Another day another continent.

'Thursday 24th November 2016

I managed zero hours sleep on the overnight flight to Brisbane but on the bright side the plane was about one third full and I managed to move seats to get extra legroom.  Janice managed about 3 hours sleep as she could use two seats to lie down.  I watched the last of the Hobbit films.

We arrived in a very hot Brisbane Airport at 6.15am. We were hot waiting for the shuttle bus into the city.  The shuttle bus was actually quite a nightmare.  The driver was a man who drove on the edge of road rage all the time.  He drove in heavy traffic right up the backside of the car in front, crunching gears, braking sharply and accelerating hard when there were no opportunities to 'make progress' (a term used in police driver training for overtaking and driving fast).  We were the last drop off the bus so had to endure the driving the longest!

Our hotel is the Ibis Style Hotel in central Brisbane.  I had a little haggle with the receptionist and managed to get a river view without the upgrade price.  Was it worth the effort, well judge for yourself....this is the view from the window of our 19th floor room.

The buildings below are colonial style buildings of some grandeur that I hadn't expected. The buildings behind us are all high rise commercial buildings.  Despite our early morning arrival and lack of sleep we managed to get out for a walk on the Southbank of the Brisbane a River.

I didn't realise that being on the underneath of the world would affect the camera so much!

There was a swimming pool and a man made beach on the Southside of the river. I managed a little paddle today but it was seriously hot walking with bare feet on the sand.  We were told it was up to 34 degrees today.

We walked around the botanical gardens and saw plenty of ibis birds.  It was quite apt seeing as we were staying at an Ibis hotel.  They were all over the place, hanging around like seagulls at St Ives, trying to feed off human scraps.

We retired for a much needed afternoon nap and then came out for a walk and evening meal.

This is the Anzac monument.  I was an adult before I realised an Anzac was not just a type of biscuit my mum used to make!

We had our evening meal outside looking across to the Treasury Casino building.  It was the first time I had used a knife and fork instead of chop sticks for a few days.  We both had steak salads which were lovely and made a nice change from having rice.

Following my recent tripadvisor reviews I have put Janice on notice that I will do a review for her next time.  So far she is getting a five star rating but I need to keep her on her toes.

Brisbane is looking good.  I am on the look out for kangaroos, koalas and venomous snakes but no sightings yet.  I am hoping for undisturbed sleep tonight, fingers crossed.