August 24

Well so much for my plans on posting every day!  We made it to Brisbane in fine shape, and now all of a sudden we have been here three days.  Wednesday we arrived and got settled into our apartment.  The apartment is fine, but not exactly exciting.  It is dark (lots of lightbulbs need replacing) and has been cold - Brisbane was having a cold spell.  But on the plus side, it is quiet and very close to campus and shopping.

Thursday we met with the UQ staff, and the helped us get oriented and started to get us up to speed.  They also took us to get phones (Vodaphone) and some household supplies at KMart (gasp!!)  That took pretty much all day.

Friday we were off on our own.  We got GoCards for the bus network, and ventured downtown in search of maps of the city.  That was pretty much unsuccessful, but we got to see Brisbane center, which is very pleasant with bustling crowds and a lot of energy and a big pedestrian mall.  Then in the afternoon we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and met up with Nicole and her kids.  The place was great!  Full of koalas, kangaroos, wombats, Tasmanian devils and lots of amazing birds.  You could actually pet the koalas and feed the kangaroos.  Needless to say Annie was in heaven, and I had a great time too.

 


Today I found my way to a bike shop where I finally found area street maps and a nice book on bike rides in Brisbane.  I got lost on the way to the shop, and managed to ride up and down lots of hills and mix it up with the traffic.  But the trip was a huge success, and we went on a wonderful ride along the Brisbane River this afternoon.  I'd put in a picture, but I can't figure out how to send the file to the computer from the new phone.  Slowly we are getting acclimated and used to things being different.