Yesterday, we untied from pile moorings in Manly Harbour, motored through south Moreton Bay into the shipping channel at the mouth of the Brisbane River, and headed fifteen miles up the river to Brisbane city center.

Why leave lovely Manly Harbour? Because it only offered two out of the three following:
Low Cost
Good Location
Security

The economical pilings at Manly are being taken out this August as part of a harbour redevelopment plan, leaving only marina berths. Too bad.

We did hesitate leaving Manly Harbour and the pleasant shoreline towns of Manly and Wynnum. We enjoyed our five-day stay there, blending in with the locals and visitors, walking along the esplanades and parks, and shopping in the small three-square-block town of Manly, going to the Manly Sunday Market. The harbour is in protected waters, deep within Moreton Bay, and the towns have a very easy-going feel. The shoreline is undulating with alternating 'Points' and 'Bays' and you can't see the beach-front resort strips that begin twenty miles to either the north or south.

Anyway, we hadn't even known about Manly before arriving in AU. We had intended all along to go up the river to Brisbane to moor and leave the boat while traveling in the US. I especially, was reluctant to go to the city center. We had checked it out a few days ago, on Friday, and there was an available mooring in a location that seemed secure and fairly pleasant, but it was Urban, right in the middle of things. My first thought walking through the well-planned downtown, past pretty young people on their lunch break eating at outdoor cafes... was that we don't have the wardrobe for this anymore. We've become much more Eddie Bauer Outlet than 'Young Urban Designer'. Steen and I had both lived that lifestyle before; he in Copenhagen and I in Chicago. A long time ago.