Brisbane

My last base of operation during my study abroad is Brisbane in the state of Queensland. It is quite a bit north of Sydney so it is noticeably warmer here. Brisbane is a lot more spread out then Sydney so it doesn’t feel like I’m in a big city as much now. The town does not have as much to do, but it keeps us entertained and it is closer to the Great Barrier Reef and some other tourist destinations.

My hotel is much improved from the last one; I actually have room to spread out. The one flaw is that I have to go to an internet café to get online here. That is why I haven’t posted in a while (That and the website wouldn’t let me post pictures even when I did go pay for internet!).

I have discovered that pretty much every town in this part of the world has a botanical garden. Brisbane has this one near the river that cuts through the city. This is one of the coolest trees I have ever seen and it was perfect for climbing. I also tried to shimmy up a very tall and thin palm tree with little success.

It is league rugby season in Australia now so some friends and I went to see the season opener in town. This was the Brisbane Broncos versus the North Queensland Cowboys. It was a big rivalry since they’re both from the same state. In contrast to America the Cowboys killed the Broncos in this game. All of the Americans have adopted rugby pretty well; it is an excellent game that we would like to see more of. Cricket, on the other hand, is an awful game. I’m embarrassed for the locals that pay to watch that nonsense.

This is a very trendy black light bowling alley that we went to one night after dinner. I broke a hundred, but it was ugly. Doug stole the victory from me with two strikes in the tenth frame.

The best part about Brisbane is how beautiful it is. It is right on the Brisbane river, and it makes for some excellent views. They pretty much had to build this highway entirely in the water. I stayed in the hotel Ibis on the far right in the picture.
Across the river from my hotel is this fake beach. Brisbane is quite a few miles inland from the coast so they ship in tons of sand from Morton Island every year to make this riverside pool look like a beach. It's a pretty cool place to go swimming late at night. Mike, Doug, Blake, and Emily went with me to explore this area.
A short bus ride from town is Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. They have over 100 koalas, a kangaroo feeding area, and lots of other Australian animals to see. It was pretty cool to have a ton of grey kangaroos hopping around right beside me.
They were very friendly and very used to human contact. You could feed them, pet them, or just chill out in the middle of a group of them. I even got to see a little joey stick his head out of the pouch.
The coolest part about visitng the koala sanctuary is that you can get a picture holding a koala. This is patch; he was about eight kilograms and one of the largest koalas in the sanctuary. That's about it from Brisbane. My next weekend trip is to the Great Barrier Reef; I can't wait!