So we arrived in Brisbane after around an hour Greyhound bus ride. The bus was pretty full so we were all split up around the bus. Tom and Jeeves reluctantly decided to hitch hike to Brisbane so the five of us Hana, Lauren, The Swedes and myself were scattered around the bus, but we still persisted on having a cheeky few games of Uno passing cards the length of the bus. This went much better than expected even and was fun even though the other passengers were looking at us a bit bemused.

The bus journey was over before we knew it and we had arrived in Brisbane. It instantly reminded me of somewhere like Birmingham. It was the first time I had been in a massive city for a long time. I didn't have time to bask in the city for long as we had a bit of a nightmare sorting a hostel. I phoned pretty much every hostel but they couldn't accommodate all seven of us. Our little team of seven who had been travelling together for around a week would have to split up. As Tom and Jeeves weren't there I sorted there hostel and booked us into a private room in the City Backpackers. It was more expensive than a dorm room but it meant we all got to be in the same room and we had a fridge and our own bathroom. It turned out that Anna and Alex (The Swedes) had also done the same. Hana and Lauren however were staying a couple of doors down at a place called Chill Backpackers. We all checked in and reconvened later and awaited the arrival of Tom and Jeeves so we could go and explore the city.

We didn't have to wait long for Tom and Jeeves, they didn't really try too hard to hitch hike and ended up getting a couple of buses and a train to reach Brisbane. So they dropped their bags off and we all went to explore, apart from Jeeves who went to get his hair cut but found nothing. It was time to bask in the city now. Everything about it semt to amaze me, the city centre was really like Nottingham, it even had a square with two Lion statues. Me and Tom were like kids in sweet shops. We found a wii tent and had a cheeky goon the latest Wii console and Tom was especially when we found $2 sushi. I was equally impressed but even more so with a shop called Pie Face where we could indulge on Pie, Mash Potatoes, Gravy and Mushy Peas. After eating and having various photos taken with random little statues around the town we bought some goon and headed back to start drinking. We had a fun night playing games including drinking game Uno, and charades. It's fair to say we were all a little tipsy so we decided to head into the city to find somewhere to drink. It didn't take long for us all to be split up. Firstly Hana and Lauren got stranded with a couple of random blokes, and then me and the swedes followed Tom and Jeeves into an Irish bar. We didn't realised they had left and I bought myself a Jim Beam and Coke. The Swedes then fell out a little and stormed off in opposite directions. I was pretty drunk and it wasn't really what I needed but I managed to chase them both down and walk them back to the hostel where me and Alex struggled to get in for about an hour. When I eventually returned my room it had appeared that Tom and Jeeves had brought a random bloke back to the room. His name was Josh and they met him on the streets on the way to strip club so Tom and Jeeves decided to join him. He was an alright guy but soon left when Jeeves started ranting on about politics, something he seems to do a lot when he is drunk.

The next morning we all woke up with a bit of a sore head, so Tom and I decided on cooking up a full English. The Swedes had told me they had wanted to try an English breakfast so it was mine and Tom's time to shine. We went all out attack and did everything, the full works: - Sausages, Bacon, Hash Browns, Scrambled Eggs, Fried Eggs, Baked Beans, Fried Bread, Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Toast. It was a success, well apart from the Swedes I don't think they appreciated a full English as much as the English do. Or maybe it was just the Aussie meat they didn't enjoy. Either way if they ever visit England, I will try again, but this time with some proper English meat. We all split up for the day then, The Swedes watched a few films, Jeeves stayed in still feeling the effects of the previous night while Hana and Lauren started their job search. Meanwhile Tom and I went on a little adventure. Our first stop took us too Rainworth. A little suburb of Brisbane. We wanted to go there as Tom is from a little village in Nottinghamshire with the same name and I also lived only a five minute drive from the place. We spent a grand total of 2 minutes in Rainworth before starting to walk back; there was nothing there just a bus stop, a medical centre and a school. Tom was pretty disappointed but we had a new adventure now it was time to find the statue of The Big Paperclip in the West End of Brisbane. Four buses later and we still had no idea where it was, no one semt to have a clue. The bus drivers kept advising us on going on different buses or had never heard of it. We were aimlessly walking around the streets when I stopped an old woman; I never got to know her name but will call her Mavis for the purpose of the blog. I asked Mavis if she knew of the giant paperclip but she too had no idea but informed us of a statue of an upside down elephant. Mavis said she was walking in that direction and would take us, not one for being rude we politely obliged getting lectures about Butchers and a tour of the city on the way. We saw the Elephant it was very random, we took some pictures but it was still no Giant Paperclip. We found a free internet café so decided to try and pinpoint its location. Bingo we found something it was near Paul's ice cream factory on Montague Road. We went back to explore with renewed hope. We found the factory, but the paperclip was still nowhere to be seen. I was gutted. So we decided to head back for a few cheeky goons and to drown our sorrows. A few drinking games and goons later and we were in town partying with a wedding reception we got dragged along with. We had a drink and photos with the bride (Laura), the groom (Dara) and best man Paddy and then went our separate ways. We went a few other places including a random adult shop (We didn't buy anything) but everything was pretty dead apart from one place but Jeeves couldn't get in because he had sneakers on. So it was off to end the night with a kebab or some sort of fast food. We grabbed a Hungry Jacks, Australia's version of Burger King and then I stayed out to watch the football watching Man Utd eventually cruise to a 3-1 victory.

