Metro Inn Apts Southbank Brisbane

... br>I didn't sleep to well on this flight, but slept for a few hours which was quite good.
But when I arrived in Brisbane + got through immigration, my luggage was no where to be seen!
How gutted was I that not only had I missed a flight + was a day late for meeting the rest of the group but now I didn't have my luggage!
Wasn't ideal! I got met by this lady I think her name was Rosemary?! She brought me to The Yellow Submarine, where the ...

... that's probably enough self-indulgent chat for now. Frankly I am sure sitting on my backside in Toowong is not interesting fodder for a travel blog. Let's hope it gets more entertaining than this!

Hui Jian foks! (That's see ya in Mandarin)

p.s. creative license for the blog name G'day China (rhyming slang china plate = mate) must be credited to Peter Bowe. Pipped only by his other suggestion: Around china with a fork (yes, I can't use chopsticks).

We're all ready to leave. It's so close now I'm counting down hours, not days!

Our flight leaves Bris airport at 2.45am Tuesday morning. No more sleeps! We stop in Singapore, Dubai, Dusseldorf and then finally arrive in Berlin at 9.40pm local time (that's about 5.40am here).

Berlin, and the first 3 weeks of our trip are 8 hours behind us. London and Scotland are 9hours. 4pm here is 8am there, so if you're thinking of calling us in the morning, you might not get a very friendly ...

... beach and the waves are pretty much perfect for surfing and body boarding. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was picture perfect! Headed out that night to a grotty little place called Cheeky Monkey's were I got spag bol in happy hour for 2 bucks, it wasn't that bad either! The night quickly descended into drunken messiness and the memories involve something along the lines of dancing on the tables to errrrm, I can't remember, but it was definitely ...

... but by this time I really was through with sightseeing and just wanted to spend time relaxing or catching up with friends. I met up with Yvonne for lunch and got the low down on her life I also managed to catch up with Marc Court, a friend from Radianz days, and had a great evening with him remembering the good old days........

Before I left Brisbane ...

... h darting in and out of traffic and changing lanes two at a time, it makes you reach for your non-existent seat belt! We got to our 11am flight with no dramas, didn't sleep the entire flight, watched a few movies and got acquainted with Mr Johnny Walker and after a stop over in Sydney, made it home feeling like we've bee hit by a bus and needed a holiday! Can't wait to do it all again!

... having a good time. We even met a couple of people from the ship. We were now relaxed and ready to go the shuttle pickup point and head back to the ship. The trip back was surprisingly quick. Harriet said that was because I slept most of the way. But we were back home and ready to clean up and go to diner. As we dined the ship pulled from the docked and headed to open ocean. We will have two more days at sea then we will be in Cairns; our gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

... llig auf eine open air Aboriginal Show gestoßen, mit Tanz und Musik. Ich liebe das Didgeridoo.. was da alles für Geräusche rauskommen können ist so erstaunlich. Jetzt bin ich aber wieder Zuhause, mit etwas fließenderem Englisch, unzähligen Blasen am Fuß, weil ich das Barfußlaufen nicht lassen kann, und totmüde. But that's alright. :) Ich werde jetzt in mein Bett fallen... Good night and cheers from the southern hemisphere!

... you'd hardly know its Christmas here. Granted the weather was hot and that's what you expect but street decorations and light are sparse or non-existent in places. Also I haven't been driven to pure murderous insanity by Christmas songs, I never once heard Slade all year and that seemed wrong, refreshing but still wrong. One major plus was free internet at the hostel as these days it's hard to plan anything without it and it helped me ...

... known for being one of the "prettier parts" of the city for some photo opps. she also noted that i could take a ferry across the Brisbane River to explore more if i felt so inclined to. So with the sun beating down (and me already sweating...) i hiked it to South Bank. and Steph was right. i did love it. it was lush and green, the walkways lined with many trees, gardens and fish ponds... even a "rainforest walk" where i spotted my ...