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In September 2008 I was sent to Australia for a Cisco Networkers conference in Brisbane. Luckily I was able to add a week before the trip for some exploration. I went north to Cannes which was a perfect base for the week. Cannes is close to many destingations including:

• The Daintree Rain Forest: I did an afternoon/night tour, look for some frog picture below
• The Atherton Tablelands: Same tour as the rainforest, twas 11 hours, and where we 'saw' the elusive Platypus
• Aboriginal Cave Art: Flew north to Cooktown and enjoyed a day of cave art and gardens via the Guurrbi Tour operation
• The Great Barrier Reef: I snorkeled for a day and would have happily stayed indefinitely

Then it was off to Brisbane for the conference. The city wasn't as god awful as I had feared since an Ozzie colleague had told me they call it Bris Vegas I was nervous to say the least. Here are some of the noteworthy Brisbane offers:

• Historic Buildings: Some fabulous older churches, including the St Pauls Presbyterian Church built between 1887-1889
• Decent Shopping: Which was fortunate as Virgin Blue lost my garment bag with all my work clothes...most of this mall was an outside street level open air kind of thing. riddled with performance art, the 'tragically hip' crowd, families with prams, skaters, etc.
• Excellent FREE Museums: An item that struck my fancy was an exhibit at the Queensland museum on the Brisbane Metermaids...ladies who wore gold bikinis with fringe, capes and what not who would pay peoples expired meters so they wouldn't get tickets. How COOL is that?
• Plentiful Transit Options: I was also pleasantly surprised by how easily one could walk/bike the city and they have a very efficient train/subway system...IMO this can make or break a cities success, ahem hint hint Bay Area!
• South Bank Parkland: While cheasy at time (think man-made beach) held some lovely surprise gems as this was where I stumbled upon the Nepal Peace Pagoda and the abundance of outdoor sculpture...not to mention the free museums.

lipstickpalm bypool

underneath fanpalm at resor

orchid at resort

orchid at resort 2

pandanus at resort

paperbarktree closeup

flower after rain at resort

flower at resort

flower on tree at resort

flower with raindrop at res

aboriginal show

aboriginal show 2

little frog

canetoad

canetoad 2

me inside cathedral strangler fig

roots of cathedral strangle

platypus

orchid at lake

flower at lake

flower at lake 2

dash180 in flight

dash180 in flight 2

dash180 in flight 3

dash180 window-view

aboroginal cave passage

first cave

willy at first cave

willy at first cave 2

kangaroo

manatee

foot

giving birth

offspring

willy in rainbow serpent ca

yam

yam 2

yam 3

bones to earth

rainbow serpent

rainbow serpent 2

the creator

boogeyman

cassowary and turtle

emu

sand

the-bush

mob

mob 2

wallabee in distance

wallabee on alert

wallabee up close

wallabee up close eating

wallabee up close eating 2

red ginger

redbeach female flower

redbeach male flower

capetown view

capetown view 2

capetown view 3

jane capetown

cockatoo from moving bus

gbr bluecoral

gbr bluecoral 2

gbr bluecoral 3

gbr bluecoral 4

gbr bluething

gbr bluething 2

gbr brain coral

gbr coral

gbr coral 2

gbr coral 3

gbr coral 4

gbr coral fish

gbr coral fish 2

gbr fish

gbr fish 2

gbr fish 3

gbr fish 4

gbr fish 5

gbr fish coral

gbr fish coral 2

gbr fish purplecoral

gbr living coral

gbr marvin buffalo parrotfi

gbr parrotfish feeding

gbr parrotfish feeding 2

gbr parrotfish feeding 3

gbr pinkcoral fish

gbr purple coral

gbr purple coral 2

gbr schooling fish

gbr schooling fish 2

gbr sea cucumber

gbr sea cucumber fish

gbr sea cucumber fish 2

gbr seagrass

gbr sealettuce

Brisbane blue iron

Brisbane building

Brisbane St Pauls Presbyterian Church

Brisbane St Pauls Presbyterian Church 2

Brisbane St Pauls Presbyterian Church detail

Brisbane St Pauls Presbyterian Church small side building

Brisbane St Pauls Presbyterian Church window

Brisbane St Pauls Presbyterian Church window detail

Brisbane dinosaurs

Brisbane dragonfly

Brisbane 'eye'

Brisbane graffiti

Brisbane metermaids

Brisbane metermaids 2

Brisbane museum firebikeeng

Brisbane museum indianmotor

Brisbane nepal bell

Brisbane nepal-elephant

Brisbane nepal-peace-pagoda

Brisbane nepal-peace-pagoda 2

Brisbane postoffice

Brisbane postoffice 2

Brisbane sculpture

Brisbane sculpture 2

Brisbane sculpture 3

Brisbane sculpture 4

Brisbane sculpture 5

Brisbane sculpture 6

Brisbane utilitybox side1

Brisbane utilitybox side2

Brisbane utilitybox side3

Brisbane utilitybox side4