Clare writes:
Well, Miami beach wasn't on our itinerary, but here we are a minute from the surf in, alright - not THAT Miami beach, but a resort with the same name on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane.
We had an okay few days in Brisbane - quite a laid back city with lots of nice places to walk along the river - floating walkways, mangrove boardwalk, botanic gardens etc. The South Bank is not dissimilar to London, with big new arts centres and their equivalent of the Millenium Eye... except Brisbane also has a big fake beach on the promenade - with real sand!! I say 'okay' not 'great' for reasons beyond Brisbane's control: It rained Friday and Saturday, we spent 4 frustrating hours in the library trying to get up to date with communications etc, and yesterday - when it was sunny - I wasn't feeling very well, having (I suppose) eaten something that disagrees with me. Anyway, we had a wee wander and a trip on the ferry up and down the river which was nice, then headed south to the gleaming skyscrapers of Gold Coast resorts like Surfer's Paradise and Southport!