Whirlwind

Goodness, my gracious host has made sure that I'm seeing everything, and I've only been here five days! According to the Brisbane Visitors' Guide, there is a list of things that are "must-sees" in Brisbane. Here they are: 

• Mt. Coot-ha lookout.  
  

 Check (at a glorious 8am after I got in from my flight).

• South Bank.  
  

 Check. To be checked again upon further forays into sun-bathing.

• Cultural Centre. 
  

 Check. Went to the Gallery of Modern Art (largest Modern Art Gallery in the Southern hemisphere) and the  Sciencentre (Who says Science Centres are for kids? Danielle and I had a blast).

• Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  
  

 Plans to do this this weekend.

• A trip on the Brisbane River. 
  

 Check. Took the CityCat boats.

• Moreton Bay.
  

 Whoops, I lied. Didn't do this one. I SAW the island from the mainland though.

• City Botanic Gardens.
  

 Check. Gorgeous. Imagine being on a university campus, and then deciding, "Oh I'm just going to walk 20 steps to  some Botanic Gardens". Wonderful.

• Mt. Coot-ha Botanic Gardens
  

 Uncheck.

• Roma Street Parklands.
  

 Check. Walked through them today, lovely.

• Story Bridge.
  

 Check. Well, we drove over it.

Plus we went to a mangrove forest on the water, shopping in the Queen St. Mall (an open mall on the street), walked through the city, went to the Normanby...I'm having a wonderful time. Lessons into Australian lingo to be posted another time.