Our flight departed Dubai at 5.15am so we had to get up at 2am which wasn't much fun. The flight was quite full compared to the nearly empty planes on the flights from Melbourne to Dubai but the flight seemed to go by faster and we arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) at around 5pm and went straight to the hotel. 
Check in went smoothly for a change and we got a map and decided to walk down to the only shopping centre in town which a 10 or so minute walk from the hotel in search of dinner and a supermarket to get some supplies. The shopping centre was big enough but full of junky shops and not much in the way of places to eat. We walked down to the river and there was an Italian restaurant there which we decide to give a try. Food was average but if filled a gap and then we found the supermarket, bought our supplies and went back to the hotel. 
Back at the hotel we had a chat with the concierge and booked a couple of tours, one full day and one half day tour. The concierge was very helpful which was a pleasant change from Dubai.