Brisbane

The first impression I got when arriving in Brisbane was that the capital of Queensland consists of highways, concrete buildings, and not much else. Carrying my backpack and some other stuff, I was not too happy trying to cross the highways to reach my hostel. And it was true: this is what Brisbane is like.

However, the city also has another side: its parks. Southern bank of the river has some great park lands, including a beach with a view of the skyscrapers. The botanical gardens are a gorgeous place to take a break from the traffic. Not the there's that much buzz though: for a city of more than 1 million inhabitants, there are not that many people around.

I have felt very much at home in my hostel. It is an old Queenslander house (this probably only tells something if you've been to Australia yourself) with lacy wooden decorations. I have again been very lazy, watching TV or reading a book or having breakfast on the sunny balcony.

There are both nice and annoying people in the hostel. I met a guy from Hong Kong who has been very friendly, even cooked some yummy Chinese food for me. Then, there are the other guys. I don't know how I ended up in a male-dominated hostel, but there are hardly any girls there, I saw only 4 during my entire stay. I wonder if this is the reason that leads some of the guys to behave like some Outback idiots who only see women once a year...

My roommate has been very friendly as well. He's shown me a lot of gorgeous pictures from New Zealand, making my travel fever worse still. I have suffered from a flu for several days, which has forced me to stay in bed, and during this time I've got a bit too much of his company, though. The constant babbling started to really get on my nerves in the end. That's exactly why I only want to travel either on my own, or with people I know and like.

I've been spending a lot of time in the library again, using the free internet for research. On my way to library, I have to cross a pedestrian bridge, where I've noticed a very strange lady. She walks the bridge back and forth, barefoot. She's wearing a filthy summer dress and sunnies from the 90s (I had similar ones when I was in primary school and thought they were really cool, that is, back then...). Apparently she does this every day, all day long, as I have spotted her every time I've used the bridge, any time of the day. Walking seems to hurt her feet, but she doesn't stop, just turns around in the end of the bridge and limps back. I have toyed with the idea of going to talk to her. So far I haven't been crazy enough.

One day I got my act together and caught a bus to the mountains, that is Mount Coo-Tha national park. They have a very nice view over Brisbane and surrounding areas. I went hiking on the tracks surrounding the look-out, and found out they were not sign-posted too well, as I managed to get lost. I thought there was a short cut to the other botanical gardens, but apparently not... In the end, I spotted some elderly people on a picnic ground and went to ask for directions, and found out it was better just to walk back the way I came. I ended up hiking about 8 kilometers on the hills. It was really nice though, the forest was beautiful and peaceful, and on my return to the lookout I had a nice slice of cheese cake for a happy ending, gazing over the view.

I don't have much to say about Brisbane. It's just another large city. I had a good time though - I seem to be an expert enjoying just lazing around. It seems like I've been walking around quite a bit though, as I've started to know a lot of random things, like which set of traffic lights is the best place to cross each street, etc.

The city at night.

For once I'm updating this in time. I'm going to leave Brissie in a few hours, heading North. My next entry (ok, Facebook as well - I'm not too good at being mysterious) shall reveal my next destination. Bis dann!