­Brisbane

We'd booked into one of the main hostels in Brisbane a week ahead of time as it was Anzac day on Saturday and the city was packed. We were disapointed with the hostel but that was to be expected after leaving our home away from home among friends in Mooloolaba.

Anzac day was pretty interesting. They held a parade downtown and we grabbed a spot amongst all the other Aussies honouring their war vets. The parade was similar to the ones you'd see back home except for the signs honouring service during WW2 in places like Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. We don't even know any of the history to that part of the war.

There really isn't a whole lot to do in Brisbane on a budget so we made a point of spending time in the many sweet parks around the city. After the Anzac day parade, we walked over the banks of the Brisbane River to the Southbank Park. It was developed for Expo 88 with all sorts of walkways and shops but the best part is the outdoor public pool with a sand shore. From there we took the river ferry across to the Botanical Gardens on the other side of the river where we walked across boardwalks built within preserved Mangrove forests. After returning to the hostel for lunch we continued the park tour by walking out to the New Farm Park for some reading and relaxing.

The next day we returned to the best parts from the previous day and spent the afternoon swimming at Southbank and the evening hanging out at New Farm. We'd heard about a free concert on Sunday nights at New Farm so we grabbed some food and beer to enjoy the show but it ended up being inside where you couldn't bring in your own stuff. Instead we sat along the river and enjoyed the view. That night there was an onslaught of fruit bats coming into the park to feed, they flew in and landed in the trees where we were sitting. It was very cool to see them up close.

Now we're off to grab our van and start our journey. We can't wait to get out there and hit the road!

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Part of trip: Australia 2009

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