Byron Bay to BrisbaneWe left Sydney late in the evening after having a great few days with Sinead, but it was back to the 2 of us for the next leg of the trip. Byron Bay is a little seaside town that is hugely popular with everyone from backpackers to surfers. It has a population of just over 7'000 and is usually home to thousands more, particularly over the summer when it apparently gets rammed. As we were there in winter (a "chilly" 25 degrees) it was a little quieter. Byron is a lovely little town, but it is much the same as any other touristy town, just with a better beach than most. It's gorgeous to walk along the beach or just chill out, and there are some great bars and restaurants, but there isn't an awful lot else to do there. If you have been travelling for a while, or if you are looking to stop somewhere and do a little bit of work, then its perfect but on our itinerary of trying to squeeze everything in, it was nice but not great. Just outside of Byron is a small town called Nimbin. This area used to be a big dairy area until the laws were changed and all the dairy farmers left the area. As a result it started to attract a hippy crowd which was bolstered during the Vietnam War years as Australians hid out there to avoid the draft. It's a notorious town if anyone has been there and is a popular attraction for travelers passing through to go there. However, there isn't really anything there of substance ;-) so it's a fairly weak tour with only the local produce worth going to purchase. Talking of hippy's, we were staying in a hostel called the arts factory which is laid out like a hippy commune and has lots of random accommodation options, including a tee-pee, a bus, dorms laid out like surf club and tents around a lake. This sounds good, but in reality, the "lake" is more like a swamp that simply attracts mosquitos and the whole place is a bit shabby as they don't seem to have maintained it well over the years. On the upside, it does have a great bar and there was always something to do while we were there, so not too bad, just don't get the tents near the swamp like us and hope that they have spent a few quid tidying it up if you ever go. The most famous attraction in Byron is called Cheeky Monkeys!And apparently it's the place to go every night, apart from the night we went apparently. Whilst it was enjoyable enough, we stayed for ages and it just wasn't kicking off at all. At one point we were playing Jenga as it was a bit dull. I got chatting to an Oz Experience driver at the bar and she said she was stunned it was so quiet. It was just before the Queens Birthday weekend, so perhaps people were saving themselves for a big Saturday night…? Either way, it didn't help us and we left there distinctly underwhelmed.After 4 days in Byron, we headed for Surfers Paradise where we would be staying with some of my family from Brisbane as they were all there for the bank holiday. Surfers is the party capital Queensland and probably the rest of Australia too. It's well known for its bars and clubs and has the same sort of reputation as Ibiza or Majorca. Every year, thousands of school kids descend on Surfers for schoolies week, a sort of Australian spring break where they all try and damage their liver. Such a shame I'm too old for all that. We spent 2 days there just relaxing with the family really and spent some time pottering around the beach. The weather wasn't great for the 2 days and the sea was pretty rough so there was no swimming but you could walk for days on the beach at surfers, its absolutely huge. It also has the largest real estate developments in the country. There are hundreds of high rise towers including Q1 the largest residential tower in the southern hemisphere. They are constantly updating surfers and replacing older tower blocks with newer fancy ones. While we were there, we seen 3 large building sites being worked on including the new Hilton and every 3rd store was an estate agent or timeshare company. It's completely mad, but there is so much money in the area. The local NRL team, the Gold Coast Titans has only been going a few years and yet has a large following and a great stadium. They are also creating an AFL team to start there from next year to cash in on the population boom and money in the area. We left Surfers on the bank holiday and had just under a week staying with my cousins in Brisbane. It was really nice to be back in a real house and just relax. We had plenty of time to stroll round Brisbane and have a good look around.Brisbane is the fastest growing city in Australia and similar to Perth in that it looks like it could be a good place to live and work, but there isn't a huge amount of touristy stuff to do. There were some really interesting parts, for example there is the chapel of Blessed Mary McKillop who I had never heard of. But she is Australia's best hope of sainthood as she was canonised a few years ago. (they were hoping for an announcement at this years World Youth Day in Sydney but its not looking promising). That was really nice and different. And of course, I had to take Emma to an Anzac memorial and the one is Brisbane is a very nice mock Greek temple with an eternal flame.While we were there, we also took the chance to go to Australia Zoo. This is best know as the zoo that was set up and run by Steve Irwin. It's a great zoo to spend a relaxing day in and although the focus is definitely on crocs, there are loads of animals and interactive shows. You can feed elephants at different times and you can also feed kangaroos, although that just seemed to make them lazy as they all just lounge around all day.It was really interesting to see the zoo particularly as it really opens your eyes about Steve Irwin. To most people he was just that eejit off the telly who bothered crocs and snakes, but as we have heard from quite a few people on our travels, and particularly evident in the zoo, he was a real hero to lots of people in Australia due to his environmental crusades. There are times at the zoo, when you are really sad at his death as it seemed to really rob people of someone they looked up to. It does seem that the family is continuing the work he started, although the way his wife is doing has caused some rifts which is a shame. The only downside to going to Australia Zoo is that its miles out of town and Oz trains aren't exactly a model of efficiency so it takes ages to get there and back. One of my favorite parts of Brisbane was the South Bank. This area was built for the Expo exhibition held here in the 80's and the highlight is a large artificial lagoon called Streets Beach. This is such a great idea as people can come down, sunbathe, swim, and make sand castles and all the other beach stuff right in the heart of the city. We decided that it'd never work in London as they would have to hire someone to clear the tramps out of it every morning after their shower! And like all large public spaces in Oz, there are free barbecues scattered around and well organized picnic areas. Everything may be pricey in this country, but they certainly look after themselves. After a week with the family, it was time to hit the road again…although me and Emma were heading in different directions. She was going north to Noosa, and I was heading back to Melbourne for the Ireland Rugby Game……….