Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Traveling Hillbilly Has Arrived in Brisbane

After a long and somewhat delayed flight, The Traveling Hillbilly arrived in Brisbane. It was just 8am local time, on Sunday. Where did the weekend go?

The Traveling Hillbilly’s first thought? Wow, how beautiful. Sunny blue skies, a slight breeze, a little warm, but all in all a beautiful day. The Australian adventure is off to a good start.

I arrive at the hotel and believe it or not, they let me check in. Even though it’s just 9am! I’m very pleasantly surprised. The hotel is right on the river and I have a great view of the river from my room. I’m exhausted but don’t want to waste the day. James, I know you told the Traveling Hillbilly to go a pub straight away, but I had to brush my teeth and shower first. I decided to head down to the river walk and find a bite to eat. I found a great little cafĂ© along the river, order a sandwich, some chips (translation fries) and a glass of Australian wine. So James, I had my first glass around 10:30am. Hey, it was after 2pm on a Saturday afternoon back home.

After lunch, I continued my walk along the river and wound up at the Botanical Garden. After an hour or so of enjoying the flowers, the birds and the trees, I continue along the river and see the Kangaroo Cliffs on the other side. I cross over to walk along the cliffs and walk back on the other side of the river. The bummer is once I get close to the hotel, I realize there is no bridge to cross over on this end. Luckily, there’s a CityCat dock nearby. In Brisbane, their city transportation consists of buses, subways and ferries along the river. You can buy a pass and use all three to get you where you need to go. For less than $5 Australian Dollars, you can ride the CityCat and get a great river tour of the city! How cool is that?

A storm has moved in so my evening out gets cut a little short. But hey it’s 4am in Los Angeles, so I’m doing pretty good to still be up! I’m hoping to head to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary tomorrow but have been informed the weather forecast may not make that a good option.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

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