Brisbane

A mailbox--if anyone can figure out the paragraph at the bottom, please explain it to me!!
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Arrived in Brisbane after an early morning. Started in Landsborough at a cute little tea shop--I had coconut and lime green tea. Yum!(Not usually a tea drinker--that's a big compliment!). Then we headed to the Australia Zoo. Steve Irwin(aka Crocodile Hunter)'s own. He wasn't there that day, but there was still lots to keep us amused!Walked(ran) around to take everything in(We only had 3 hours to get our $43(!!!!!!!!!) worth). Patted(pet?) a kangaroo and a koala, saw the beasts(the dingos were cool, and they had a 176 year old tortoise named Harriet!Check her out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet) Caught the tiger, bird and crocodile shows in the "Crocoseum". 5000 seat stadium just for the shows. The tiger show was neat--I was impressed how they showed their training, and how it applies to the tigers' natural behaviour, and how it enables the trainers to interact safely with them for medical checks and things. No tigers jumping through hoops, thank goodness. The bird show was surprisingly impressive, with all sorts of neat and unusual birds coming into the stadium, and flying around just above us--trained to return to handlers that stood in the stands. The crocodile show was neat, although the croc was a bit sleepy. A little too cool for him that morning...

A giant pineapple...
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Then we raced to Brisbane to meet up with one of Sean's friends who's living there. We headed over to the festival going on, and caught one of the shows. Started pouring down rain, so we left. We headed over to friends of my aunt's, where we had a great supper at a real house with a real family. It's been awhile. I stayed the night in a luxurious queen size bed, while Sean did the party-stay-out-all-night thing with his friend and co. I think I got the better end of that deal. Next day we got some beers with a couple we met on our Whitsunday cruise, then headed up Mount Coot-tha for a nice view. Down to South Bank for supper, which we had at a Korean restaurant. Dolsot Bibimbap. It's been awhile. It wasn't Korea Korean, but it was good. Shockingly, soju was $20 a BOTTLE!!!!(It's less than $1 in Korea). So we didn't imbibe. Sean broke down and got a bottle of Hite though (Korean beer). While not worth the $5.50 for the taste, it was for the memories!!

A great lookout we stopped at on the way to Noosa...
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Breakfast the next morning at a neat little place called Sassafras, and Sean and I were off down the highway to Byron Bay.