As promised your next installment, we left Airlie Beach and flew into Brisbane on Sunday and were both really looking forward to seeing city life. The first thing we noticed was the rain (alledgedly according to the notices in all Queensland hotels they are experiencing a drought however it has not stopped raining since we arrived! However it is very warm still, flip flop weather (or thongs as they call them over here - I'll keep throwing the lingo in as we go). We arrived at our hotel which we were so looking forward to as on the ole internet it looked an absolute dream (the one with the pool on the roof for all of you that have been paying attention to the intinary (Mum, Dad, Hazel and Jane! - I know Jane and Dad have turned into part time travel agents since we left), however we now think that they perhaps nipped out to a hotel down the road to take the pictures! It was fine for the two nights that we were there and quite central. The first day we went for an explore and the first thing that you notice about the city is it's size, it's so big, there are essentially three different areas, South Parklands, fortitude valley and the queen street area in the centre. The city is on a river so there's also a nice riverside bar/restaurant area. We saw the Parklands area first which was really nice, with a lovely little walk through the trees and then a manmade beach/lagoon area because Brisbane is probably the only city not on the coast. One of the things you notice is the number of people out jogging or working out in the park and whereas at home you'd probably feel more conspicious here it's the most normal thing in the world. We then walked over to the city and at first glance its pretty much like a city anywhere else in the world, with the hustle and bustle, tall buildings, shops and banks etc and quite a few of the UK shops such as French connection and Vodafone. Which leads me onto how we spent the following morning, looking at Ozzie mobiles. We eventually purchased two on a deal offer and have entered the wonderful world of skype. Basically with this skype mobile we can speak to other skype users anywhere else in the world for free either on your mobile (which can be purchased from your local Three store for 50 pounds or on your skype handset or on your computer - software can be downloaded for free at www.skype.com and all you'll need are headphones and a mic). We then moved on to the bank which leads us onto our next observation how friendly and helpful the aussies are. We were speaking to her about our accounts and the girl couldn't do enough to help - I refer you back to the monkey we met at the airport and the difference is huge! We then headed onto Fortitude City which is the Chinatown part of town and good to see.

On the second night, we met up with a friend of Iains and his girlfriend (who moved to Brisbane in Nov), you'll see from the pics - we now have firends! allbeit in a different state! We went round some of the bars on the riverfront which were gorgeous looking out to the bridge and the city. As they lived on the other side of the river, we caught a boat (about 11ish) over to the other side and then went to the Story Bridge bar which was great fun! I was impressed with the boat trip (it was literally a 4min ride) as that's also how they get to work!

The following morning we also had another walk down to the Riverside for breaky which as the sun had come out was lovely. Our thoughts on Brisbane, are that it's a great city, very big with a lot of work happening that means its going to get a lot bigger. So after a quick couple of days it was time to pick up the hire car and head on down to Surfers Paradise!

Lots of love and missing everyone.

Sara and Iain

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