OK, so we managed to stay one night in Brisbane before we decided it was time for another road trip, this time with Tamara as our new companion! The first thing we had to do was allow Tamara to guide us through the City Centre to locate the WICKED office so that we could exchange our van for a new one...which we could not read - I mean the old one clearly said Billy Idol on it but this one was just mess... we still have no idea what it said on the side! Anyway it's not easy to be directed by a person who tells you at the last minute that you shoud be bearing right when you are in the left lane! We got their though and we were back on the road in no time.

It did not take long to make our way down to our main point of call - Byron bay. We rocked up and paid an astronomical amount of money to park right by the beach and have a wander round. We once again indulged in Fish n chips on the beach and Tamra even fed the seagulls - she felt sorry for the one with only one leg as he was being bullied by the others! Isnt she a thoughtful person! After lunch and our charity work we headed for a wander along the beach and the town itself. I have to say that we were all slightly disappointed. After all the hype we have heard about the place we were expecting it to be THE place to go along the East coast...but we found it to be pretty much the same as the other stretches of beach we have come across...a little worse perhaps as it was sooooo busy! However i guess thats what you get if you go to a really tourist destination.

we decided after a while to have a wander in the van and do some exploring of byron Bay outside of the beach area. we made our way up to the lighthouse....after some expert driving from Andrew who somehow managed to drive our van all the way up what looked to be a helter skelter road. Well Done Andrew! We decided we didnt want to pay to park at the top so we headed a little way down and basically abandoned the van and walked back up! As we were acsending we were asked if we wanted to try hang-gliding, which we turned down. As we were watching them gliding through the sky however, i think we all - for one brief moment entertained the notion of doing it ourselves...until one of us asked how exacly you land and discussed the potential problem of getting your feet caught in the little bag and crashing on the beach at great speed! Then we decided against it!

The lighthouse had an amazing vantage point and we even spied what looked like a deserted stretch of beach on the opposite end...after some enquiries we found out it was Tallow beach and madea decidsion to find that beach the next day!

In the evening we headed to Cheeky monkeys, a bar with dodgy decor, a dodgy entertainment guy but the advantage of $3 meals! It was not long before we decided to head out of Byron Bay for the night and find a place to sleep. We were not allowed to park overnight anywhere in byron so a few minutes drive out and we were soon all snuggled up in the back of the van...on a slope...and we were definately cozy!

Next day we managed to locate Tallow beach pretty easily, and for an hour or so we had it all to ourselves so we had a really nice wander along and sat watching the sea and the fish jumping in the shallows which was funny! The after a quick lunch of hot dogs - at Andrews insistance - we headed off for Nimbin. nimbin is hippie town of Australia, not too far from Byron. It reminded me a bit of what Glastonbury tries to be - but this was the real thing. Within 1 hour we had been asked 9 times if we would like some 'cookie, cake or smoke'. I think we were the only tourists in nimbin not partaking! After about an hour we decided to head off and check out Surfers Paradise. Surfer's is THE place to go surfing on the east coast...we found it to be rather too commercial for us.. there are so many high rise buildings and there are only so many times you can look in Roxy and Billabong without getting totally bored!

It took us rather a while to locate a place to sleep by Surfers. After driving round aimlessly for a while we pulled into a service station where we were uinformed we could park up for the night. we were put off by the fact that only truckies were doing the same and an ominous looking tow truck lurking nearby. we asked again at the service station and they said we were NOT allowed to park up, so off we went. Fortunately we managed to find a lay by to sleep in so we did not have to return to brisbane!

Just before nine the next day we were getting ready to enjoy breakfast when a highway inspection vehicle pulls up...we managed to convince them we had just pulled over for brekkie (in our pj's) and headed off to a sevises to get dressed and eat! Then we decided before heading home to head to...MOVIE WORLD!

Movie world was a warner brothers Theme Park.... and a big one at that with huge rollercoasters etc. We started out going on the batman ride which basically shot you upward really fast!!! Tamara wasnt a fan of big rides and declined this one...we then went on a really boring simulator ride until we went on the huge and fast Superman rollercoaster!!!!! Tamara went for it with this one and we all really enjoyed being scared to death as we shot around really really fast!!!!! The only ride we didnt like was the Leathal Weapon which was just hurtful to the head!!!! We had fun watching a street parade of all the looney Tunes characters and with it being a nice hot day we really enjoyed our time here!

After Movie World we headed up and back to Brisbane. We took the Van back and checked into a Hostel called Banana Benders. It was a cheap and cheerful place with a charasmatic host. We enjoyed it there, even if the kitchen was a wee bit tiny...but it wasnt the worst one!!! haha

One of the most amazing times we had in Brisbane was a visit to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Here we got to have our pics taken cuddling a Koala and also feed kangaroos and look at reptiles. We really enjoyed the place and it was a lot better than Australia Zoo (and half the price!!!)

The rest of our time here wasnt as eventful as it rained...and we mean rained!!!!! We watched a few movies at the Cinema and then it was time to leave Brisbane and head to the West Coast on a 5 hour plane ride to Perth......