Brisbane Arrival

   Well, for those of you still following this saga. . .  today is our last day in Australia (or, as the locals refer to it, Oz). And it is the land of Oz. We are both sad to be leaving and are nostalgic already. It hit me yesterday as I was driving and thinking about everything we've done. Believe it or not, it just went too fast! We both agreed we should have even made the trip longer because there is so much to do and see, but, at the time, we thought 6 weeks was pretty hefty. Anyway, today it all ends.
   We are heading out this morning to cram in more stuff before we have to spend some time reorganizing our suitcases. I'm not sure I mentioned it, but we had to buy a duffel bag several weeks back to use as a place to throw a bunch of the warmer clothes we didn't need while driving around (that way, we didn't have to carry it into each hotel room at night). Now we're glad we have it to pack and even out the load we are each carrying.
   The drive yesterday was long (6 hours) but uneventful. We went through some interesting country towns, including the "sapphire capital of the world" (who knew?). A lot of the late 19th-early 20th century stone /brick buildings in these towns have been preserved and maintained - often as museums or libraries. After arrival here, we turned in the car to Hertz and walked along the Queen Street mall. Dinner there last night, and back to the hotel. Our hotels have been of varying standards, but all have been extremely well located for touring.

Old buildings in Warwick

Queen Street Mall, Brisbane

   But back to our day today:  we're going to take a short river cruise on the Brisbane River followed by another visit to a koala sanctuary (I love those little guys!). Then we'll finish up (or maybe reverse the order and start with) a ride on The Wheel. It's a huge ferris wheel situated downtown from which you get a 360 degree view of the whole city. It has air-conditioned cars (like cable cars) with a sound system explaining what you are seeing. It's kind of like the one in London although we've never gone on that one.
   Then we're off to the airport tomorrow morning for a flight back to Fiji, a 4 hour lay-over, and then an 11 hour flight back to L.A. We'll spend the night there and fly to Phoenix the next day with a shuttle ride back to Flag. We're waiting to hear whether our house is finished yet with the renovation but I'm guessing it won't be. We're not too pleased about that as I was wanting to drive up the road and see it all complete. Guess I'll have to look out at the dumpster again for a bit!
   Will try to post again tonight, but last night the wireless connection here was really creeping, so we'll see.