We finally left Surfers Paradise on Tuesday 24th Feb after what felt like much more than 2 half weeks job hunting and enjoying the Gold Coast. Our Greyhound was 2 hours late so we eventually arrived into Brisbane late afternoon.

We checked into our first hostel Tinbillys and straight away noticed it was full of rowdy Irish guys and we were sharing a 14 bed dorm with 8 of them! (I was the only girl in the dorm...awful!)

We tried to get out bearings on day one, took a stroll into town which we hit at rush hours and it was so busy! The roads were heavily congested and people were exiting office buildings trying to find their ways home!

We took a walk through Anzac Park and passed St Georges Square which is ment to be big focal point of the central business district. Unfortunately it is currently undergoing a major revamp and pretty much looks like a mini ground zero and is sectioned off to the public, but once its finished (in 2010) it should be a popular area.

Just walking around we’ve noticed there are a lot of building works going on and plenty of cranes scattered across the city. So there is still plenty of money being invested into Queensland’s capital city.

Our first night at the hostel was an absolute disaster, I won’t say any more, except I will let you imagine the sorts of things that might happen in a big dorm with drunk Irish men waltzing in at 3am in the morning. What ever you have imagined.......most probably happened and much more. I could not wait to get out of there after a pretty sleepless nights sleep the next morning! (If you want to know the gory details email me! Trust me it’s worse than you thought!)

But to be fair it’s our first bad experience in a dorm, so four months in we cant complain to much! We intended to move hostels the next day (only stayed there because we had a free voucher). So we moved to a more central location which was ok for the rest of the 3 days. Apart from the cockroach infested kitchen and whispers of bedbugs it was fine!!!!!!!
We did the whole sightseeing thing on the Wednesday. We climbed the clock tower of City Hall which was built in the 1930’s, the lift was very old school and the views were ok, its in a very central location so as you can imagine the skyscrapers block out any views that could of been seen years ago.

We took a brief stroll through the Botanic Gardens and then walked over a bridge to Southbank where the best city skyline views can be found. We crossed the Brisbane River and entered an area of the city which felt millions of miles away from the crazy hustle and bustle of the CBD. The river front was very pretty and the views of the city were great.
We passed the ‘Streets’ beach which is a man made beach and lagoon on the riverfront. Thats the best way I can describe it...its a pretend beach right in the heart of the city and perfect for those hot, humid summer days! The coast is about 20 miles west so this is the perfect escape for the city worker or student! Its right by the university (I should of done my PGCE here!)....very cool place and somewhere we intended try out over the next few days!!!
We took a ride on the Wheel of Brisbane (a mini London eye) and saw some of the great views of the city, first impressions of Brisbane are very positive. Its easy to walk around and the transport links are great with buses, trains and a city ferry or catermaran along the river which is an important aspect of Brisbane and they take pride in its curvaceous route through the city.

We also walked over Victoria Bridge and passed many historical buildings with Victorian architecture including the Treasury Building and the Magistrates Court. We met up again with Jen and Vicky as they were now in Brisbane and had dinner at a cheap hostel pub..couldn’t complain, meals were big and we all had free beer! Happy days!
Next day...Thurs 25th Feb we caught the bus in the morning to Mount Cooth-tha, a summit that looks right over the entire city skyline and its surrounds. The views were pretty awesome and we’re definitely bringing mum and dad here for lunch at the cafe. A mile half away from the lookout was JC Slaughter waterfall...we decided to walk down into the valley to it only to find it was flowing like a dripping kitchen tap!!! Pointless, but we ended up having a good exercise session out of it as we had to hike back up the valley! The heat and humidity was pretty high so we were dripping by the time we got back up to the peak! A good ice lolly did us the world of good!!!

After lunch back at the hostel we used our bus ticket on the river at caught the catamaran towards Storey Bridge, their version of Sydney Harbour Bridge but unfortunately not quite so impressive! However you can climb it and there is only 3 bridges you can climb either in Oz or the world not sure....someone can research that for us!

The river cruise was relaxing and we just soaked up the sights. After passing under the bridge we got off at New Farm, a wealthy suburb on the edge of the CBD. The park was so peaceful and the area itself didn’t feel like it was only 1-2 miles from the centre of Brisbane. We found a great apartment in this area to share with mum and dad when they arrive (its lush!) so that was good as we didn’t want to put them up in accommodation we have gotten used to!!!!

There is a lovely river board walk just off New Farm and we walked it all the way back to the city (half hour), we passed under Storey bridge and some rather plush riverfront mansions and we were relieved by the time we saw our hostel in sight, our poor feet had walked miles today!!! But it didn’t stop there, we went back to the riverfront and caught another cat in the night to see the city skyline sparkle in its high rise lights, definitely worth doing, after that our day was done!!!!

On our final day in Brisbane we took it very easy! We prepared ourselves for our camping adventure by buying some necessities...like a tent! And we got some mats to sleep on as well as a torch!! Today was our hottest day with a lot less cloud so it was time to experience Streets beach! (Streets is the sponsor and is ‘Walls’ over here, as in Walls icecream, for some reason its a different name here). It really does feel like your on a beach and then you look up and can see the river and the tall buildings of the CBD, whoever came up with this idea is a genius!!!

We used the library for free internet and checked out the Queensland museum which had some interesting artefacts including a crocodile head skeleton and the aeroplane Bert Hinkler flew from England to Australia back in 1928, the first guy to do it taking him 15days and 2 hours! Unfortunately he dies 5 years later attempting the same trip, he crashed near Florence, Italy. But he was defiantly a pioneer of the aviation field.

So all in all Brisbane has been a busy, sightseeing experience and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed exploring the city. We have plenty up our sleeve for when mum and dad arrive as we are here for about 5 days. We are both really looking forward to seeing some very familiar faces! The weather has stayed very dry, cloudy a few days which has been welcoming as when the sun is out it can be unbearable, not good for sightseeing! So we have been lucky.

Brisbane is very multi cultural and there was a Chinese guy and Norwegian girl in our dorm who are both starting university here next Monday. As their uni runs from March to Nov. There’s lots to see and we’re looking forward to coming back and staying in good digs for once at the end of March!

We are now camping it on the Sunshine Coast (40miles north of Brisbane) for 2-3 weeks! Our first stop, Caloundra. Lets hope it doesn’t rain!!!!! Wish us luck!