Jan. 5th

Downtown Brisbane view

The Story Bridge

During the floods, the water level reached the top of the first floor of these stores...ridiculous

Today was our first really full day in Brisbane. We got to sleep in a bit and instead of getting up at 6 we were able to sleep until about 9:30 since we were finally going on the river cruise we missed yesterday. We don't have to walk as much here in Brisbane, it doesn't feel like everything is as spread out as it was in Sydney. We got down to the river walk and boarded the river boat. The tour took us a few miles down the river and back and was extremely interesting. We learned about the history of Brisbane and a lot of other really neat facts about the area. They recently had some major flooding of the Brisbane River last January which reached record levels and did millions of dollars of damage. Some of the building and areas that experienced most of the damage have just reopened in the last few months. The reason for this is because a great number of shops, restaurants, parking decks, and other important building were built right on the river. Brisbane is actually built in a flood plain so flooding here can be quite frequent, deadly and costly. Recently they have been putting in counter measures such as dams and levees to help prevent and decrease the amount of flooding and damage done to the surrounding area. After the river tour, we headed to the downtown area and grabbed some lunch at a food court in the mall and then did a little shopping before we headed back to meet with one of our professors to discuss our assignments. We have officially taken over Mcdonalds since its the closest place with free wi-fi even though it isn't the best. It's better than paying 75 dollars for the week! Tonight we are going to a tennis match here in Brisbane to watch Kim Clijsters play! I'm not sure what tournament it is but it should be fun! These last few days have actually been pretty relaxing which is a relief considering the hectic schedule we had back in Sydney. Tomorrow we have another early morning to go on another trek through the wilderness. I'm praying it isn't near as long as the excursion we had in Sydney. Well now that my computer is dying and the internet is slower than a sloth, I won't be putting pictures for the last few posts until I am recharged and have the patients to sit in McDonalds for a few hours. See yall!