Hello from 'Brisbane'! I am all alone, Annie and Neeley are in 'Helensdale' at the moment and I have a few days here before heading off to 'Alice Springs'. I had a brief wander round the city today (Sunday) to try and get my bearings - I keep going to point things out to the girls and end up talking to my self! Its very wierd, but I am sure it will be fine once I meet the people that are going to be in my dorm. I have got an 8 bed room in "Brisbane City Backpackers" for $17 a night (a very good rate!) and it is only 15-20mins from the main pedestrian area, so thats good too. Tonight I went to the local arts cinema to watch "Downfall" - a very powerful, emotional and engaging German film about the final years of Hitlers reign. It was heavy work what with the subtitles but really worth watching! Monday - I got up nice and early so that I could get my laundry done before heading out on the first part of "Jen's sightseeing tour of Brisbane". I decided to do the northside of the river today. The start of the tour was "City Hall", which was set in "St Georges Square". The "City Hall" has a bell tower that provides great views over the CBD and beyond - although it had to be reached by lift (Agh!). Also housed in the Hall is the "Museum of Brisbane", which had a really nice display on the 75 year anniversary of Brisbane. From there I moved down the "Queen Street Mall" pedestrian area to the "Former Treasury Building" which is now the 24 hour Casino. I decided to take a small diversion inside and found that it was quite busy for a monday morning with a lot of Japanese people at the blackjack table; watching was enough for me! A bit further down the road was the "Land Administration Building", this had now become the Casino's hotel! I then pottered around the city's side streets for a while before coming to "Edward Street" where "St Stephens Chapel" and "St Stephens Cathedral" can be found. The chapel is the oldest in Brisbane - I was told that by the local priest who decided to tell me about where he worked! I then took the alley opposite the chapel which took me to "Anzac Square" and gardens, where there is a very proud statue of an Australian soldier on a horse. As I keep finding, the city has a lot of green areas between all the highrise buildings. At the top of the square an eternal flame burns in the "Cenotaph", this is to remember the Anzac soldiers. From here I decided to walk (a very long way) up "Ann Street" towards "Chinatown" and "Fortitude Valley". "Chinatown was quite a quiet small area of tiny shops and lots of little restaurants, I imagine it would be busier at dinnertime and weekends. I then managed to find "Brunswick Street" which is the main area of the "Valley" where the trendy and slightly richer go out at the weekends. As I walked back to my hostel I went past "St Johns" church and "Story Bridge" - that looked very nicely lit up at night. Finally as night fell I managed to find "Post Office Square" (I could not locate it earlier) and got a great view of the city at night. This evening back at the hostel I am taking part in the trivia quiz with Lucie and Tricia from my dorm. We could win a $100 bar tab! Last night we came 6th (out of 20), all together a very good effort! Tuesday - I was up nice and early as there was a lot of sightseeing to do. I headed out of the city first to "Mt Coot-tha Reserve". It is a large bush and park land with a lookout that provides great views over the city. I could see how the Brisbane River ran thorugh the city, and how the skyscrapers dominated the skyline. I then went for a short hike through the bush to the "JC Slaughter" falls, but to my surprise the falls did not exist due to a lack of water! I then took the 471 bus back into the city after lunch and finished "Jen's sightseeing tour". I headed down "George Street" and came across "Mansions" a very ornatly decorated housing terrace. Further down I reached "Parliament House", a very regal building with a copper roof and a garden lined with palm trees. Next up was the 'Queensland University of Technology' campus, which contained the "Old Governement House" and the beautiful "Botanic Gardens". It was so relaxing what with the big open spaces, avenues of trees and local birdlife. I then came to the "Goodwill Bridge", a very modern construction, that took me over the river to the "South Bank". This area is very different to the city side of the river, it was used for "Expo 1988" and so had a very cultural feel. I followed the modernist walkway, that was entwined with georgeous pink flowers, that mirrored the line of the river. I came to the comercially named "Streets Beach", an artificial beach area that had been constructed within the parkland and sponsored by the local icecream - very surreal, but cool! Then tucked away in the trees was a "Nepalese Pagoda", very ornatly constructed from dark wood. After a while you head out of the trees and come to a very modern cobbled walkway that passes the "Museum of Queensland", the "Convention and Exhibition Centre" and the "Queensland Art Gallery" - a very cultural passage on my walk! Then to finish my tour I crossed over the very busy "Victoria Bridge" back towards the city just as the sun was setting. What a very forfilling and tiring day! Tonight I am off to the cinema to see "Kingdom of Heaven". It was an ok film, a bit to obvious in plot though. Wednesday morning I am taking a flight to Alice Springs.