It was only an hour and half up to Brisbane so it wasn't long before we were at the Rodgers household making ourselves at home and looking forwards to a nice cool beer and a clean warm bed to sleep in!

On our first night Andy cooked us a top notch BBQ with prawns, steaks, sausages the lot! We spent the evening with Andy, Shaz and the kiddywinks having a few drinks and a good old catch up.

The next day we took advantage of our cosy bed and had a bit of a lie-in, the rest of the day was spent doing laundry and chilling in the garden (and I spent a good hour or so hogging Sharrons hair blowdryer and GHDs!! God how I miss mine!)

Day 3 Andy & Shaz took us to Southbank, a picturesque part of the river complete with a man made beach, water features and lots of greenery and flowers. To get there we had to go on a 'city cat' (water boat) where we had the chance to get some views of the riverbanks and Brisbane Bridge, we stopped and had some lunch where we had some unwelcome guests in the name of Ibis birds, scavengers about 3 times the size of seagulls and just as cheeky! Andy & Shaz then introduced us to Cold Rock, an ice-cream parlour where u choose your ice-cream then select what you want in it and they crush it all together - scrummy! Shaz had cookies & cream ice-cream with snickers and jazzles crushed in while I went for cake batter ice-cream with Cherry Ripe (similar to bounty but cherry flavoured) and the lads went for smoothies - boring! Ha ha...

Over the next day or 2 the weather wasn't great so we went into the city to have a look around, there was a german festival in town which had an ice rink and lots of wintery fare for sale (we still cant get our heads around it being winter here, the Aussies are all wearing coats and hats and theres us in flip flops and vest tops, for our English skin anything above 20 degrees is still hot!) We had a walk around a few shops and stopped to watch an Irish magician work his magic, he was pretty impressive actually! That night I had my first experience of eating Kangaroo (Ash has tried it before), it was surprisingly yummy! A little bit like lamb, but I couldn't help think about poor skippy hopping along the outbacks! Lol...

The following day Andy took us to Bridie Island, not too far from where they live, which had a great picnic area park and beaches which the kids loved. Unfortunately the weather wasn't in our favour so after a quick kick about with the ball we were rained off for the day, so back to the house it was for a duvet afternoon watching disney films :)

Bank Holiday Monday came and guess what came with it? SUNSHINE! Yey! So it was off to Australia Zoo for a day out with the animals! We had a great time meeting the Koalas and watched a great Croc show, where the Irwin family fed them with pigs legs, mice and other meat produce. That evening we had a board game night and tested each other with our 'Scene It 90's' knowledge over chocolate and wine/beer! :)

Today we went to Noosa, a beautiful town on the coast full of up market riverbed houses, complete with jacuzzis, and private jettys, the kinda homes you dream about. We did a costal walk to Hells Gate's (a point where two large cliffs meet opposite causing violent waves in between) taking in the beautiful surroundings and wildlife and walked back through the forest and back down to the town. We stopped at the The Noosa Surf Club where we had a much deserved cold drink and took in the views of Noosa beach, and then, ended the day perfectly watching the sun set over the marina.

The next day we where up and out of the house by 6:30am on route to Surfers Paradise where we were to catch our boat for a day of Whale Watching. Its mating season so there are plenty of whales making their way north to warmer waters to lay their eggs and re-mate. It wasn't long before we spotted our first sight of dolphins and whales, about 3-4 miles off the coast, the dolphins swam really close to the boat and were weaving in and out of each other in sync. The whales however where sleeping so we left them to snooze and heading out about another mile or two where awaiting in the glistening sun where 3-4 pods of whales, they were beautiful and moving so gracefully spurting out air every few minutes and we even had one that breached, unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with the camera but Sharron managed to get the after-splash on film. All in all we managed to see around 6 pods of whales, some dolphins and there was also a sighting of a hammer head shark which came close to the back of the boat which unfortunately we missed. After the Whale Watching we went to South Stradbroke Island where there was a BBQ, live music and all sorts of other activities going on. Me and Sharron took in the views over some hot drinks while the lads played snooker, badminton, footy and had a mess around on a rope swing which was funny to watch. That night we were absolutely shattered and none of us were fit to cook, so it was Dominos and a DVD, none of us made it past 9:30pm ZZZzzzzz

Friday was a chill out day at home with the kiddies, Ash helped Andy do some gardening and I helped Sharron blitzed the house. Me and Livvy had fun playing princesses and Tommy had enjoyed watching the big boys cut up a tree. After a busy week it was nice to laze about the house and take it easy. That evening Shaz & Andy provided some great entertainment in the form of a water fight where Sharron ended up wiping out onto her bottom! Ha ha...

The next day it was Sharrons birthday so Andy cooked a great lunch and we took a stroll to the local park to let the kids run wild. That night we went to Sizzler for dinner and went to the cinema to watch Brides Maids, it was hilarious and a great way to end a great couple of weeks!

Today was our last day at The Rodgers household so I cooked a roast dinner to thank them for having us and the rest of the day was spent packing and preparing for the next leg of our journey, which is going to be and interesting one, as we are staying on a sand island, camping, with no toilets!!!

Fraser Island here we come!