Brisbane...I had heard mixed things from travellers about this place but I was really looking forward to coming here as I was going to stay with Deborah's boyfriends' brother and his girlfriend.....I could've said my dogs brothers cat's third cousins hamsters gold fishes auntie....but i chose not to confuse issues more!

Rebecca picked me up from the transit centre in the city and I was really looking forward to a few days of normality. They live about 10km from the centre in a pretty little suburb called Aspley. On the first night they took me to a restaurant called Sushi train and we had the yummiest food, it was located in the biggest shopping centre and i thought to myself that if i was here on a normal holiday I could spend about a week just trawling through the shops.

The following day, Chris and Bec went to work so Bec dropped me at the train station to get into the city. It didnt take too long and I had decided to go to the South Bank which is where the Art Galleries etc are. Bec had told me that there was a big Andy Warhol Exibition there. I had text Chloe and James and was meeting up with them a little later on. I had a bit of a wander around the city centre and it is a lovely place, doesnt feel like a city at all. I decided that as I love Pop Art I decided to go straight to the gallery...just as it opened at 10am. It was only $20 to go into the Andy Warhol bit and it was worth everything penny..it only works out about 8 quid! I was in the gallery for almost 2 hours and it was amazing. I learned so much about his work and his life....jeez I'm sounding like a boffin! ha ha

After the gallery I met up with Chlo and James and we decided to take the City Cat ferry all along the river, it was so nice to be out on the water on such a hot and sticky day. We didnt realise how long it was going to take and by the end of it we were all starving and all we could think about was lunch. After lunch and a bit of a wander we parted company and I went "home" to Aspley. I have been so pampered here as Bec picked me up from the train station and then we went out for dinner and a drive around, it was so nice to be staying with BEc and Chris as they showed me things that I never would have seen.

On Saturday morning both Bec and Chris needed to go to work so I used the morning to sort out my travelling plans. The Oz buses are really busy this time of year so Em, Bev and I decided to leave Brisbane on Weds to go to Noosa. So we booked our accomodation and bus to leave the city. When Bec had returned from work she took me for a drive around Redcliffe, Morton Bay etc etc and it was fab. We stopped off at a seafood market/shop and I have never seen anything like it, fish, prawns, morten bay bugs, oysters ...i was in heaven. When we got back Bec opened a bottle of champagne and put this special hibiscus flower syrup in it to make a cocktail and it was gorgeous. Must try and being some of that stuff home! We bought loads and had the biggest feast of seafood I think I've ever had. I could move here just for the fish market shop!!!!!!!!

The next day was Sunday and they'd organised to go 4wd upto Rainbow beach with some of their friends. We all got up at 6:30am and set off up the coast. The journey took us along a long sandy beach, it was beautiful if not a tad surreal. We had met their friends and were in convoy. There were loads of 4wd everywhere. When we finally reached rainbow beach it was gorgeous, I even drove Chris's Landrover and it was so nice to be driving again after 7 weeks! I thought I would have forgotten how to drive but I hadnt and I really enjoyed it, it was such a laugh! All their friends were lovely too and we stopped at the Rainbow beach Surf club for lunch before making our way back, it was such a hot day and with no air con I felt as if I was getting the true Aussie experience! I wimped out and jumped into one of their friends cars for a bit though. On the way back we stopped in Noosa for a New Zealand ice cream which was soooo yummy, we sat on the beach before making our way back to Aspley. A good day was had by all!

Monday morning soon came around and this was the day I was going to leave Becca and chris's place. Bec was snowed under with work so I told her that i would answer phones and work on the reception for the day. I must admit it was a tad random working in a podiatrists in Australia but a good experience all the same. Most of her clients were of a Nan age and it made me feel at home! After "work" Bec and Chris dropped me off in the city at my Backpackers, Palace, where Bev and Emma were staying. I had two nights there before we were going to Noosa. The hostel was a bit odd, very old and the rooms were clean and stuff but i didnt really like the place. The kitchen was terrible, far too small for the size of the hostel and you had to flippin rent your plate and knife and fork...BLOODY RIDICULOUS! Anyways, that evening we went out for dinner and I had the most amazing Thai green curry with sticky rice ever, even though it made my tongue tingle for 3 hours after! Once we'd had dinner and done our washing (oh the glamourous life style of a backpacker) to the hostel bar which is called "Down Under" we had a good laugh and chatted to other randoms and boogied....unlike me I know!

The next day was our last day there. Emma and I wandered around the city and went to the lagoon which is a man made thing on the South Bank, it's pretty and a nice area so we decided to chill out for a bit there. We wandered around the shops and saw some Rugby team signing autographs (we still dont know who they are but took a picture anyway!) As everything in Brisbane seems to close at 5pm we retired to the hostel and made ourselves a yummy dinner and then went to Down Under Bar. We had to catch our bus at 6:30 in the morning so we werent going to have a late one.... at around 12:45am Emma and I rolled into the room, got ready for bed, took off our make up etc laid in bed almost asleep and then....THE FRIGGIN fire alarm sounded...people were spilling out into the corridors not sure whether to exit the building. Well, being on the 4th floor who really want to eh? We went down all the flights of stairs and stood outside in the middle of Brisbane city in my jimmy jammys.....which the girls pointed out were hardly proper pj's consisting of basically a pair of knickers and a vest top....at that moment I thought to myself why didnt I think of grabbing some more clothes?? As the fire engines pulled up outside the realisation that we had to be up in a couple of hours annoyed me soo much as it turned out to be a false alarm so we had all come out for no reason. Back to bed and the next morning we were off to Noosa......