It was only a short journey between Surfers and Brisbane, but enough time to get a nap in. There's always time for a nap. We arrived at the transit centre early afternoon of the 11th. The hostel was only a 600m walk away but it felt more like 6km carrying our bags in the heat. We noticed straight away that it was way more humid here than anywhere else we've been so far so the free ice pops on arrival at the hostel were very welcome. That evening I had arranged to meet up with Gabbi, an Australian who I met whilst on exchange in Canada who is now living in Brisbane for 6 months. I hadn't seen her for 2 and a half years so it has been great to catch up this weekend!

Friday evening we went to the 'Eat Street Market' which was food heaven. So many amazing smells, and we couldn't resist the chocolate fountain stall. Saturday we had a day trip with Gabbi to Stradbroke Island, the worlds second largest sand island (second to Fraser Island which we plan to visit soon!). It was incredibly beautiful and didn't seem to be that well know, even to the locals in Brisbane! The sea was perfectly clear and after lunch we did a walk around a gorge, where we spotted a turtle who popped his head up to say hello. A very relaxing afternoon on the beach followed, where I tried to be a make a magnificent sandcastle, but unfortunately it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Never mind, I'll have to keep practicing.

Today has been raining all day. A trip to the shopping centre this morning to stock up on lost items - somehow managed to loose brush and comb somewhere - and then a 'Sunday Session' this afternoon which is when everyone in Australia goes to the pub at about 3pm to eat and drink wine. This is apparently a thing nationwide. Amazing. Of course pizza and wine wasn't enough for us, so we followed it up with a visit to an ice cream shop in Rosalie. Delicious!