The next day we got up early for the pancakes and got ready for the 9.30 bus ride. Mike and I were on the same bus to Noosa but annoyingly it was 3 hours delayed so we went and chilled on the beach with Jo, Rob and Frenchie. We got to Noosa about 3pm in the end and checked into Nomads. Its quite a nice and fun hostel and Mike and I got some bits for our lunch at Australia Zoo the next day. We went for a drink that night and met back up with Chloe and Neil and their pals and listened to the live band in Nomads. The next day and Steve Irwins Australia zoo here we come..we got the Australia Zoo bus and it took an hour to arrive. It is an impressive park and man its a real shrine to Irwin. They are doing a lot of work to extend it and I have no doubt in a few years it would be even better. There were lots of crocs.. (surprise surprise) and tons of water dragons just strolling about :) They did a cool wildlife show where birds fly into the stadium and bring out some snakes including a python and a massive croc and feed him. They also did a great tiger show with sumatras and bendi tigers, wow they really are beautiful. Other then that they have an array of animals in the zoo, the usual plus dingos, red kangaroos, tasmanian devils, cassowories and lots of koalas.. I held one for the sum of $20 and he was pretty smelly but cute at the same time. It was a nice day out.
The next day I was super tired and ended up reading for the day. I could not psyche myself up to do the national park walk which i was a bit guttered about but it was rainy as well.. I did go to the lookout point and walk down to the shops and beach so i did something :) The next day I headed to Brisbane and met Francesa again and Doreen. I stayed in Base which was a party hostel. It was ok, not the best one I have stayed in. I headed for a walk around the city with Doreen and we got some chicken and sauce to make some dinner. After dinner we got ready and headed to the Down Under bar for a few free drinks and a dance. I did get pretty drunk and it was a good night. The next day Doreen and I went for a wander around the city and caught a little ferry across to Kangaroo point to the lookout. We then strolled around the river to the SouthBank and through the markets and fake beach.. around the art museum and back up through queens street and the busy shop parade. Brisbane was a lovely city it was a shame the weather did not brighten up but it was great for a few days. On the second night I met Corey who was in my room and we headed out. He really did make me laugh I think the Americans and us have a very similar sense of humour :) We were going to do a beer drinking competition but it was taking forever so I bailed out earlish. The next morning I could not wake Corey for his bus as he clearly was fecked!! Whoops.
I headed for Surfers Paradise and the bus driver warned us there were about 4 thousand schoolies. For you guys back home, schoolies is when the kids from New South Wales and Queensland finish school and basically party hard in the coastal towns... i.e Surfers and Byron. This was going to be interesting. The hostel I stayed in was quite nice. It was an apartment for 8 people with our own kitchen and bathroom. I was in the same room as the irish Lauras which was amusing. We have crossed pathes so many times now its unreal!! There was also a girl called Jolanda from Holland. We went to the shops and treated ourselves to some chicken nuggets and salad for dinner. It was nice to have an oven :) I checked out the beach and boy its crazy, the waves out there are definitely something. Later that night we headed out with the hostel to the Vanity bar which was a very fancy bar and the toilets were amazing.. sad how you get excited about things like this but i have been seeing some very WRONG toilets for the last 4 months. We had a dance there with some others but after a few hours I just simply felt to old and didn't feel great so headed home.
The next day I headed off for some beach loving with the Lauras and we met Jolanda. We chilled out there for a few hours and then headed to pick up some booze to help get the party started later. Annoyingly everywhere was IDing everyone and this idiot guy would not even serve the girls as I didnt have mine. Like how stupid is that, like I could be a schoolie??!! Thats the worst thing as you get 'mixed' up with them and I feel treated a bit rubbish by the locals. Anyway it was an all you could eat pizza night for $6 and I took good advantage of that..9.5 slices of pizza later and also got 2 for later on!! Fatty Fatty Mags!! Oh well I enjoy the food I can get when I can haha!! After all pasta and bread is getting annoying!! After drinking all our drinks we then headed for the beer garden but I could not convince anyone to do kareoke with me so missed out on that one. We stayed for a while then tried to go to Shooters but Doreen did not have her ID so she went back to get it but when she came back out she brought the wrong item. After that I was ready for home and we headed back for bed. Boring but it seemed this night was not meant to be especially as 2 of the girls felt sick which is ironic as I should of felt sick after all the pizza :)