When I was a kid, I had a map of the world taped to my bedroom wall.

And often, I would scan the mysterious continent-country of Australia.

I learned back then it was a penal colony, where Brits had sent their prisoners. Never mind there was already an indigenous population and, really, the British couldn’t technically claim they “discovered” it. But I digress.

This island continent is huge, with a land mass of about 3 million square feet. It’s the world’s smallest continent but the sixth largest country by total area. And everyone there — all 22.6 million of them — has an accent that I think is cool.

Australia has always been on my must-see list and, despite direct flights to Sydney, its capital, I’ve never been there.

Until now.

Tomorrow I’ll be joining the media group heading to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, on the inaugural flight from Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines. (And yes, Melissa Chang will be my roomie again!)

To be honest, I don’t know much about Brisbane. In fact, when I was invited to go, I had to Google it to find out where on the continent it was.

Turns out, Brisbane is on the southeastern corner of Queensland, centered along the Brisbane River. The city is on a low-lying floodplain and has seen its share of massive flooding, even as recently as last year.

But that’s all I’ve got.

So I’m spending most of today researching this fascinating city — and figuring out what we should do! — and packing for our five-day adventure Down Under.

The upside: it’s summer there. I won’t need to buy a parka!

If you’ve got advice for us, post it here. We need all the help we can get!

Follow my adventures in Brisbane on Twitter @thedailydish and on Instagram @catherinetoth.