BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

After traveling to Cairns in Australia's far north, you would have thought it would make sense for us to fly from there to our next destination (Indonesia). But for some reason our travel agent had to route us through Brisbane, so today we backtracked south and caught an early (6 am) flight here. On the flight Chris was stuck talking to the guy next to him, who tried to convince him, among other things, that the moon landings were faked and that the ancient Egyptians didn't build the pyramids. This is why I don't usually talk to people on airplanes! (I was in no mood for talking to anyone this morning, anyway, as they confiscated my cappucino as I boarded the plane as a possible weapon. No coffee--John angry!)

We arrived to a surprisingly chilly morning in Brisbane--Autumn is really kicking in Down Under, I guess. Walking through the city, I noticed that everyone on the street was wearing jackets with military medals on them. Which at first I thought was an odd fashion statement, until I realized that it's Anzac Day, the equivalent of our Memorial Day, and the medal thing is a tradition.

Like Cairns, we really haven't had much time to explore Brisbane, as we've been running around town taking care of business, trying to prepare ourselves for SE Asia while we're still in "civilization." Anyway, Brisbane seems like a nice enough city, if a bit nondescript--a little like Ft. Lauderdale, maybe?