Brisbane was quite a short visit and our first experience of seeing a large city in Australia. The bus from The Whitsundays took 18hrs and poor James was going stir crazy. Thank goodness he had is trusty PSP to keep him occupied.

We stayed in the outskirts of Brisbane but Australian public transport is so efficient that it only took us 15 mins on the train to get into the city centre. Brisbane was lovely it was full of modern bars, shops and old churches. It was also positioned right on the river side and there was a lovely walk by the mariner which J and I frequented and dreamed about owning one of the luxuruous boats moored there. Australian cities are also over run with green parks and botanical gardens which is very refreshing. You are able to get the best of both worlds i.e. the buzz of a fast paced city along with the escapism of peaceful, green, luscious gardens right in the middle.

We were very cultured while in Brisbane and visited a musuem and the local University.

While in Brisbane we heard of the shocking death of Australian Crocodile and overall wildlife expert Steve Urwin.  It was very suprising to say the least and the television coverage of his life was very touching.  We had planned to go to visit his zoo the following day when we heard the shocking news.  Apparently there were record hits on the internet on searches of his name which illustrates how famous he was around the world.  The cause of death was also very suprising considering we had been swimming with stingrays while sailing in the Whitsundays.  They are such peaceful and elegant creatures to be around. 

Unfortunately we did not get long enough to see all of Brisbane as we flew to Perth at the weekend after only spending a few days there.