Brisbane: a beautiful place of balance...

We have been blessed to see some places of Australia and it is a beautiful country. Australia is a large land mass of 2.97 million square miles, compared to the US at 3.06 million square miles but its population is only 22.7 million people (2012) compared to the US at 320 million people. Pretty interesting stats, well at least to me. This last trip out we got to see Brisbane. Now, we have been to Brisbane once before but it was only for a few hours.

Brisbane is the Capital of Queensland. And I love Brisbane! Brisbane is the third most populous city in Australia. But what I love about Brisbane is that, despite being a bustling city of fast-paced business people, is its incredible life/health/fashion/arts/food/nature/environmental/patriotic balance (reminded me a lot of Denver, Colorado). For example, one corporate building housed an on-site daycare, another building provided fresh fruit to every person on every floor daily and there is a park with hammock chairs where one can sit and relax and enjoy the fresh air and beautiful sunshine.

Our hotel was in the epicenter of large corporate buildings, well preserved historic buildings, monuments, coffee shops, restaurants, parks, shopping and of course, the backpackers motel. It was so impressive how the effort and collaborative support of the community and government oozed throughout the city. Brisbane is healthy, clean and friendly – a wonderful treat. Even though we were there to address some medical needs, we were still able to enjoy this beautiful city and indulged on the many things it has to offer -- including visiting the St. John's Cathedral (where Mason said he saw bubbles floating that followed us out, interesting) and we looked into the Freemason lodge (Hannah is very intrigued by Freemason history).     

Our trip was very quick and we enjoyed heading back to the airport on the Brisbane Airtrain. A highly organized and environmentally friendly transportation option that serves all of Brisbane. Way-to-go, Brisbane!

We are back again on the mountain in the jungle and looking forward to spending time with a local tribe and anxiously awaiting our upcoming trip to Europe.

As always, to be continued…