Day 58 – 60 : Brisbane – “I can do you a good deal on Swine Flu.”
We emerge into the hot Brisbane night tired and slightly irked by the fact that, inconceivably and despite being on practically the same longitude, Brisbane is an hour behind Sydney. Throw in the fact that the clocks have just shifted back home, and the handy “just invert a.m. to p.m.” trick of knowing what time it is back in Ireland is thrown into total disarray.
We locate luggage (thank you Virgin Blue for not losing it) and take a courtesy shuttle into the heart of Brisbane. Even in the gloom of Australia’s forever marching spring-time dusk, I’m impressed with just how open, clean and seemingly modern Brisbane is.
A short walk later and we’ve located our hostel; one of a trio in a line next to one another, all apparently resembling a reckless fusion of sorority and frat house. Somewhere near its corrupt heart an Irish bar festers, the strange sound of inept warbling permeating through the walls in sickening waves like drowning sheep.