We are now in our fourth time zone within one week as we have arrived in Byron Bay, New South Wales. (Sorry for the delayed blog, no McDonalds in Byron means no free WiFi!!)

We had a busy couple of days in and around Brisbane - especially on the Friday when we went to Australia Zoo (the late, great Steve Irwin's former croc wrestling training ground). It's only an hour or so coach trip from where we were staying and we were shown Steve's televisual highlights throughout the journey. The zoo itself is exactly what you'd expect it to be, and has recently been transformed into an elaborate shrine to the man himself. There are hundreds of his famous khaki shirts framed and signed by well-wishers, and a small museum displaying letters, photos and paintings sent in from Steve-O fans. We saw the obligatory Croc show, fed Kangaroos and petted Koalas. Enough said.

We also visited South Bank again to have a late night swim. We loved that area but Brisbane's prices made it a little hard to stay longer than four days. $6 beers and $20 meals are a no-no on our budget so we have left to spend a week in Byron.

We decided to skip Surfers Paradise so we could spend longer in one place. We are now glad we did, as we passed through on our way south and scrunched our noses in unison. It's hard to get an accurate idea of a place just by passing through, but we both agreed it wasn't what we expected. I've seen a few places that i could refer to as paradise, but pastel shaded tower blocks would easily ruin any of them. It was a bit Costa Del Oz! Which is great if you want that thing - but we are looking for something different out here....

....Byron looks like it could be it!