Packed before heading down to breakfast.

Checked out the ground floor cafe for breakfast - would have turned out to cost as much as the buffet for less food.  Excused ourselves and wandered back up a floor to the buffet.

While waiting to depart, took in a quarter of Aussie rules football on TV.   Fast, engaging game.  No big bruisers like in American football - thin, muscular players - runner/soccer player physique.  The ball is in constant motion - as opposed to american football where most of the game is "played" by referees.  Imagine a game of hot potato crossed with American football, soccer, and basketball.  Intense.

Down to the lobby to catch the airport shuttle for a 12p flight to Brisbane (pronounced Brisbin).

Arrived at the airport to find that the 12p flight was canceled.  They rebooked us onto the 1p flight.

The 1p flight got delayed to 2:20.  Ansett airlines sucks.  If they do this 2 hour delay stuff when we're connecting back to the states from Cairns it will be very inconvenient.

Finally got on the plane.  They served a snack/lunch - no better than domestic carrier food.  Included a "Time Out" candy bar.

Got off the plane in Brisbane and made way to the Avis counter.  Wandered out to the rental cars and found ours.  The steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car.  We climbed in and consulted the map book to figure out how to get to our hotel.

Oh, my god, I'm driving on the wrong side of the street, and the car's built backwards - we're gonna die!

Did I mention the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car?  Well, the controls are reversed around the wheel, too.  So every time I wanted to signal a turn, on came the windshield wipers...

Somehow we made it to our hotel  alive despite my driving and bad directions from the Avis folks.

Checked in and parked the car, with no plans to drive again 'till at least tomorrow.

This hotel (The Albert Park) isn't really in the same class as the Mercure.  It's OK, but not as new or luxurious.

The restaurant is only open for dinner from 6-8p on Sunday.  Eating somewhere else meant driving.  We freshened up and went down for dinner.

Dinner was very good - and much less expensive than in Sydney.  I had steak - way better than Outback, that's all I can say.  Dawnise had a Mango Chicken dish.  Both came with three varieties of potato.  Still can't figure that one out.  We got a choice of french fries or idaho potato - then gave us both, and mashed to boot.

The service was great - we made our typical request for ice water with lemon, and whereas everyone else gave us two tiny tumblers of water, this lady brought us a pitcher of ice water with lemon floating in it.  Realized that what I was interpreting as poor service at other restaurants was likely a cultural "thing" - we were left alone until we made eye contact and asked for something - that includes the check.  By the end of the trip I had gotten very used to not being rushed out of restaurants.

Headed back up to the room and admired the view of the city from our balcony.

Got to sleep a bit early, tomorrow is the big tiger day...
 

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