Well, yesterday after almost 2 days of traveling, I finally made it to Brisbane. Woo! Travel was uneventful, at least once I got on the plane. The fuel spill on the road between Edinburgh and Glasgow seemed to portend dire things, but other than an extra-long, scenic trip to the Glasgow airport, all was well. I would recommend Emerates Airlines for long trips, with good food for economy class and plenty of leg room. The only downside is their ridiculous 7 kg carry-on baggage limit -- just not realistic if you're going to be traveling for TWO DAYS. So can I now say that I've been to Dubai and Singapore since I've transited through their airports? Probably not. By the way, Singapore wins as far as nicest, most original airport decor. It almost didn't feel like Any Other Airport for the whole hour that I got to enjoy it.
I am staying at a very cute B&B in the middle of Brisbane, the Eton Bed and Breakfast. Unfortunately, it is in the middle of Brisbane and nearly surrounded by backpacker and youth hostels. Actually, it hasn't been as bad as I expected, noise-wise, for which I am thankful. It does, however, look out of place, this cute, historic house surrounded by Modern City.
After arriving yesterday morning, I did exactly what they say you should not do to get over jet lag, which is to sleep during the day for 6 hours. That and getting dinner in the evening was pretty much my day. So much for my grand plan to knock myself out on the plane with drugs and arrive bright-eyed and bushy tailed so that I could get some work done on Sunday. The drugs, which I especially requested from the doctor, did not deliver the knock out as promised. Argh.
So this morning I woke up earlier than planned and went for a run! It's always fun to run in a new place. Brisbane has some nice trails along the river, although it took me a while to actually figure out how to get down to one of them. But in the end, I had a nice, scenic run starting with the William Jolly Bridge and then around the South Bank. Way more hot than I'm used to though, and it's only spring!
After the run and breakfast, it was off to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Sorry, no pictures yet. I won't be able to download them until I get home. I will say though that, yes, koalas are pretty darn cute, and yes, I did get to pet one. His name was Mike. :) I also got to see frisky kangaroos, lorikeets, cockateels, kookaburras, emus, a cassowary, bats, and sleeping wombats.
And then I came back and took a late afternoon nap. Sigh...
Tomorrow the conference starts, so no more major sight-seeing until Saturday. But today, I got to pet a koala. I think my trip to Australia is now complete.
6 comments:
Sounds like it's fun so far -- good news!
And I agree Koalas and other Australian fauna are quite interesting... ahem yeah, that other fauna... sigh
Um... you're going to bring me back my present, are you?
Hope the rest of the trip goes as smoothly!
Sounds like fun...especially the sleeping. :)
Can't wait to see the pics. Hope you continue to have fun even while dealing with conference drudgery.
You got to pet a koala. yeah that would make the trip for me too. I love koalas. They're right up there with penguins.
Looking forward to seeing your pictures and hearing how the conference and trip back went. Glad you are having a good time.
ok
Im gullible.
are you kidding about the koala??
Mike seems like a good name for a koala. I always understood they were cranky critters who didn't like to be touched.
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