Visiting continent number 6

Hello from the future and "down under"! We've been in Brisbane for a few days now and this is the first time I'm posting--sorry about that. The jet lag is getting better--I'm able to stay up past 8pm and not wake up until after 7am. The traveling here went quite smoothly--a train to philly, a plane to LA, another plane to Auckland NZ, another plane to Brisbane, and a bus to our hostel. Needless to say, we were exhausted. Our accomodations are okay--I mean, it's a hostel. We're in a very central part of the city and it's very walkable. We're right along the river and they have a great cycling/running path along both sides. It's been nice to go out for a run in the mornings. It's kind of chilly however in the mornings and especially when the sun goes down.

Yesterday we spent the morning walking around the botanical gardens in Southbank and then took a tour to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was unlike any kind of zoo that I've ever been to because there were very few fenced in areas or the areas that were fenced in or had walls were kind of low so you really could get close to the animals. The kangaroo and emu enclosure was huge and you could just walk around and pet things. I was waiting for one to attack. They didn't. Amy and I held a koala--they have large claws but are very soft and look like stuffed animals. Of course we have many pictures. I'll have to wait to post those until I get home however. We also we to the Mt. Coot-tha lookout in the late afternoon and got a good perspective of Brisbane and just how large it is.

We met some Tazmanians (they were on this tour with us) and they asked if we like shows. We were kind of perplexed at the question but said sure, thinking like Broadway shows. We learned that a show is kind of like a country fair. We're going to attempt to go it tonight as it only runs for a week or so.

As for today, we spent it walking around Brisbane and doing some shopping (there's an artisan's market on the weekends). It's been relaxing and a good day overall. We're hopefully going down to the gold coast tomorrow to check out the beaches there. It's a two hour bus ride and we're still figuring out where and when to get those. I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Thanks for reading and I'll hopefully post again soon.