It was another early morning bus from Hervey Bay down to Brisbane. It was our first real city of Australia (they call Cairns a city but really it's no bigger than Cheadle Hulme). We were staying in a hostel called Bunk. It had a really buzzing bar we didn't go to ourselves but from the volume of the music and the people screaming we certainly didn't get much sleep anyway!

After a not-so-good nights sleep, we were up early on the Monday morning for a pilgrimage... to Australia Zoo! I was so excited. I have found that dispite me being 21 years old I still act as though I am am a 5 year old when I go to the zoo. Mum and Paul will understand! Although to get there is was a bit of a mission. We had to get on the train station, then change trains at Central Station and then get on a bus to get to the zoo. I then sweet talked the woman on the ticket desk who let us in on student prices even though we had none of the cards which classify you as a student. She told us to keep it between us and her so don't tell anyone...hehe! We got there just in time for the crocodile show where the keepers dangle meat at the crocs and amazingly they don't eat the guys arms, although at some points they looked to be getting pretty close to me! We then wandered around the rest of the zoo looking at all the tigers and the elephants and other exciting creautres.

After visiting the zoo you get a whole new perception on who Steve Irwin actually was. To us as TV viewers he was portrayed as some crazy lunatic who held his baby over a croc and did other crazy stuff, but having visited the zoo you realise how much he done for the animals that live in that zoo. He was a true animal lover and although he did all that mental stuff he really cared about animals and also that humans approached animals in the right way so as not to harm themselves or the animals! Altogether he was a pretty amazing guy!

The next day was a cultural day and we visited the Andy Warhol exhibition which was on at the Gallery of Modern Art. To get there we had a 2 mile walk along the river bank which was a really lovely walk! The exhibition was fascinating and I have decided that Andy Warhol, as most artists are, was a nutter. It was very interesting to see all his art and an explanation of the techniques he used but he definately was a really weird guy!

The next morning we had a 4.30am bus journey to get us to Surfer's Paradise. Si many people say that it is just like someone has taken a little part of America and put it on the Australian coast and I didn't believe it until I saw it but it is true. It is just full of high rise buildings and Americanised shops. I was pretty glad that we only stayed one night there because I'm not sure what you can fill your time with there (unless you want to go to the theme parks - very American) but we did get to watch our first episode of Neighbours there which was pretty exciting...I won't tell you what happens!

The following day we caught yet another early bus to Byron Bay where we were staying in a hostel called the Arts Factory. It was a very hippy place where everyone slept in teepee style rooms on bunk beds made from logs. It was pretty cool but boy did it get cold at night! The beach at Byron Bay is beautiful but apart from that there is not that much to do around there. We had a nice chill out time there! On our final day in Byron Bay we got up at 4.55am to watch the sunrise at the lighthouse. By the time we got there and had seen the start of the sun appearing it felt all worth the early morning! It was so beautiful and although I took some pictures they by no means did the view justice! We had an overnight bus to catch down to Newcastle that night so we just spent the day hanging around the hostel then headed out for our second night journey of our tour of Australia...