Well, I thought it about time I put something on this blog (other than a handful of photo's) and since I have left Brisbane and am now in Surfers Paradise I thought I should tell you all about Brisbane!

Firstly, what an awful long flight it is - I didn't think I would ever get here!! But having got here I made it in one piece to Ian's apartment on Friday. I then spent most of the day recovering from the flight, but it was worth it as have not really suffered with the jet lag since!

Saturday was great - we went to Southbank, which is a man made beach in the centre of the city (and hence no fear of sharks, jellyfish etc etc, like at the real beach). Was a very relaxed afternoon and wasn't too hot (only about 27 degrees) so was nice to be out in the fresh air!

Saturday night we all went to Ian's for the most amazing BBQ. I ate my first piece of kangaroo, which was actually really nice, but still felt a bit wrong!

Sunday was a trip to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. There were over 100 koala's (and I think I took about 100 pictures of them!!) and I got to stroke one which was really cool. There was also a kangaroo enclosure where you could wander around and feed the kangaroo's. The emu's also seem to be loose with the kangaroos which was mildly concerning, but they seemed harmless enough!

Monday I spent the morning in the Botanical gardens which were amazing, and then the afternoon was spent underground in an internet cafe trying and failing (mostly) to upload photo's.

Unfortunately, today (Tuesday) I am having no luck with the photo uploading at Surfers Paradise, but will do my best to get some more on-line as soon as possible!

Think that about sums up my first few days - will be back with an update in a few days time!

Thought I may as well add to this entry rather than add an extra one for my final week in Brisbane!

I'm going to keep this fairly short as I didn't do a massive amount but I enjoyed being in one place for a week and getting to meet up with Amy, Oli and Ian again!

On Sunday I went on a road trip with Ian and Suri to the Big Pineapple which is a working Pineapple farm. We learnt that pineapples grow out of the top of the plants (not out of trees or under the ground!!). We also got to ride on both the nutmobile (through the Macademia nut plantation) and on the train around the farm.

On the way back from the Big Pineapple we stopped off at Mount Coot-tha which gave amazing views over the city at night, which seemed to stretch forever!

The next trip I did was on Tuesday where I went to Australia Zoo for the day. The zoo is really big with plenty to see and do, including loads of crocs and a wicked wildlife warriors show which included the elephants, birds, snakes and of course the crocs!!

On Wednesday I met up with Claire again and we spent some time at South Bank before meeting Ian and Suri for dinner and bowling followed by a few drinks in a fancy new bar that had opened not far from Ian's.

On Thursday I took everyone out for dinner to say thanks and we had a really nice meal and it was a really nice end to my time in Brisbane and Australia!

Friday saw me travelling to the airport for my long journey home.

I made it back in one piece and thankfully am not too jet lagged. Just got to get ready for the next adventure now!