Getting My Bearings

Today I went on a four hour walking tour of Brisbane. It was quite interesting. The area where my hostel is and the train station nearby are nice but not nearly as clean or as impressive as I had heard Brisbane is. The tour I went on showed the cities beauty and intrigue beyond doubt.
I have been surprised to learn that many people smoke in Brisbane! Especially the people from about 18-25 (those are the ones I have had the most contact with). Today also learned that there are no punitive damages in the Queensland court system and they have no offense that would relate to vehicular manslaughter. I was in a bike shop talking with one of the employees and he had been hit by a car. He said that the police came and did nothing, not even call an ambulance as he was bleeding all over the street. The driver got off scott free! Luckily the cyclist made a full recovery.On my way back to the center of downtown I passed the public man made beach. It looks pretty nice. Tomorrow I hope to have time for a swim.The tour guide said that it wasn't safe to swim in the river because of the sharks that live there! A little past the beach was a large screen that as showing a tennis match being played here in BrisbaneThe finals are tomorrow so I expect to see a large crowd gathered.

After my tour I went to a museum that we passed along the way. It was the Commissariat Store. Here I learned that the city that is now Brisbane was a penal settlement for second offenders, or those that committed an offense once they arrived in Australia. Free settlers were not allowed to live in the area until the convict community was disbanded in 1839. From here I went down the pedestrian mall and looked in various shops including some sporting good shops that had some sweet cricket and football jerseys!