Sunshine coast my arse! Our drive up from Brisbane to Noosa was one of the worst days of weather we've had since being away. I certainly hope it improves before we reach Frasier island and the Whitsunday islands.

The day we arrived we did nothing more than find ourselves a hostel, relaxed around town and re-calibrated the mind after what had felt like another week of too many glasses of goon! Oh wait, I'm not sure if I've explained what goon is... It's evil, disgusting, cheap and I can assure you that every backpacker has tried it. Basically, because alcohol is so expensive here, boxed wine is the cheapest method of getting merry. Except this boxed wine may contain traces of fish extract, meat products and a whole heap of horrible ingredients. It's nicknamed goon because the bag which contains the wine can be blown up and used as a pillow, and the aborigine word for pillow is goon.

The next day the weather improved slightly and some of the lads we'd met on the bus joined George and Beans for an afternoon of surf whilst the rest of us went for a wander along Noosa's great beach and the main street which was filled with boutique shops and expensive restaurants. We then had a little game of volleyball before planning our last night with Ted (aka Scottish Chris).

Another day in paradise... Let me set the scene: after drinking more than you'd like to haves done, I was up at 7:30am to a rain soaked Noosa ready to get the bus to the infamous Australia Zoo. Hungover I said 'see you soon' to our legend, wait for it... dary friend Chris (aka Ted the architect) who has been an absolute pleasure to travel with in the past couple of weeks before trudging onto the shuttle. The zoo itself hadn't been given rave reviews to us but it was one of the attractions that you feel you should go and see to make your own judgement. And I was glad that I did as I thought the shows, variety of animals and enclosures were amazing. We caught 2 shows during the day, the wild show which displayed birds and snakes of different species before blowing us all away with the Charlie the salt water crocodile. Charlie wasn't in a good mood and Steve Irwin's family accompanied by Wes showed the true power of the beast by feeding it from above and with a goats leg attached to rope. We then explored the rest of the zoo before settling into an incredible tiger show - well worth the money on it's own! What impressed me most about the zoo was the size of the enclosures, they were absolutely huge and all the animals seemed really happy. Overall, I'd recommend the place - the thrilling shows accompanied by Steve's still existent charm really does make it different from other zoos.

Needless to say, the long day had taken it out of everyone and we actually had a night off the goon before departing to rainbow beach the following day. We've got the highly anticipated Frasier Island upcoming!