Capital of Queensland, Brisbane is one of the most desirable places in Australia to live. Unmanageable convicts were sentenced to settle the area in 1824, and several conflicts with resistant aboriginal peoples pushed their original coastal location back to the safer banks of the Brisbane River. The city wraps itself around the water, with one feature being the South Bank Parklands, an inner-city esplanade consisting of a whimsical sandy beach, trendy restaurants and eclectic shops.

Brisbane's sandstone City Hall's bell-tower provides a scope over the city, and the grand Newstead House, an 1846 homestead, is kitted out in period furnishings and antiques. For some provocative entertainment, the city's former Treasury Building has been converted into a posh 24-hour casino planted with palm trees. The Queensland Museum houses everything from dinosaur skeletons to German tanks. Mt. Coot-tha Reserve and the popular Brisbane Forest Park protect native flora and offer chances to spot resident wildlife, and, the adorable Australian icon, the koala, is waiting to be hugged at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.