Queensland - Brisbane

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I entered Queensland in the town of Tweed Heads, where a memorial monument for Captain James Cook is built, the first European to make contact with the Australian indigenous people in the 18th century. It is built on the border of New South Wales and Queensland. I was heading for Brisbane though, one of Australia's major cities. Before arriving in Brisbane, I passed through the Gold Coast, which is a long stretch of beach and towns with mass tourism just like on the Spanish Costas. Luckily, I didn't have to stay here, it was not really my thing.

After staying in cheap hostel dorms for over a week, I was feeling like I deserved a nice place on my own, so in Brisbane I booked a really nice hotel/apartment right in the middle of the city for four nights!
I arrived there late afternoon and spent the rest of the day enjoying the river view from my balcony and watching a little bit of the Winter Olympics on TV. Mmmm, life is good!

The next day was going to be a special day, because I was going to celebrate Chinese New Year. On the website "Couchsurfing.org", I ran into a Chinese girl, Xin. "Couchsurfing" is an online network of people who allow each other to sleep on their couch for free or show you around their town or meet for a cup of coffee. Kind of like a friend and a home away from home. I had asked Xin if we could meet for coffee somewhere and instead she invited me to celebrate the Chinese New Year with her and about 10 friends. That was great. We all made dumplings together and then cooked and ate the food. And of course, I made 10 new friends!

Brisbane is a pleasant river city with a lot to do and I had a long walk along the city, marveling at the beautiful old buildings contrasting with the flashy skyscrapers in the city. Brisbane also has an excellent botanical garden, where I met a big Iguana-like lizard. Being a river city, Brisbane has a few bridges that cross the river. The most famous one is Story Bridge, and there is also a new pedestrian bridge, Kurilpa Bridge, an impressive design and 470 metres long.

Last but not least, I made a trip to a hill just outside Brisbane, called Mount Coot-tha. It has amazing views of the city and I stayed for sunset, so I saw the city light up as the sky went dark. (for more pictures see below, and it continues on the 2nd page)

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