I was so excited about coming to Brisbane as it's ages since I've been in a city. 1.5 days of cultural overload - bring it on! The only dampener (boom boom) was that it rained and rained and rained..to the point that my recently acquired umbrella even began to leak. As I squelched down the street on my second day I could take it no more and a pair of socks and leather boots were purchased This was an agonising decision on 2 fronts, cost and bag space, but they were very lovely and warm and dry so the credit card came out and the boots went on - I think the shop assistant felt quite sorry for me as she wrapped my sodden shoes up in paper to absorb the water. This has actually proven to be a very wise purchase and since then they have only parted with my feet for the purposes of showering and sleeping!

Brisbane is a pretty compact place with all the amenities of a big city but on a manageable scale. It has heaps of things that you can do and all the museums and art galleries are free so that's an added bonus! Despite the rain I decided that I would do the Lonely Planet walking tour stopping off at a some places en route - how brave am I (or is that stupid!).

First stop was City Hall which has both a small museum and a clock tower. In the museum I learnt all about how Brisbane developed around the logging and sawmill industries. As usual it was a Scotsman, William Pettigrew, who established the first steam sawmill in Brisbane. I tell you the Australians talk about the English this and the English that, forget it, the people who really created this country appear to have been the Scots! After the museum I went up in the City Hall Clock Tower to see the views....mmmm! Now once upon a time I'm sure there were amazing views from up there but unfortunately these days they have been all but obliterated by the modern high rise office buildings which surround it.

I also visited one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen - St Stephens Cathedral. I don't know what it was about this place that got to me so much - it was light and airy, designed by Pugin so gothic in design and had contemporary paintings, sculptures and fonts/water features - I just loved it, a real sanctuary! This was followed by a walk through the University grounds, Old Government House, Southbank and a trip to the Modern Art Gallery.