The state of Queensland, Australia – I took a domestic flight out from Melbourne to spend the weekend with one of my oldest friends in Brisbane. With the warmest welcome of a plate of Kiribath (milk rice, a traditional Sri Lankan dish) and a hot cup of tea, we watched the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics, briefly caught up on the gossip, grabbed our sling bags and sweaters and got onto the streets!

Brisbane had gotten over Winter – by the time I got there, it was 17C degrees, quite warm for me after what I went through in Melbourne. With the comfort of the weather, walking around the city was that much more fun! We of course first walked into Dymocks – wrapped ourselves in the smell of new books, browsed around and walked out buying things we don’t need.

We came across this cute little chocolate shop – you need to pick a bag or a box, put in a spoonful (or spoonsful) of whatever combination of chocolate you want and pay per gram. Straightforward. With the bag of chocolates in hand, we strolled around, catching up, talking about life and the decisions we’ve made… walked by the artificial beach in the middle of the city, bought over expensive dresses at a flea market and indulged in Max Brenner’s Hot Chocolate and Waffles and Ice Cream.

We crossed over the bridge towards the BRISBANE sign – tried very hard to get a photograph but couldn’t beat the hundred other tourists who had the same idea. So instead we resorted to taking a selfie!

As the evening came to a close, we went back home to prepare dinner. I only had two nights in Brisbane and wanted to make the most of it; I didn’t have much time to travel around but was able to take a drive up to Mt Cootha Lookout, about 45 minutes from the city center. It was certainly a fitting end to my two days in Brisbane!