Brisbane

In Brisbane, Charlie and I stayed in a very cool, arty neighborhood full of punk rockers with gravity-defying blue mohawks and the like. A river runs through the center of Brisbane and there is a wonderful park along one of the river's banks, complete with free public pool and beach, with actual sand. Brisbane has many great art and natural history museums and all offer free admission. We saw a fascinating exhibit about a collection of exotic Australian butterflies and moths.

We also enjoyed Brisbane's fine selection of cafes and restaurants, many of which allow you to bring your own wine or beer, when they themselves have no liquor license.

And before you knew it, I was off to New Zealand sans Charlie. He already has been to New Zealand before and I haven't, and he wants to stay in Australia, and I don't. So we are spending two weeks apart, me in New Zealand and Charlie on the West Coast of Australia. (He doesn't know it yet, but his surf plans are about to be almost entirely rained out.... But more on that later.)

Charlie says that you can divide people into those who loooooove New Zealand and those who loooooove Australia, and he is in the latter category. I don't know which category I belong to or whether I even accept such categorization. My heart has a great capacity to love many things.