My feet ache quite a lot at the moment after almost two solid days of wandering around Quensland’s sub-tropical capital, but I’m just about getting to know the place and getting back into the swing of city life.

Armed with my camera, today I visited the Botanical Gardens on the eastern slopes of Mount Coot-tha, which are only some thirty years old (the gardens having been moved from their former site just south of the city centre, following several devastating floods), but home to a pretty amazing selection of plants nonetheless. I met an elderly couple strolling around the maze of paths that criss-cross the site, who I accompanied on the short bus ride up to the summit of the mountain. Stunning views indeed.

Lunch was had in back in the centre one of the many food courts which seem to be scattered around all of the big Aussie cities, followed by a trip to a couple of museums, where I stayed until closing time. I walked back from the Queensland Museum via South Brisbane and the West End – both rather student-y looking areas with the usual selection of take-aways, restaurants and convenience stores – and crossed the river over the William Jolly Bridge as dusk set in.

Now I need to recharge both my camera’s batteries and my own metaphorical batteries in readiness for my day-trip to Byron Bay across the state border in New South Wales tomorrow. The stay there on the way down to Sydney was cancelled in favour of spending my last weekend in the cafe society surrounds of Melbourne, so a day-trip will have to do instead. Yay 6AM buses!