After 3 flights and a whole day and night of travelling we arrived in Brisbane in the early hours of the morning. We were exhausted. The flights were ok and Singapore Airlines provided lots of good films, but I got absolutely no sleep.

After major interrogation and passing all the sniffer dogs in Brisbane Airport we found ourselves a taxi and made our way to our hostel. I've got to admit arriving in Brisbane was as much a culture shock as arriving in India when we first left home. After spending 4 and half months in Asia we were so used to different cultures, traditions, food, costs!, way of life etc that it was really difficult to get used to living back in reality. For a start we found everything cost a fortune. no more eating out 3 times a day.... its hard to describe but it was really bizarre and for the first few days I really didn't like it.

We only spent the first night in the hostel. Luckily Lauren's cousin Nicola lives in Brisbane so has an appartment there. For the next few nights we stayed with Nicola in her luxurious appartment. It was so nice and modern with a big balcony looking out over the river. There was also a pool and spa area which we made use of.

We got to see some of the sights in Brisbane, however for the first few days it did rain on and off a lot. We visited Brisbane Museum where we learnt a bit about Brisbane's history. We also went up the clock tower to see the view over Brisbane. We tried the walking tour mentioned in our guidebook to see some of Brisbane's sights but heavy rain made it difficult. We spent a couple of days shopping as before leaving Thailand I through out half the contents of my backpack. Seriously some of my clothes were like rags! One day we took the train and went to Surfer's Paradise. It seemed like a really touristy resort. The beach was nice although very different to Thailand beaches. There were really big waves and lots of surfers about.

We only had one night out in Brisbane and I think we chose the worst possible night. As it was Easter Weekend all the bars and clubs were only open till 12. We made it to a couple of bars then sadly had to head home.

Brisbane was nice and after a few days there we began to get used to western ways of life once again. We will be passing back through Brisbane when we head south and next time we're here I shall be picking Andy up from the airport!