Those of you who have been keeping up with our trip will know about our midway re route. We received a phone call when we were in Chang Mai, Thailand, back at the beginning of the year from Kelly, John's daughter to tell us she had found out she was pregnant......and was due on the 20th Sept, just over a week before John was due back at work. With this news we had serious thinking to do......whether to reroute and finish in Australia, or stick to the original plans to head back from China across Russia and Europe. We didn't need much convincing to decide on the former. All that now seems a long time ago.......as we headed for our grande finale in Australia. Arriving in Australia at the start of Spring temperatures were hovering around 24 degrees, much cooler and less humid than Malaysia where we'd been sweating in a 35 degree heat eight hours before. We were pleased to see Matt and a bulging Kelly, who came to meet us, and drive us from Coolangatta airport on the Gold Coast to Brisbane. On our last visit to Brisbane we'd stayed with Susie and Peter, our Workaway hosts, but as our arrival coincided with their own visit to the UK we'd had to look for new accommodation. We'd been really lucky to find an Airbnb within walking distance of Kelly and Matts, and had even more good luck to be offered the use of their runabout for the duration of our stay. So despite the initial shock of Australian (read "similar to U.K. prices") after our low cost trip through S.E Asia, we were able to eke out the remains of our meagre budget and finish the trip on a flourish. The first few days of our time in Brisbane was largely spent in Kelly's company, exploring various gardens and sights in and around Brisbane, so it was a great time, especially for John who was able to catch up with Kelly's news, and share his own stories. Then five days before Kelly's due date little master Chapman decided he wanted in on the action, and Kelly and Matt were forced to spend the night "slumming it" in the rather posh Greenslopes hospital to allow 6lb 7oz Oscar Hugo Chapman to fight his way into the world at 6.40am on Thursday 16th of September. The tired parents managed to struggle through a stream of eager visitors including us, before finally leaving for home five days later. Although we would have happily rocked and cooed over little Oscar every minute of everyday we realised we had to give the glowing parents some time with their little bundle, so we made plans for some more exploring on our own. Brisbane has a thriving arts community so the town is littered with examples of sculpture, street art and modern design. It all seems to be integral to the personality of the city, and is typified by the painted utility boxes which are present at many crossroads across the city. Each with a different painted design they brighten the area rather than contribute to utilitarian chaos. Like Penang in Malaysia Street Art is encouraged here, so with the help of a website we'd found which identified the location of many of the local images we headed off to photograph them. As they cover a huge area across the City we concentrated on finding those in and around Fortitude valley, an area which includes China town and a number of traditional pioneer style shop frontages. It's certainly a great way to explore a city, making for a worthwhile wander, and lots of great photos - other places take note. We didn't manage any time on Brisbane's manmade beach, or in the swimming area. Both created on the Southbank alongside the Brisbane river, and reconstructed after being submerged by the 2012 floods they provide a fantastic recreation area for people to chill out. Instead we had to be content with wandering along the bougainvillea lined pathways, rainforest boardwalks, and in and out of very nice cafes and restaurants. Watching the sacred ibis, and array of other colourful parrots and smaller birds was obviously sheer pergotry. I really don't understand why anyone chooses to live in Brisbane- hot sun, blue skies, special roads for buses, lots of parks, great food. I could go on. We did manage a few days away from the city too- with a trip to the sea side on the Sunshine Coast. Of course we managed to choose the only day when it rained, although there was a brief respite when we got to Maloolaba allowing us to explore on foot. During our second week we managed to make contact with Susie and Peter who had just returned from their trip to Europe, so we were delighted to get the chance to go and stay with them for a couple of days at their Queenslander in the country at Laceys Creek. Three years ago when we'd helped the couple with renovating a similar property we'd been shown this house. At the time in need of some TLC and loving restoration, the house we saw on this trip bore no resemblance. Like something out of Australian Country living it was incredibly well finished. Well I say finished, but looking for more space to accommodate future workawayers they had already started renovating the area beneath the house. For those of you unfamiliar with Queenslanders they are wooden panel houses built on stilts - the area beneath the house traditionally open, or panelled to provide storage, or in this case willing workers! After sharing tales from our respective travels and downing copious amounts of wine, olives and cheese we retired for the night, listening to the sounds of the countryside. The following day we headed to Bribie island and then down the coast to Caloundra. Fortunately for us we'd arrived during the annual whale migration so we had the chance to watch the whales blowing fountains of water and jumping above the surface as they made their way round the coast. It was certainly a fantastic sight, which provided a great end to our time in Brisbane.