G'day friends,

So we were up at 09.30 to leave for the bus station to catch our Oz experience bus to Brisbane. We didn't realize that we had a very familiar driver (Bud) who we had driven us a few times on our trip down the coast. On route to Brisbane we stopped in the Glass House Mountain range to take some photos of the beautiful scenery and take a quick forest walking in the surrounding rain forest.

We arrived into Brisbane around 13:00 on a beautiful sunny day. After getting our bearings at the information station in the bus terminal we walked through the city heading for our hostel. This was the first time we got a chance to see the big city. It looked lovely, modern, clean and full of high rise buildings and different architecture. Our walk briefly took us though the same shopping street where Nikki's immediately lit up after being deprived of shops since Cairns. We quickly found our hostel in the middle of the city, checked into our room and dumped our stuff before hunger got the better of us as we hadn't properly eaten since breakfast so headed out to find some food. The great thing about being in a city in Australia is Food courts are everywhere serving every type of food you can think of. After we narrowed down our choice to Thai we grabbed some food and ate it in the sun.

In the evening we planned our following days and purchased tickets to Australia Zoo (home of the late Steve Irwin) for the following day where we would be meeting Nikki's friends from home Rachel and Shez. The rest of the evening we chilled out in our room, watched and couple of films before heading to bed pretty early (the party animals we are!)

Zoo day started early with a walk to the transit station to catch our bus at 07:45 arriving at the zoo 15 minutes before the gates opened. Nikki's friends were arriving a little later from there hostel which gave is a chance to walk around a bit before they arrived. We viewed and few of the animals (crocodiles, wombats, snakes, lizards) and held a baby crocodile before Shez and Rachel arrived. The last time we had seen Rachel was in Auckland when her dad kindly invited us for dinner at his house so it was nice to catch up later in our travels. Shez went to school with Nikki and was out in OZ with Rachel working as milk persons (politically correct!). After greeting each other we headed further into the park to explore. We went through the Kangaroo area where you were allowed to approach the Kangaroo, lay next to them, feed and stroke them. We got a few great photos and seem completely unfazed by the visitors wondering over too stroke them. Next was the Koala reserve where there was 19 koalas' all sleep in the variety of different trees. We all got the chance to stroke them gently or risk them falling from the sleeping spot. A couple of them were holding young on their knees which where sleeping, poking their heads out from under the fur (very cute).

Once we had had our fun with the kangaroos and koalas we headed to the 'Crocotorium' to watch the live show at mid-day. The show started with an incredibly impressive bird display. The zoo's keepers came out to the middle showing off different varieties of bird before sending them off flying around the stadium within 50cm of our heads. After was the main event, the crocodile show where after a bit of coaxing with some steak a 4m crocodile entered the area. The handlers, made it come out of the water and on its hind legs to grab steak and also jumping from the water the catch meat in the air. The whole show was impressive and well worth watching if you get the chance to go.

After watching the croc's get fed we were all hungry so grabbed some lunch before continuing around the rest of the park. The Africa exhibit housed giraffe, Rhino and Zebra all in a natural savannah habitat. The next show was the tiger show where two of the tiger handlers brought out two tigers to the front on the enclosure and got them to perform different tasks (obviously using milk and meat for encouragement or I don't think they would have moved from the sleeping station. They got them to stand on their back legs, jump and lie on their backs like a trained dog. The best part of the show was when they put some meat at the top of a telegraph pole covered in rope and the tiger climbed 5m of the ground to get it before reversing very gingerly back down.

Our final task at the zoo was to feed the elephants. We had to stand on a small mat approx. 1m from the fence and hold out our hands with a piece of fruit on it. The elephant took the fruit from our hands with his trunk and stuffed its mouth. It was very good fun and another animal to tick of the list of being fed or held. Once we had finished feeding we headed to the front gate where Rachel and Shez's bus was waiting to take them back to their hostel. It was really great to catch up with them as they have been travelling and working like ourselves. After our goodbyes we wondered around to our bus stop before the 1h drive back to Brisbane and our hostel. Later, after a long day at the zoo we grabbed and early dinner before another relaxed night in the hostel.

The next morning we thought we would treat ourselves to a cooked breakfast at a local backpackers bar for $7. After we wondered across the Victoria Bridge to South Bank where we headed to the science museum and modern art gallery - Both great, FREE ways to waste a couple of ours in a big city. After we wondered past a state library and found free 30min internet computers and free wifi so took the chance to get back in touch with the world after the last few days internet-less. We decided we would come back the following day with our laptop so we could upload photos and blogs so headed off on a beautiful walk along the river bank parallel with the city. The day was quite cloudy and over cast but still warm enough to happily walk along enjoying the gardens and views. Once we walked back over the bridge and round the botanical gardens headed back into the main shopping district for a few hours so Nikki could fulfill her shop browsing quota for day. In the evening, we headed to our friends Debbie and Bens hostel for a few cheap beers and pub quiz. It was a good laugh and came 2nd (1 point behind first) so got a few drinks as well. It was my dad's birthday that day as well, so during the quiz I slipped out to ring home for a quick catch up. Once happily boozed, we heading back to our hostel roomed and crashed for the night.

The following day we got up fairly early for us and headed to the library to do some internet stuff. On route we grabbed some breakfast and Nikki got an awesome fresh fruit smoothie (detox from the alcohol). Once a couple of hours pasted and we were back up to date with the world's events, we headed along South Bank to have a look around some of the small shops on the waterfront. Our friends Debbie and Ben had told us the day before about a chocolate Café where they serve small pots of chocolate which you can dib fruit or marshmallows in called Max Brenner Chocolate Bar. Obviously Nikki smelt it out in minutes and began studying the menu for what she wanted. The place was really nice with copper vats of melted chocolate on display, large exposed brick walls and copper finishes. After Nikki had decided what she wanted, everything was reversed when the customer in front order the chocolate fudge brownie Sundae and it was constructed right in front of her - I knew she had to have it! Before she could turn round the smile to say "look at that" I had ordered her the same and a small pot of dipping chocolate for me (with marshmallows). After a couple of minutes waiting, the sundae arrived to the delight of Nikki and it was huge. Chocolate ice-cream covered in small bite-sized brownies covered in chocolate source with the same size dipping pot as mine of melted chocolate on the side with crunchy chocolate-covered crunchy toppings - chocolate / Nikki heaven! Once fully chocolated out, we headed back into town to grab some stuff for dinner and headed back to the hostel. We had to check out the next day so packed our bags that evening and crashed out as soon as the sugar had worn off.

On our final day in Brisbane, we checked out at 10:00 and headed for into town for a cheap breakfast. We locked our big bags in the luggage storage as didn't want to walk round town with them before catching our bus later. Once we had eaten, we strolled back to the library to finish to reply to a few emails (also a cheap way to waste and our rather than just walking round the city). We decided it would be a good idea to grab stuff to make dinner as we were not sure what there would be in Surfer's Paradise. Before long it was time to head to the bus station so collected our bags from our hostel walked the 20mins to the transit station to catch our 13:00 bus.

I really enjoyed Brisbane and thought I was a lovely city, relaxed and modern. The nicest Australian city we had been to so far - with Sydney and Melbourne still to come.

From Brisbane with love.

Ben and Nikki xx