Still from the Sunshine Coast

As we left Sydney behind, we didn't really have a clear picture of how long a drive it was to Brisbane. It took a long 2 days driving to get there. When the kids are out of school in the month of January, the families pack up and go the beaches, National Parks and camping anywhere in the outback. We found that beach campgrounds were full; this was the first time we had a problem staying where we wanted to.

The map to Brisbane was good and the navigators skills were sharp so we drove directly into Brisbane just about rush hour on a Friday night without a single problem. The freeways there are truely a work of art. They sit over the edge of the river with graceful lines and are truly beautiful. The Brisbane River takes several bends as it flows through the city which is arranged around these bends. As in all of the larger cities, there is a great transportation system and with a day rider ticket costing 5.90 AUD one can travel all day on every form of transport available; we rode up and down and across the river often - it was particularly impressive at night. One side of the river is all park with a huge sandy lagoon called City Beach to swim in and great prominades with flower gardens and museums.

We have been very fortunate to have good friends, Greg and Karen in Melbourne, who had an apartment in downtown Brisbane which they allowed us to use during our 5 days in town. Centrally located, we could walk to anything we wanted to see or we could easily catch a ferry anywhere. It also came with underground parking which is truely valuable in a big city; parking is always a problem. The apartment was on the 15th floor so we had an impressive view of the city reaching to the river. In our wanderings around the city center we came upon a real Irish pub. There was a large crowd of people all singing as loud as possible and drinking beer or whiskey in between verses. The fellow playing the guitar sang for a very long time, one song after another; it was great. Russ enjoyed the Irish Stew, Rosie the fish and chips.

January 26th is Australia Day here, and it is celebrated much the same as we would celebrate July 4th with parties, BBQs, and fireworks at night. There's a tradition in Brisbane of the world famous cockroach races that are held most of the day in a large yard behind an old hotel. People collect or purchase cockroaches and enter them in a race from the center of a circle to the finish line. The entrance fee is $5 which goes to a charity. There's a circle mat where they drop the roaches which then run to the edges. They are all numbered so with the help of many referees they catch the first several who cross the outside boundaries and declare the winners and runners up. There was a very large crowd, it was hot, hot, hot so there were beer sales of course; everyone was in great humour and it was a great time. The fireworks later that evening were set off on a barge in the river where we could walk to a bridge and have a great view of the spectacle. Brisbane is a beautiful city with lots of attractions and really great weather. Now we are headed farther north where we have a home exchange set up for the coming 2 weeks. Cheers once again from Rose and Russ on the Sunshine Coast.