Brisbane was great and then some...

Brisbane (9th April - 18th April)
Had the best time here ever over the last week or so, in the lovely Sunshine State (or the Smart State, how do they come up with these state slogans?).

1st Day
Landed around 945pm, met up with my good buddy Dominic who promptly got me back to his place to settle in and then to catch a late dinner at Three Monkeys @West End. Its one of the cafes highly recommended by locals and international students alike. Very quaint decor combined with a friendly and easy environment. Definitely must go to try out the super chocolate-y hot mochas, decent sandwiches and other drinks.

2nd Day
Went to Church. Every single church here trashes each and everyone of Canberra's in terms of architecture/granduer. Too bad the quality of sermons didn't impress me much.

Dropped by UQ, saw probably 3000 boys and girls participate in WeetBix's Try-athlon. It looked just like a professional event with massive areas for bike stands and cordoned areas for running, except the fans were all highly supportive parents and teachers. Very cool. Should've got more pictures of the setup. Camera ran out of power though. :(

Went back to get Dom's housemates, then skipped over to Chinatown (aka Fortitude Valley), for a massive plate of siew yoke, soy sauce chicken and roast duck. Arrrgh. why did my cam die on me.

Too stuffed to move after, went for a run in evening with Bryan along the lovely Brisbane River. (Alex&Brandon: You'd totally love it.) We ran from Toowong to QUT and back, about 7 kilometres according to my guide.

3rd Day
Went down and spent a hella long time in the city with Daphne. The shopping arcade area spans 4-5 streets, with fringe areas crammed with niche clothing stores and fine dining along the river. Had Viet Beef Noodles for lunch and then preceded to blow about 190 on shirts. All on sale of course. 4 from a discount store ($10 each), 2 from Elio Moda along Elizabeth street ($100 and $50), the cool thing is the shirts were normally going for $545 and $125.

Got to St Stephens Cathedral for mass in the chapel. It finised in the record time of 15mins, fastest ever experienced in my life.

Headed over to Bryan's place and got him almost flat out drunk on beer, malibu, vodka and huge amounts of kahlua. The kahlua wasn't any of my doing. Better luck next time Mr. Tang.

4th Day
Got up a tad early and Dominic drove me down to Harbour Town, Gold Coast. about 60-70 kilometres from Brisbane. Its packed full of factory outlets (Nike, Fila etc), Surf Wear shops (Rip Curl, City Beach...) and a good mix of brands (Mambo, Morrisey, Polo RL, Esprit, moremore and more.) Discounts abound no matter what day of the year. Selection is enough to leave any shopper struggling to cover every inch in an afternoon. Got t-shirts from Nike/Mambo, another Mambo shirt and short cargoes from Esprit. Got the famed Yatala Pies along the way back. Had Steak, Bacon and Cheese pie for tea, and picking up a family sized one for the house.

Had another run with Bryan and Anurax. Had dinner at their place along with Dominic. Anurax really cooked up a storm, had trouble eating the apple pie we got for them from Yatala as well. After some more chatter and the other housemates wanting to do their own thing, Anurax and Dominic settled into what would be a 4 hour GT4 marathon on the PS2. (-tbc-)

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I got back to Canberra about 12 hours ago, only to find out my luggage decided to extend its stay in the Brisbane domestic terminals. Fxxk.

I have 2 assignments due next week, with an exam looming on the same deadlines. So I basically have to finish everything I need to do by this Friday. Wee.