While Noz started packing for her flight back to Sydney, Kat and I headed out into Brisbane. We planned to drive up to Mount Coot-tha where there is a lookout across the city but this, like many other places, was still closed off following the flooding last week. Instead we had a walk around the nearby botanical gardens and lunch in the cafe there. It was very hot and humid in the gardens, the temperature getting close to 35°c.

In the afternoon, while Kat took Noz back to the Gold Coast for her flight home, I met up with Alicia (another Australian friend) and we drove 70km south of Brisbane to Mount Tamborine. Here there are a number of wineries and other specialised shops – we tasted local cheese, fudge, and of course wine. Unfortunately my baggage allowance didn’t allow me to purchase any to bring home, but I can vouch for it all being very tasty – especially the cappuchino fudge and Moonrise Estate Shiraz! We then did a short walk into the rainforest to Curtis Falls. Along the way we canadameds.com saw a number of large lizards, and bush turkeys building their nests.

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In the evening we headed back into Brisbane and had a look around the CBD. It’s hard to believe that most of this area was under water just a few days ago – they have done a very impressive cleanup job. There are still some broken traffic lights, water being pumped out of underground car parks etc. and a few areas closed off for cleaning. Most of the restuarants are also closed but we found a sushi bar for dinner.

It’s an early start tomorrow – my flight to Cairns leaves Brisbane at 7:25am!