The next day we slept until the poker tournament we saw advertised the previous day started. Me, Tom, Jeeves and Anna had all entered. Hana and Lauren were still on the job hunt while Alex was feeling pretty sad because she had developed exma or however you spell it on her face. It wasn't really noticeable and she still looked great but she was having none of it and decided to stay in bed. The tournament was a badly organised show, with no one not knowing what was happening. But eventually things got underway. There were five tables and the winner of each table would meet on a winners table to play for the $50 prize money. I started well scooping a few early pots and catching someone trying to bluff me outrageously. Tom went out on his table and was moosing about, his presence gave me a bit of bad luck and I lost a few hands losing my chip lead position. Jeeves was the next to go out of us four as the tables were getting down to the nitty gritty. Several tables had finished leaving just two. Anna was in the final two on hers and I was in the final two on mine. Then there was just one of us left when Anna got knocked out. She wondered over just as I lost a massive pot and put me on the verge of elimination. I clung on though and battled back eventually winning the table, beating a guy from Doncaster in the last two and earning my spot at the winners table after three hours of play. The winners table got started straight away and I started aggressively winning the first few pots. One guy from Bournemouth was then eliminated, leaving just four. An Irish guy, a bloke from The Czech Republic, a lad from Dudley who went to uni in Notts and me. Me and John the guy from Dudley who went to uni in Notts were always on the back foot with a short chip stack, but time and time again we kept defying the odds and would not be eliminated. With time pressing on the chip leader declared "Let's just get 5 $10 jugs and split the winnings between us" John couldn't stick around so we decided to get one jug between us and get $10 each! Result. I was pretty low on chips and I'd come joint first. We had our jug and chatted random s*** before I went to see what the others were doing. Tom and Jeeves were moping about in bed probably being bad losers so I went to visit the Swedes to see what was happening there. Alex was still very upset so I decided to do my best to cheer her up. This included dancing, a strip show and the offer of a naked plank. I think it made her feel worse! But she did crack a few laughs. But it wasn't enough to get her out with us. I eventually respected her decision and let her get some sleep while the rest of us had a few steady goons in our room. I say steady but some people got very drunk, especially Anna who had never really been drunk before until this night where she was stumbling around all over the place telling people she loved and hated them!

The next morning we had to wake up to check out. We were off to Surfers Paradise that day. We checked out and put our bags into storage we wouldn't be leaving until later, so we had time to do the XXXX brewery tour. It was an OK tour but I found the rum factory in Bundaberg better as we got to see more of the factory. But at least on this tour at the end we got four free beers and got to play on the football table. We tried a a Pale Ale, Dark Ale, a standard XXXX Gold and a XXXX Summer and gambled on the football table. Tom had a mare losing close to $20. We had nothing to eat all day so were feeling a little tipsy so we decided to get something to eat and then researched where we would stay in Surfers. We wanted to stay in a placed called Sleeping Inn but that was fully booked so ended up booking a place called Trekkers. Tom and Jeeves then decided to leave as they were getting public transport again where as my bus didn't leave until later that night. I played some Uno with the Swedes, Hana and Lauren before saying an emotional goodbye. They were all staying in Brisbane to hopefully find jobs where as we would carry on the coast until Sydney. We were three again but that wouldn't be for long as Jeeves would leave us soon to go back to England. I've said it before and I'll say it again one of the worse things about travelling is meeting great people and then having to say goodbye not knowing if you will ever see them again.

The team was well and truly split up; it was time to see how the three amigos would get on in Surfers and what mischief we could cause.

So until then Stay Safe and Take Care

Adi

x