Sunday 5th October

We landed in Brisbane to realise we had no transfer shuttle. Once we booked another one, we got dropped off last out of a bus full by a t*** of a bus driver. We got changed and headed down to the man made lagoon at Southbank. I managed to get a quick look round the amazing Southbank markets that I LOVE before they closed, then we had some food and headed to the hotel.

Monday 6th of October

We decided to get the hire car a day early and drive to Surfers Paradise. We stopped by to visit Jenni's mum, Joan on the way since I didn't get to see her the last time I was in Brisbane.

The drive to Surfers is only about an hour south from Brisbane so it passed quickly. I wasn't too sure how easy it would be to park, so I parked in a residential street near the beach. Turns out we were a 25 minute walk to the main beach where the 'Surfers Paradise' sign is… I didn't realise how big Surfers beach was! Where we sunbathed was quite quiet compared to main beach, so Ryan sat quite happy digging a big hole and Stephen drank cider haha.

We got back in the car later when it started to get cold and had a wander around the shops and stopped for food at a place called The Avenue. The menu offered gluten free options so I questioned the member of staff at the door who said they could provide a gluten free sauce with steaks etc - brilliant! However, once we sat down and ordered, their chips weren't gluten free and neither was their mash…. What type of place goes out their way to give you gluten free options for your sauces but not bloody chips?! t*** !

We drove back to Brisbane and got organised for checking out the next day. We had been sitting in the parents room drinking and playing cards so we done that again, ha.

Tuesday 7th October

We had a nice stressful checkout from the Ibis Brisbane. Some moron told Ryan we could park in their car park no problem, we just had to get our ticket validated when we check out so we could get out the car park. I paid it but Ryan got a refund eventually… then when we tried to get the car out of the barrier which was a one lane exit car park - it didn't work. It was asking for an obscene amount of money. I almost lost all sanity (and my hair!) but we got out eventually and set off an HOUR LATE to the Steve Irwin Zoo.

Again, we were close by so it was only an hour drive north to the Zoo. We missed most of the famous Crocodile Show at the Crocoseum but just caught the croc's being fed (Mums face was a picture!). We took lunch with us so spent the rest of the day there. Mum paid to have her picture taken with a koala and we all fed Kangaroo's.

The drive to Noosa was a further hour north so we set off once again, only to arrive at the most awesome apartment I have ever booked! (Again, remember…. I did the East Coast as a backpacker, staying in hostels!) So when we pull up to an electric gate, drive into a double garage and open the door to our 3 bedroom apartment with a spa bath on the balcony and beautiful terrace garden our wee faces must have been a picture!!

First thing we done were fill the spa bath, put the bikinis on and got in! Then my twin, Kim arrived with her man Aaron. So we spent the night reminiscing and drinking (until 4am!).

The next day, we had to check out by 10am, so we said our goodbyes to Kim (sad face) and headed to the beach. We had been staying in Noosaville, right at the water edge so I drove us around to Noosa Heads. We ended up at Sandy Cove rather than Hastings Street where the Main Beach was, but it turned out a lot better - the beach was so pristine, pretty quiet and the water was crystal clear. I never seen anything like this when I was here the last time - it reminded me of the Whitsunday's! Once again, we had perfect weather so we had been so lucky. We spent the day sunbathing, swimming and watching all the water sports that were going on.

We headed back down South to Brisbane Airport for the epic 5 hour and 15 minute flight over to Western Australia - our wee home in Perth. (I must say, Anne's getting extremely good at these flights haha).