I'm writing to you full of delicious curry and consequently a very happy bunny! The sun shone on Brisbane today for our sightseeing, and improved the city's attractiveness about 8 million per cent. My slightly negative first impressions yesterday can be officially put down to general grumpiness and sun withdrawal symptoms.

We did a bit of a walking tour of the main sights starting at Brisbane City Hall, which was pretty but somewhat obscured by the vast amount of building work going on in the area. Inside the Hall you can get a lift to the top of the bell tower, which we did, to see the view over the city. The guy who operated the lift amused us a lot. He was from Rimini (he told us) but combined with a vague Australian lilt to his accent, he was practically indicipherable. When we told him we were English he went off on one, insisting we were Liverpuddlians. And, likewise, the German in lift was from Stuttgart apparently and there was no persuading him otherwise! It's like he's this little man the council like to keep in the lift so he can only disturb limited numbers of the general public!

After that little interlude we went to Anzac Square, where there's a little park and the Shrine of Remembrance for the soliders of WW1. We continued through Post Office Square, past St. Stephen's Cathedral and up Queen Street Mall before stopping at the Botanic Gardens for lunch.

Crossing the river via Goodwill Bridge, we wandered along the South Bank which was really pretty. There are tropical gardens, cafes, BBQ huts and also Streets Beach, a manmade beach on the riverbanks. It's the school holidays here so there were loads of young kids playing in the water (but Oz children are nowhere near as cute as Japanese kids!). After that we found a really cool cafe in the West End where we sat for a good couple of hours before going for tea.

It's such a nice city, especially across the river from the main area. It's our only full day here unfortunately because tomorrow we're daytripping. But it will be the best day trip in the whole world! We're going to Australia Zoo, home of the late, great Steve Irwin. I've heard a whisper you can cuddle a koala and have your face superimposed on a photo of you and Steve... If those rumours are true I'm getting involved on both counts. There's nothing like exploiting the dead!