Pat and Don's Big Adventure

Hi everyone, Well we've arrived at our 2nd destination. It is so hot & humid but we are adjusting! The trip from NZ to here was good but we got held up on our arrival because I was carrying "trail mix"You are NOT allowed to bring nuts & seeds into this country even if it is bagged, so they confiscated it(nicely) then gave us the stink eye as to what else we could be bringing in. I told them that I had washed our sandals the night before so there was no dirt or sand from the land of NZ on anything,so they let us get on our way. Later that night I realized I had granola nut bars in my luggage but when they x-rayed All our luggage they didn't pick them out so i guess we are in the clear. I had no idea that Brisbane was SOO...BIG! There is tons of traffic-way more than Vanouver, but everything moves along. There are trains, buses and boats that take you where ever you want to go. Today (sunday 8th) we are going by fastcat(boat) to the old expo site (1988) that Brisbane has turned into beautiful parks & shops and walkways etc. Yesterday we drove down to Surfer's Paridise-one & half hours south and met up with my brother and his wife again. Wow-was it busy there-for all you guys the bikinis couldn't have been smaller or in greater numbers. The parking meter cops are bikini clad young girls with itsy-bitsy coverage that you would just love to stand and argue over a ticket with. I can see a lot of wives elbowing there husbands here!!!! It was great fun but we only stayed a few hours as Don & I will be heading that way again in a couple of weeks. Our friend who we are staying with for a few days has been a wonderful hostess. Besides great food & wine (again) she has shown us  some great sights. We drove up to the highest place in Brisbane and could see all of the city from there-WOW what a sight.The nice thing is they haven't crammed there downtown core with tall buildings, there are a few but still lots of green space in between. The trees here are all so colorful & fragrant-just beautiful.Well that's it for now, tomorrow we are heading north and will only go as far as it is safe(because of the flooding & road wash-outs). We probably will have to do the Great Barrier Reef on another trip,yes we'll be back! Then we will start back down to coast where all the beaches are. We are hoping to finding lodging across from a beach where we can put our feet up for a few days at a time. We won't be doing as much driving over here-Yay!So everyone take care-we love hearing from you and we will update soon...Cheers!!Pat & Don