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Anna, a fellow traveler who I worked with in Sydney, turned up unexpectedly in Brisbane just after Rob and I had decided to leave. Over a bottle of wine we quickly resolved to travel North together. In celebration of this excellent decision we proceeded to paint the town red.

It just so happened that the USS Kittihawk had berthed off Brisbane that very weekend and so we took it upon ourselves to welcome the American sailors to Queensland. Our first encounter was with a seaman who introduced us to jive talking. He said “POOM” a lot to illustrate his points and bit his lip when describing attractive women.

From the balcony of the Irish bar on Elizabeth and George Streets, we spotted more sailors with their kit bags, funny little sailor boy outfits and those in their civvies. One in particular looked completely out of place with a gigantic Kanye West style belt buckle and walk-with-attitude more suitable for MTV than low key Brisbane. We then spoke with a couple of officers, one of whom was the perfect gentleman whilst the other couldn’t raise his eyes above the ladies’ chests. It must have been a long time at sea.

We then moved on to New Farm –but not before Rob had chatted to the DJ and secured himself a free CD. Listen to it here (in a few days’ time). In New Farm we went to The Press Club which was quite dark and groovy but then found a much more comfortable club across the road. Complete with lounges, cushions, live bongos and dancers we got happily drunk with the uber cool crowd before catching the ever so efficient N184 BUZ home.

Brisbane buses run from New Farm throughout the night and are staffed with security guards at each stop and on each bus. For timetables click here.