brizzy.

yes, brizzy is what the australians call brisbane.  why?... you might ask.  well, because australians shorten EVERYTHING.

breakfast = brekkie
cooler = eskie (shortened from eskimo)
afternoon = arvo
more commonly known; aussie = australian
the list goes on and on...

anyway, brizzy was our next location of choice for my trip with the rents.

brisbane is about a 1.5 hour plane ride south of mackay, and we are so fortunate to have friends who live there and graciously helped us out with a car and a place to stay.

when we arrived in brisbane, we met picked up our friend jess' car and headed to our friends', connie and pat, place to stay.

pat and connie live in a beautiful resort apartment right in the heart of the city.  it is absolutely amazing.

as you are walking to the door, you look to the right and see this:

then, as you walk into the apartment and through the back balcony doors, you look left to see this:

and to the right, this:

oh, and to get in and out of the resort complex, you walk through this botanical gardens (view from above):

not bad, right?

absolutely stunning and a huge thanks, again, to connie and pat for letting us crash there.

connie didn't just let us stay in her house, she was also our tour guide around brizzy.  after lunch, we set out on a walking tour of the city.

we started by brunswick street mall, which is right down the street from pat and connie's place.

then we took a stroll through chinatown.  there are so many asian restaurants here... delish!

us gals {that's connie in the middle}:

we had such a beautiful day, it was fun just taking photos:

and i couldn't pass this up.  arup?  they're just missing the "n" and my family name would be brisbane famous!

then, on our way to queen street, we passed this famous tree.  these are rather plentiful around brisbane (although not quite as big as this one), and they actually grow roots from the branches down to the ground to support the tree.  

then we headed up to queen street mall, which is a huge outdoor shopping area.  it's really neat and has excellent people watching.  i even introduced my parents to macarons (these french cookie-like desserts they have a lot of in australia).  

this is the hilton hotel on queen street; how cool is that?

this is what it's like in australia.  there are people lounging around in the grass just enjoying life.  it's really quite refreshing.  i love it.  and those trees in the picture are called bottle trees because of their wide trunks.

 then, after a coffee break, we headed over to the botanical gardens.

there was even a friendly little footy game going on... see the short shorts, ladies?  bring 'em on back!  

crazy enough, this tree branch has grown so far out that it can't support itself anymore.

check out this kookaburra.  it let me get really close.

walk a little further and you see this beautiful landscape...

there was "heaps" of bambo... like a whole walk way of it and it seemed like almost all of it was engraved by various folks.

then we headed over to southbank via a walking bridge over the river; great architecture.  the night was so clear and the sun was setting, which made for some great photos:

southbank was so neat.  there were some great looking restaurants and a fabulous walking path.  not to mention the man made beach (it was under construction while were there):

then we headed back to connie's neck of the woods on the city cat ferry.  it's not free transportation, but most rides are around $5 per person, i believe.  it's pretty great; just another one of brisbane's charms.

that's the city cat - we obviously aren't on there, but it was a photo i took while we were walking over the bridge to southbank.

aren't they cute?

after a long day of walking, we picked up food from an american bbq joint called the smoke.  we had some delicious ribs and other comfort food like macaroni and cheese.  it was so good!  

and that, ladies and gentleman, is brizzy!