Got a coach down to the Gold Coast from Brisbane, and arrived in Southport around lunch time in time for an explore.  Its much less busy than Brisbane, far more of the aussie chilled out atmosphere!  Its nice to be out of the city and relax for a bit.  On Saturday my friend Katie who I met on the Thailand tour picked me up and we went on a mini tour of the area.  Went to Surfers Paradise which is very touristy but nice - the beach is lovely - and then on to Burleigh beach which is just up the road from Surfers and where all the locals go to the beach to avoid the tourists!

The next day i went with Katie and her mum to Currumbin Wildlife Park which was fab.  I cuddled a koala!!  They are very cute and soooo lazy, they sleep about 20 hours a day (im going to be one in my next life hehe) and their fur is all fuzzy and soft. Photos of that will follow! I also fed kangaroos, saw a dingo, an echidna (like a porcupine with a long snout) lots of snakes, crocodiles, birds...loads of aussie wildlife, was really a really fab day out.

We went to Burleigh for tea which was great to be away from the backpacker tourist areas and not feel quite so conspicuous for once!  And nice to see where the australians actually live and go about the day to day lives away from the trodden backpacker trail.  Had a brilliant weekend, really liked the gold coast, theres a really good relaxed, sunny atmosphere here.  theres no worries and everything kind of ticks along nicely.  Its the most 'australian' place iv been so far if that makes any sense, as i managed to get away from the hostels and tourist brochure shops for a few days and go to the places where the people who live here and dont work in tourism go which was great.