The Chermside Apartments Brisbane

... followed them and had no real idea where I was going. Unfortunately this confusion came over as a bit weird and so I was quickly dismissed to my room on the 8th floor..

So headed out to the main shopping areas first and the city was buzzing and incredible busy, there was some kind of fashion parade going on but as far as I could make out it was sponsored by a clothes store, so more promotional than fashion parade! Got a bit ...

... But, if you came to Australia to shop at expensive stores, then the Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise is the place you wanna go!

Last night I got into Brisbane, and saw Bree and Robin for the first time in a while. I wish I had some pictures but my camera was mysteriously AWOL last night so Bree's got em all, I'll make her put em up on facebook I guess.

Anyhow, I'm extremely hung over this morning so the writing is short, but I'll talk to y'all again in a few days!

Prost!

... tea we went to Doug’s café for fish and chips. This is tradition, as it’s what we did last year for my birthday! However, when they brought our food to the table it was in take-away bags and they told us they were closing in 10 minutes and gave us the impression that they didn’t want us hanging around their café when they wanted to go home! So we took our fish and chips home too! The next day we went to New Farm Park and ate the birthday picnic, whilst wondering what on ...

... free bbq and acted like geeks playing on our nintendos before bed.

Day 5 (Kate)

First stop of the day is Murray Falls on the way to Townsville. We sang along to Greenday all the way, very much enjoying our lovely Jermaine. Then, after visiting all these waterfalls we decided we couldn't really miss Australia's biggest so we took a bit of a detour to Wallaman falls and taught an old couple there how to take photographs (they were slowly making the change ...

... a couple months so they aren't necessarily looking to socialize every night. I guess I was also starting to not like getting to know a group of people really well and then moving on and having to meet new people, but that's what its all about I guess. Anyways the city itself is really nice, very clean and there some really nice architecture. On the first day I think I hit most of the major sights on a walk that took 3 or 4 ...

... views of the CBD if your Queenslander is situated in the correct position. Queenslanders are the original wooden houses built in this area, they are slightly raised on stilts, to increase the air flow, made of local timber, with large upper decks which now house the ubiquitous large gas Barbie and resident possum in the roof. I'm currently sitting on their deck as dusk gathers and the local bird life flies home to roost. The local pigeons are rainbow ...

... It had a small pool and downstairs outside area, a games room, TV room and kitchen and then dorms throughout the house. We were in a 4 bed dorm with 2 English lads, but we didn't really see much of them. They had claimed the two top bunks so we were both on the bottom ones, which I preferred as you don't have to climb up and down all the time. We dumped our stuff and then headed into the centre to do a bit of retail therapy, where I bought a couple ...

... normal. Changed the last of the Singapore dollars and Thai Baht to Aussie dollars in the airport currency exchange but the *******s took about 20% commision which was completely unadvertised. This was a worse deal than any of the black-market-no-other-choice-got-you-ov er-a-barrel-exchanges we made in the lawless backwaters of SE Asia. Got the train to Brisbane and checked into Chill backpackers hostel. It's new and clean but boxy ...

... Day: It's like the 4th of July, except instead of throwing burgers or brats or whatever on the grill, you put some snags on the barbie. And you're supposed to kick back and have a lot of beer with your friends, all while listening to the Triple J Top 100 Hottest Songs of the Year (it's a radio show/countdown thing http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest10 0/ ). This year the number one song was "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon ...

Wife & daughter's first time thru customs, etc for international flight...all went smoothly & our touring party had plenty of time so any thought of having to rush was avoided.
Flight was fine, and we arrived in Changi airport safety & on time late at night....humidity was like a blanket as we boarded the bus bound for our 5 star hotel....23rd floor room provided wonderful views!