Rather than heading directly back to the highway from Noosa, we drove down the coast road (ie Tourist Route) as far as Maroochydore (don't ask me how that's pronounced) before major road works forced us on to the M1.We had hoped to pay a visit to Angela and Stephen who live in rural Queensland inland from Brisbane. Unfortunately time and mileage were not on our side and witrh regret we had to decline their very kind offer of a place to par Annie and a dip in their pool.But we hope we will see them again sometime. From there it was a quick run down to Brisbane.A detour to pick up a small part for Annie gave us the opportunity to make our way through some very pleasing northern suburbs before arriving at NewmarketGardensCaravanPark.What a great choice - a nice wee park by the side of a creek (a burn to we Scots) only 4 kms from the city centre and an excellent bus service on the doorstep. The northern suburbs of Brisbane reminded us very much of those of Sydney, particularly around cousin Jean's area - hilly and wooded.The CBD has a real buzz about it and has retained many of its attractive colonial buildings among the usual modern high-rise glass structures, which makes for an interesting mix of old and new. A daily saver costing less than $5 gave us all-day travel on the buses and ferries so we jumped on the Cat and took it up river all the way to the terminus, staying on for the return to the CBD at Riverside for a much needed coffee.After a wander round the shops (buying only a new microphone in the hope that it will improve reception on Skype) we stumbled on the rather splendid Town Hall, which has a magnificent pipe organ in the main function room and also houses the BrisbaneMuseum.Half of the museum was closed for refurbishment but we enjoyed the photographic exhibition of Mark Riley, an Aboriginal photographer.While we were there who should give us a call but Phil, the guy from the Trans Siberian express who had been doing a last 'big tour' before emigrating to Oz (he appears in Russian and Mongolian photo albums and blogs).Philhad given E his partner's email address at St George Bank but by the time we reached Oz emails were being returned. While in Brisbane, E popped into a St George Bank branch and lo and behold, someone knew his partner Karen. A message was obviously passed from branch to Karen to Phil. It was great to hear that Phil and Karen are now happily married and that he loves it here on the Gold Coast.Glad to hear that all your plans have worked out so well, Phil.The excellent Roma Parkland, with its beautifully laid out gardens, water features and open grassland, was a welcome haven after the noise and bustle of the CBD.A delicious blueberry swirl ice cream was also very welcome as it was pretty hot and extremely humid.Mind you, it did make us somewhat thirsty so we soon hot footed it to Edward Street (via the Windmill, the oldest building in Brisbane) and the Brussels Bistro.It's a delightful establishment with genuine Belgian beers and very Belgian in style.It reminded us of our many trips to Belgium. Sight of a 'hairy builder's bum' brought one trip, and Keith and Karen in particular, to mind in Bruges when we'd laughed ourselves silly at the sight of a waiter with a huge rip in his pants!Ahh, fond memories!Anyway, E certainly enjoyed his Leffe Biere Blonde and Biere Brune which made a change from all those Aussie lagers, good though many of them are. When we saw that Moules Marienière avec frites et mayo was on the menu we couldn't resist.M went for the basic 'done in white wine' variety while E licked his lips over the Provencale. Good food and excellent service (even for Aussie standards) - a very pleasant way to end the day, very pleasant indeed.With all the heat and humidity it wasn't surprising that we had a terrific thunderstorm that night.It continued hot and humid the next day and further heavy thunderstorms curtailed our activities somewhat.But all was not lost because E did manage a morning rummaging through book and music shops (a favourite activity) while M caught up on laundry and some work on the laptop (a not so favourite activity).Footnote: anyone coming to Brisbane could do a lot worse than checking into the NewmarketGardensCaravanPark www.newmarketgardens.com.au