I arrived in Brisbane in mid-afternoon and found my hostel quite easily, it was in the heart of the city. I spent the rest of the day organising my flight home in March as I'd been putting it off for so long and it was only going to get more expensive. I then organised a trip to Australia Zoo for the following day. The zoo is about an hours drive outside the city near a place called Noosa. I arrived at about 10am and spent the next 6 hours or so flying round the massive grounds to try and fit everything in before the bus left. The weather wasn't too bad with only a few showers which meant it didn't spoil any of the day. First I went to see a big show the zoo puts on in a little stadium where they feed crocodiles, elephants and display lots of native birds of prey. I then powered round the zoo seeing as much as I could. I stroked the kangaroos and koalas, saw dingoes, wombats, elephants and tigers as well as many more. It was a really great day and the zoo still has a lot of pictures and dedications to Steve Irwin and they seem to be trying to continue his legacy by being as passionate about the Australian wildlife as he was.

The next day I decided to have a big walk around the city to cram in as much as I could while the sun was out. I strolled round the city botanic gardens, the redeveloped southbank side of the river and the city's Chinatown. The most impressive was southbank which stretches all the way along the side of the river that bends through the city. It had great places to sit and look out across the city and see a great deal. Another day I took a bus ride to a place called Mount Coot-Tha which is 7km outside the city centre. It is another botanic gardens maintained by the Queensland council but it was much grander than the city one and was 52 hectares wide. The gardens incorporated lots of different types of rainforests as well as lakes and exotic plants from not only Australia but Asia and South America. It was also landscaped on the side of a mountain so walking right to the top allowed you a great view right across the city of Brisbane which was magnificent. I spent the whole day at the gardens learning about all sorts of animals and tropical plantlife. My favourite part of the gardens though was a little Japanese garden that had been landscaped by them. It was designed by the Japanese government who still pay for its maintenance. It was perfectly preserved and had lovely little ponds, small waterfalls and shrubs. I wasted the last few hours of the day just reading in the garden as it was so peaceful.

The last few days in Brisbane were a bit wetter so I did less but still enjoyed walking the streets and generally killing a bit of time. I also met some great people in my hostel which made the time go a lot faster when the heavens were opening! Next I travel to Byron Bay where I'll be spending a few days attempting to surf before moving on to Melbourne.