was a highlight, getting McDonald's afterwards, not back into the CBD until half 10, getting a feed, back to the hostel, completely knackered, shower, recover, go again. That was the second part of Brisbane. And now I'm here in Thailand, in Bangkok, heading to Bhutan tomorrow as I speak. But there'll be more on that in the new year. So that's kind of my episode today for Brisbane, the Glasshouse Mountains and Noosa. I hope you find this helpful. And if you have any questions about the area, let me know. I've been here a few times now.

I don't think I missed out anything obvious. I would probably average a day, probably a hundred dollars Australian that will get you breakfast, coffee, maybe some transport, dinner and lunch as well. not horrendous. actually found Australia for budget, not too bad. I mean, I can't believe I'm saying that, but in terms of value of the accommodation compared to other places, unbelievable. The Australian dollar is a little bit cheaper than Canada. So I felt a breakfast and dinner was not that expensive compared to Canada.

Competing UK is a dream. UK is a disgrace in terms of cost. But because you earn pounds over there, that is two to one, so doesn't seem too bad. My two friends I was with, Titchell and Sam, they're using UK pounds and they find everything really affordable and accessible. So maybe based on that, Australia is a good place to go. Now based on living there, I don't think it's as good as it was. But from a tourist point of view, very easy to get to, easy to travel within, lots of things to see and do. An unbelievable place, Australia, and it's huge.

I mean, you can spend all year there and not see most stuff. So my idea of going back would be a road trip up the West Coast and then back round to Uluru and down to Adelaide and across the Great Ocean Road and back up the East Coast. That'd be pretty insane. And then dip into Tasmania. That's on my list as well. So I hope you find this helpful. Let me know what you think. And the next time you're hearing from me, would be another guest episode. And in the new year, I'll be delving into my Bhutan trip. got lots planned for that, some interviews, some immersive episodes and some classic solo episodes like this one.

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buy me coffee for $5. That'd be great as well. And finally, the last thing I'll say is the best thing to do to spread the word on the podcast is by word of mouth. Tell your friends, hopefully they'll come in for an episode in a stay because I do release episodes every week. Lots of different types of content, different countries, different cultures, et cetera. Thanks for in. That's enough of me rambling on. I'll catch you at the next episode. Cheers. Thanks for tuning in to the podcast episode today. If you've been inspired by today's chat and want to book some travel, if you head to the show notes, you'll see some affiliate links below, which helps support this podcast.

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