Finally in "OZ"

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After many many hours and layovers...we landed in Australia!!!!
At first we were both hesatant about starting this all over again, but once we got out of the airport and saw the bustling city, there was no second guessing ourselves.
We landed around 11 am, booked accomadation while at the airport, got a shuttle bus to our place and opened up our Lonely Planet books to see what to do here.
A walking tour was mapped out in the book so we though lets do it.
Even though our heads were spinning and we felt tired and disoriented, we had to suck it up and see Brisbane.
It was Friday afternoon and also was Halloween.
The central Business District of Brisbane was bustling with school kids in their crazy long uniforms, business people dressed for the prom, and kids in their halloween gear.
There was a lot to see in the peoplewatching department!!!!
In the center of town is a huge shopping mall and out front of Aldo there was a large crowd of people gathered.
So since we had nothing else to do with our time, we joined in the crowd and found out supposedly Rihanna was in the store.
After a few minutes of not seeing her, we left.
After our walking tour of the city, we retired to the guesthouse and knew that once our heads hit a pillow it was goodnight until tomorrow.
Around 8pm we laid down and didnt wake up until 5 in the morning.
Today will be another walking around day in Brisbane.
Later today we are getting a plane to take us up north to Cairns where we will stay in the city for a few days and rent some sort of RV and drive down the coast.
P.S. the weather is absolutely beautiful. Its about 80 degrees and a constant cool breeze!!
Here are a few pics so far!!

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Photos

1
walking off the plane in Fiji

3
too smily for 5 am and a long plane ride!

4
The United 747 we took over here.

5
During the 5 hour layover in Fiji we played Phase 10!
Dave was the winner.

6
Flying over Fiji, taken from the plane

8
monopoly money. The Australian Dollar

9
dedicated for people who fought in wars...i think

10
cheesing in the center of town

12
eating pizza in the big mall.

13
The center of the Queen Street, an outside mall.
You can see some schoolkids in the pic, one has the green outfit on and others with blue long skirts.

14
cool Nike, i thought my cousin in Az would appreciate these

15
about to walk over the Victoria Bridge

16
a view of the city from accross the water

18
Dave got an Australian SIM card for the phone, and spent some time trying to make it work!!
It finally does and we have an Australian phone number

19
one more shot of the buildings

20
this ferris wheel was by the water! we didnt go on it, just sat by it

21
representing the World Series winners

22
a band that was playing in the middle of the mall

23
some bird that was pecking away at the grass on our walk to the guesthouse

24
a beautiful tree!! at least i thought it was!!

Comments

[Brian Walsh]

Monopoly Money
Austrailien money is the best... you can't tear it ... it doesn't burn and doesn't get soggy when wet...basically, it'd survive an average night out... if you didn't spend it!