Queensland

Well, I've been in the land of Oz (Australia) for four days now. I was really impressed with Sydney, but had the itch to get farther up the coast. I can always spend more time in Sydney on the way out.

So far I've feasted on Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indian food. I was walking about 10-20 miles a day, though, so I don't feel too much like a pig.


I hopped a train early Wednesday morning, and ended up in Brisbane fifteen hours later. This is one HUGE country! I covered about a fourth of the east coast in a twelve hour train ride, and a three hour connector bus from Casino to Brisbane. For some odd reason the trains don't make it all the way to Brisbane if they arrive at night. Go figure.

Where Sydney was a dream to visit, Brisbane is more of a nightmare. It's big and spread out, with a big winding river running through the middle of the city. Like most river cities, the streets run at crazy angles, and for some reason only about every fifth intersection has street names posted. I've been doing a lot of walking around, cussing the Brisbane public works department.

Tomorrow, I'm going to take a boat up the Brisbane River to a Koala sanctuary. The weather today has been perfect (about 80F and breezy), and I have my fingers crossed for more of the same.