The late departure from Changi meant that Dreamworld was not possible this morning and will be postponed to early tomorrow instead.

We arrived in Brisbane at about 1100hrs and caught a 90 minute train ride to Narang where our limo driver collected us and our luggage and deposited us at our hotel, the Australis Sovereign. We will be staying here for the next couple of nights.

The hotel is quite a friendly place, not too formal but it looks and feels new and comfortable. It is quite a walk from the main action happening at Surfers' Paradise, but the walk is pleasant and, I suppose, healthy.

The problem is, as usual, we bring the rain. We've got our windbreakers on, hoods up, walking around Surfers' in summer. Most everyone else here is walking around heedless of the wet weather, but we are nicely bundled up, quite the anomaly, though people are too polite to mention it in our presence.

We stopped for lunch at La Porchetta, an Italian chain restaurant, for a small meat lovers' pizza with extra mushroom topping. Thin crust, plenty of meat including bits of lamb, and fresh mozza. Lovely.

In the afternoon, we hit the malls searching for the Hard Rock Cafe. HRC stuff is quite horribly expensive so we didn't buy anything, though we wanted to get a t-shirt for sis-in-law's collection.

There is supposed to be a night market along the beach every Friday night but the poor weather must have washed it out. The beach is deserted today -- not even the hardcore surfer dudes are out -- so no point opening for business, much to June's disappointment.

Returned to the hotel with my left sandal busted up at the same place I had it stiched up last time. Bah. Need to get new sandals now.

Hope Aussie TV isn't as boring as American. Hopefully, Dreamworld tomorrow!