Hotel: Ibis Styles Brisbane Elizabeth Street
Hotel Review: This hotel is very central - near lots of shops and restaurants. It's very hip/modern - the room and bathroom is a bit on the small side, but it was much better than the hotel in Melbourne, though not quite as good as the hotels in Hobart and Sydney. At $120 a night, I think it was a great deal and would highly recommend it! We especially liked that they offered free access to washers/dryers - we needed it after being here nearly 10 days now.
Sights Visited: Lone Pine Sanctuary (so incredibly awesome - you will love the videos and pictures!), Gallery of Modern Art, Southbank, WestEnd, Mt. Coot-ha, Fortitude Valley, Eat Street Northshore, Queen Street Mall, Green Beacon Brewery, Felons Brewery (for drinks/dinner with our newfound Brisbane buddies), Chinatown, Jocelyn's Provisions (skip it - mediocre bakery at best)
Restaurants we liked: Intersection (it's a bakery, coffee shop, and restaurant all in one) - I had the best breakfast of my life there - I don't usually take pictures of food, but it was beautiful and delicious! Strangely - the lemon meringue tart at the Queensland Museum was also the best I've ever had - and it was gluten free - hard to believe! It was pretty too, but we scarfed it before I thought to take a picture!
What we think of Brisbane: We really liked Brisbane and think we should have stayed longer to fully appreciate it. I can't say enough good things about our experience at Lone Pine Sanctuary! Holding a koala was amazing and no one got a picture of it, but the koala just looked up at me so sweetly at one point like he was happy that he got to be held by me. AND feeding the kangaroos was an unexpected surprise - especially the mama kangaroos with joeys in their pockets. What a unique and incredible experience! I very highly recommend that no one miss this place!

We also really liked the city itself. It's not as "polished" as Melbourne, but it had great food and had a little more character in regard to architecture. Eat Street Northshore was a real treat too - we recommend going between 4-5pm to get in for half price (you are paying for the entertainment), but the variety of food venues is extensive. Our favorite was the Hungarian Special at the Original Langos - it's a fry bread covered in a garlicky cream and shredded cheese. Yum!

And we even pulled off meeting up with our new friends from our Tasmanian tour - Aussies are the best!

Anyway, we are on the cruise ship now and we need to conserve the wifi! I'll be positing again in 9 days or so about the cruise! TTFN - ta ta for now!