Relax - Healing Roads - A Journey to Brisbane, Australia

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By Elizabeth Wijaya

Twilight, my first day in Australia, I am standing on top of the landmark Story Bridge. Having climbed the equivalent of 22 storeys of stairs along with 11 strangers, now my eyes take in the panoramic twilight view of Brisbane.

What a way to wind down an eventful year.

Happy, excited and ready for more, the next day, after Australia Day Tour’s 3-hour introduction to the city, I rush down to the city’s outskirts for Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the first and largest Koala sanctuary in the world.

Queuing to take the irresistibly touristy Koala-hugging photo, I meet another lone traveller, Jayme from Sydney.

Going round the sanctuary together, Jayme helps me identify different eucalyptus trees, guinea pigs and also points out sleeping wombats.

During a parakeet feeding session, as I was helping her take a photo, a well-fed bird drops a gift on Jayme’s arm.

Laughingly, she washes it off. Who could get upset here?

Roaming around this place makes me feel like a kid again.

Until now, I’ve only seen kangaroos in a zoo.
Here, the tame kangaroos laze in an open grassy area and visitors can interact and hang out with them.

With feed bought from the shop, my outstretched hands attract plenty of kangaroo attention.

The day ends with a rock-climbing session at the Kangaroo Point Cliffs.

Huffing and puffing, I make my way up the 22 metres of volcanic rock with my newfound friend cheering me on.

Muscles aching, I arrive early at the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) for the opening of the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT6).

I am greeted at GoMA’s forecourt by Wit Pimkanchanapong’s Fruits, a stall displaying colourful paper fruits, attracting the attention of children and adults alike.

For a monetary donation based on the market value of the fruit, visitors can construct and bring home a paper fruit based on a template.

This bodes well for APT6’s family-friendly approach.

Walking through the doors, passing Cheo Chai-Hiang’s installation of signages, I notice an oversized cardboard box with H the happy robot on its side.

One of the numerous commissions for Kids APT, entering it invites one into the world of H the cardboard robot.

During the screening I overhear a mother whisper to her child “Do you think this is about education turning children into robots?”

Wandering among exhibits by more than 100 artists, my senses are stimulated from all directions.

Pacific Raggae beats ring in my ears and 85-year-old Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s Lightning for Neda, a 6-panel mirror mosaic drawing from an Iranian decorative form known as aineh-kari, dazzles my eyes.

I forget about lunch as I catch Iranian animation and a rare exhibition of North Korean art from the Mansudae Art Studio, an official artist studio in Pyongyang.

I have a sublime experience walking through Shinji Ohmaki’s installation, Liminal Air – descend, a minimalist work with thousands of knotted threads and, like many others, young and old, I play for awhile among the white threads in the white room.

My head still whirling from the sensory stimulation of the triennial, I start Sunday walking to Eagle St Pier for a lunch cruise on a paddlewheeler. Walking up the plank, in between couples and families, I am asked “Who are you with?” I reply “With myself,” (Is that a look of pity I see?) and the ticket-collector tells me “You are alright” and beckons me to go on.”

My table for one is positioned in the middle of the dining area. Oh, no one else is alone.

Seeking solace in the cold seafood, the sound of the accordion transports me to scenes from Theo Angelopoulos’ films.

Like the old-world charms of the boat I am on, made entirely of Australian timber, the accordion music makes me feel a mix of innocence and longing.

Disembarking, I walk to South Bank for the Young Designer’s Market, held on the first Sunday of every month.

On the way, mangroves trees line the river.

Listening to my iPod, I taste the sweetness of solitude and take a photograph of the path, trees and water, thinking, at this moment I am happy; a passing stranger offers to take a photograph of me.

I smile, say thank you, she clicks and runs on.

Something about the simplicity of that encounter makes me smile.

Walking on, maybe it’s because of the overarching trees, the breeze blowing my hair or the anticipation of the fabulous buys at the South Bank Markets, I feel light and optimistic.

Since embarking on my postgraduate studies, I have been bitten hard by the travel bug.

As the Chinese New Year celebrations began this year, my mother, grand aunt and I took my grandmother on a week-long trip to Vietnam to lift her spirits over my grandfather’s demise.

In April, it was a five-week mother-daughter trip around Europe.

This time it was for a conference and for us both to bond and heal after the break-up of her marriage.

Just as Autumn started, I returned to Europe for a conference in Ireland after which I travelled with friends to experience the Alpine snow-capped Montblanc, the philosopher-town of Todtnauberg in Germany and the allures of Monte Carlo.

Travelling not only expands one’s horizons but it also heals.

I had packed away my luggage for the year when I saw Tourism Queensland’s competition in the newspapers.

I just couldn’t resist.

So here I am, on a sunny morning in my hotel room with my laptop and a box of Krispy Kreme for company, savouring the last few hours of my first trip to Australia, all by myself.

Emerson’s aphorism “Travelling is a fool’s paradise” pops into my head but what a happy fool I am.

Checking the room one last time, making sure I’ve left nothing behind except the stress I came with, I head for Brisbane Airport.

Bye Brissy, (and Jayme too) see you again.

Top 3 Brisbane Delights:

1. Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

2. Story Bridge Adventure Climb

3. Riverlife Adventure Centre

For more information on Queensland, visit www.queensland.com.sg

Elizabeth Wijaya is a National University of Singapore Postgraduate Literary Arts student. She won a trip to attend the opening of the 6th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, Australia in December 2009 after her 300-word winning entry on the most significant artist in Singapore was selected in a competition organized by Tourism Queensland.

Healing Roads - A Journey to Brisbane, Australia

AsiaOne | Thu, Dec 10 2009

Travelling not only expands one's horizons but it also heals.