Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast 27th July On the Greyhound bus again, this time a short trip to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast. Checked in to the hostel and then had a walk along the beach.The sea is a beautiful colour and there were a handful of surfers bobbing around waiting for 'the' wave. Sat and watched for a while and decided that it seems quite a futile pursuit, which includes lots of sitting around in the water with only a slim chance of riding the w...

Brisbane 25th July (nearly, but not quite 'Bris-bland') We took the five hour Greyhound bus trip to Brisbane which was pretty uneventful.Staying at Banana Benders Backpacker's which is again very basic but very friendly staff and a great location.Walked down to the South Bank area which is replica of the London South Bank with the bars, restaurants, big wheel, art museums, market stalls and live music.The view from the river bank here isn't really a touch on t...

Hervey Bay - 22nd July Arrived at the bus station and booked in to a hostel.Walked along the Esplanade where the shops and restaurants are quite spaced out.Had lunch and then walked to the shopping centre to buy some essentials.A long walk and a not very inspiring shopping centre at the end, however, all was not lost as we signed into the local RSL club and had a few games of Keno (more complicated form of Bingo or Lotto really!)Sat there with the wrinklies a...

AirlieBeach, WhitsundayIslands - 16th July Had an early flight on a propeller plane to HamiltonIsland where we were able to benefit from the great views of the islands and see the different colours in the ocean around the reefs.The reef runs for 2300 km from Cairns to Bundaberg. Darted from the airport to a nearby a ferry in the habour.However, it was going nowhere and luckily we got spotted and shown to the right ferry!We had a trip across to ShuteHarbour tha...

Cairns - 15th July We were picked up from Jungle Lodge and got the bus back in to Cairns.About a four hour trip which actually seemed longer, but there was fantastic lush scenery along the way.We had pre-booked a hostel and were delighted to find that it was stylish, clean and comfortable.We walked into town and had a leisurely stroll along the esplanade.Cairns is smaller than we thought, but colourful and lively. There is no beach to speak of, however, there ...