We drove 15 minutes into Brisbane today and spent the day at markets and walking through a botanical garden. We parked on one side of the river and went to the South Bank Market. We then walked across the Brisbane River on a pedestrian bridge to the city side. We strolled through a botanical garden that actually looked more like a city park. We came out of the garden unto Eagle Street and ate lunch and spent some time walking around the Eagle street market. I bought some dresses and jewelry and a painting. I hope I can get it all home.

We drove back to Angela and Andrew's house for an afternoon of swimming and relaxing. We are all a bit tired today. One of the neighbors had a 40th Birthday party that went on all night last night. None of us got much sleep.

I don’t have much to report so I thought I would share with you some of the things Australians say that are different from Americans.

America Versus Australia
Appetizer = Entrée
Entrée = Main
Grill = Barbie
Broiler = Grill
Cooler = Esky
Squash = Pumpkin
Zuccini = Squash
Box of Wine = Cask or Goon Bag
Peppers = Capsicum
Raisins = Sultana
Napkin = Serviette
Chicken = Chook
Drunk = ******
Speedo = Budgie Smuggler
Liquor Store = Bottle Shop
Receipt = Docket
Expensive = Exy
A Lot = Heaps
Hello = How You Going
Candy = Lollies
Thrift Store = Op Shop
Fantastic = Ripper (used a lot like wicked in the northeast)
Lie = Porkie

Australians will also shorten every word they can and add either an "o" or an "ie" or "y" to it. For example; Avo (avocado), Ambo (ambulance), Doco (Documentary), Garbo (Garbage), Nasho (National Sevice), Rego (vehicle registration), Bikkie (biscuit), Brekkie (breakfast), Greenie (environmentalist), Kindie (kindergarten), Sunnies (sunglasses), Footy (Australian rules football), Lippy (lipstick), Pozzy (Position). You get the point.

Here are a few other things that are different here in Oz. The obvious one is the steering wheel is on the right side of the car and they drive on the left. Most restaurants are counter service. Occasionally we will find a restaurant with full service. The food portions are smaller and less cheesy and saucy. Also you can BYO to most restaurants which saves heaps of money. The further North we drive the warmer it gets. This is a really hard thing to get used to. Grocery stores are in malls and there are usually two or three different chains all right next to each other. All prices include tax and there is no gratuity. Everything is negotiable but the final price is the final price, no add-ons. The few People that drink coffee in this country prefer instant. Lesley actually bought an auto-drip coffee maker for us at an op shop for $1. We are traveling with it.