Australia 2002 Trip 2

For a little bit of exotic excitement, Lynn and I start off this vacation approximately 2,000 miles apart. No really - Lynn decided to use our flight from Portland to Los Angeles as an excuse to go a day early and detour via San Diego to visit her parents. I stay home and pack instead.

With a little help from a friendly guy at the checkout desk, we uncover a well hidden, but extremely expeditious expressway out to the airport and are there with lots of time to kill. This turns out to be a good thing as the lines are out of the door. We're flying for the first time on Virgin Blue, which is a bit of a bargain basement airline, so we're somewhat resigned to a long wait.

Another pleasant and uneventful Virgin Blue flight and here we are in Brisbane, in the far south east corner, and capital of, Queensland, Australia's sunshine state. This state is the home of the Great Barrier Reef, tropical rain forests, surfer dudes, gold mines and the Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter). And a future home for Nick & Lynn, perhaps?

Something has happened in Adelaide in the past 4 years. When we were first here, back in '98, we were shocked to see how cheap the housing was. For approximately $AU250,000 ($US130,000) you could get a large 4 bedroom house, with a few acres of land within easy commuting distance of the city.