Today I had a lie in. Despite waking up at 5am, I stayed in bed and forced myself to doze until 7:00. Fair enough as I didn’t crash until gone 1 in the morning. Elaine had been up for three hours and already had a trip to the gym under her belt.

We had breakfast and I rattled some stuff off online as we waited til 9am when we drove to the bus depot and got a nice cheap day rover ticket for $4.50. This can be used from 9:30 till 15:30 on the bus, train and ferry around Brisbane. Bargain.

 Once in Brisbane, we located Anzac Square and had brunch before I dropped all my major bags off with Belinda as I would be swapping accomodation this evening. Elaine and I then headed for the river and hopped on one of the ferries for a 2-hour journey south, then north and then back again.

Brisbane has an excellent skyline – one of the best I’ve seen at night – especially when viewed from the river. It also has some interesting bridges and I got some good photos of them. I didn’t, though, manage to get a picture of the huge lizard that jumped off a wall as I walked past. I’m sure I’ll catch another one though.

 The City Cats are nippy little things and really get going at a fair lick between the more distant stops along the river. They’re also more comfy than, say, the whale-watching boat in Kaikora so I didn’t vomit. Which was nice.

We went aground for lunch and then Elaine left me to head home before her cheap ticket ran out. I spent the next couple of hours wandering around the city centre and finding my bearings. I popped into the tourist information centre and ended up chatting to a guy who’d emigrated to Oz almost 30 years earlier and who was flying back to the UK for the first time next week. He very kindly recommended a few places that would hopefully keep my attention over the next few days and walked me to the museum on the other side of the river.

 At 5:30, I met Belinda from work and we got the train out of the city to meet up with Albert. Together we went to a lovely Thai restaurant with a very nervous waitress (who literally froze when I spoke Thai to her). The food was superb and not a bad price either – and I had my first Singah beer since I left Thailand all those months ago. Just as good as it ever was!

Oh, yes. The reason for the meal? B&A’s second wedding anniversary. They actually invited me to the wedding but I couldn’t make it so it was great to be able to get them dinner as a (very) belated present – and a thank you for their hospitality on my visit.