During my time in Brisbane I visited the Australia Zoo which is still run by Steve Irwin’s family (may he rest I peace). Our busdriver told us a lot about the history of the zoo and the attached Wildlife hospital. Afterwards we watched a movie about Steve Irwin and his efforts to preserve wildlife and create awareness about it’s beauty. The zoo itself features many animals including tiger-cubs and the crocodile-show was quite impressing, especially taking into account that everyone deemed it impossible to get the crocs inside and out of the arena reliable and in short time.

Originally, my stopover in Brisbane was meant to be spent at the airport. Due to the difficulty of storing luggage for a week, I decided to book a hostel for the time between 02:00 and 09:00. After leaving my luggage in the morning, I drank my first ‘Flat white’ (which is basically a cappucino with minimally aerated milk) and – a little sad, having to wait to discover what this sunbathed city with would have to offer – took the airtrain to BNE-International to head for Fiji. On arrival I was told that my flight would be delayed by almost 13 hours until 00:50 the next day. [The flight the day before was cancelled due to malfunctioning altimeters.] Fijiair kindly set us up in the 4-point sheraton hotel right in the heart of Brisbane and provided us with vouchers to what turned out as amazing lunch and dinner. After a start in the rooftop gym with an amazing view on the story bridge and parts of the town, I spent the day discovering Brisbane, it’s history and the botanic gardens. While the locals were covered in winter jackets and restaurants provided heaters outside, I enjoyed the beautiful 23°C sunlit day in a t-shirt and shorts. What a lovely “Australian winter” :D. At 9pm Fijiair took us back to the airport and we had a few hours left to wait for our flight which lifted off almost on time. (Fijii-time!)