Finally we have had a day of sun! Brisbane, the 'capital of the sunshine' state' has not failed us!
We left our couch surfing home on Monday morning after a good nights sleep, with a hug goodbye. I think we have also waved goodbye to couch surfing! We were glad we had the experience but are too grateful for a shower at a hostel! I think we have learnt now to be so appreciative of the hostel facilities ad are standards have well and truly been lowered!

We took a quick bus ride over to Brisbane, found our hostel, the Woodduck backpackers, and all hit the shower! The hostel isn't too big and is well equipped. We spent the first night in an 8-bed dorm, then swapped for the following two nights into a cheaper 9-bed dorm, which unfortunately had a really typical smelly-boy smell! After cracking on with some washing, shopping and cooking, Jade and me went for a late night stroll about. My first impressions of Brisbane are that it is a smallish, but nice and clean city. There are numerous quirky buildings and bridges and there a lot of open spaces within the city, which I like. We stayed mainly on the South bank side that evening and overlooked the city from the other side of the river. On the South bank there are numerous bars, eateries, galleries, museums and a big wheel. We didn't walk far enough that evening, but it also leads to Brisbane's man-made lagoon and beach, which is meant to be nice.

We awoke the next day to the previously mentioned sunny day! Yay! Although we also awoke to the bad news that we have now been charged to my credit card for our stay in Sydney over Christmas and new year :(
But we weren't going to miss out on the sun, so we packed our stuff and moved to our cheaper room, then while Jade made the most and utilised the shower facilities again, Ruth, Sally and me went on a bit of an explore around Brisbane. We walked along the edge of the South bank, before heading into the city. After a little bit of shopping we have started to look into accommodation for our stay in Fiji, although it is all looking a little pricey! (if anyone has any suggestions, please let us know!!). However, it is apparently the school holidays while we are there so it is to be expected.

In the afternoon we took the train over to Manly to meet another of Ruth's relatives, Emma, her husband Brian and children Kate and Harry. Emma and the kids met us from the train station and took us back to their lovely house and Emma kindly put some washing on for us.
We then spent a couple of hours in their pool with the children before tea when Brian got home from work. We met our first wild possum and played board games until bedtime. Kate dressed up for us while Harry showed off in Kate's old dressing up high heels. They are both lovely, funny kids and a really nice family. We had a very good day and it was sad to leave after only just meeting them!

The following morning I got up early to Skype the parents, it was nice to see them and have a chat. The sun came out again so we decided to head over to the South bank to see the man-made beach they have there. The beach itself is not too big, but it is really nice and the water is lovely. There are deeper bits for swimming and shallower bits to sit and chill in. Next to this is some really shallow water with fountains and jet sprays for children to play in. The whole thing is free and set in really nice gardens. The restaurants and shops around here are nice and modern with flower- lined sidewalks. I really like it around there. It is nice to sit on the beach and look over the lagoon, across the river to the hustle and bustle of the city, but be far enough away to not hear it. As the clouds came over a little, we went for a walk around some of the walking paths, spotting huge lizards and spiders along the way!

Tomorrow we are catching an early bus to go to Australia zoo and then onto Noosa. It has worked out cheapest for us to do this as our East coast greyhound bus went via the zoo anyway, and greyhound could offer us reduced price entry tickets. It just means we have to leave a little earlier to get to the bus station with all our bags and them leave them in a locker at the zoo. We then leave from the zoo and go onto Noosa as our next destination. I think we are all really looking forward to going to the zoo as it is meant to be a really good day out. With that early morning in mind, I better get myself off to bed! G'night!

Amy. x