Brisbane and On

Guess what? It's only one month till we get to see your lovely faces again! We left Brisbane one week ago and have been on the road ever since. Currently we're travelling between Airlie Beach and Townsville on a rather delayed Greyhound bus service and figured it would be a good time to update you.

Firstly, just a quick fill in on what we did in Brisbane. We arrived back in April and immediately set about house hunting - finding a place about half an hour from the city centre in the suburb of Paddington. We were sharing a two bedroom flat (originally with a pair of British backpackers and then with two Italians) which was fairly close to the Suncorp Stadium (Queensland's largest rugby ground) and all the surrounding bars.

Finding jobs was more difficult, as it always seems to be. Unfortunately, Mat didn't find an employer however he did acquire a few temporary roles through a job agency. Luckily though, Leah found work at a call centre; raising money for charities such as Make a Wish and Oxfam.

Brisbane itself felt quite small for Australia's third largest city (and the largest in Queensland). There wasn't a lot there, especially when compared to Melbourne but it did have pretty good weather. It never reached the scorching highs of our time in Melbourne but it was nearly always in the 20s during the day and we had about 12 days rain in the entire time we were there.

Highlights of the city included the Southbank area where a man-made beach has been constructed in a riverside development which incorporates the cultural and arts centres of the city and is littered with cafes and restaurants. The Barracks shopping complex was close to where we were living and had a very homely feel about it. We liked to get coffee there, browse the boutique shops and watch the trains pass under the rail bridge. Roma Street Parkland was also close by and offered a relaxed place to wander in the sunshine.

The Brisbane river runs through the city, bordering the city centre and we took the new city hopper ferry a few weeks before we left. Though not as speedy as the city's famous catamarans this ferry was free and allowed us to see Brisbane from the water.

There's a lot more to tell you about the city (not least the strange image of a winter festival, complete with ice rink, when it's sunny and in the 20s!) and this post hasn't really done it justice but we're short of time here and are finding it hard to fit blog writing into our schedule.

Just so you know what we're doing/have done, once we left Brisbane we headed for Rainbow beach and then across to Fraser Island for a couple of days before catching the night bus to Airlie Beach and hopping on a catamaran to sail around the Whitsunday islands. We've had a great time so far and once we arrive in Townsville we'll be catching a ferry over to nearby Magnetic Island for two nights and then hot-footing it up to Cairns for the last part of our Australian journey!! We fly to New Zealand on Wednesday (25th) and have a route planned taking us from Auckland (North island) to Christchurch (South) but we'll tell you about all of these things soon.

Keep your eyes peeled for another post soon.

Lots of love

Leah and Mat

(written on 19th July, posted when we get internet)