There's drizzle in Brizzle my nizzle...
The sky is a murky grey,we step off the greyhound service and await our hostel's shuttle bus- the pattern continues, bad weather to start our stay in Brisbane!
The hostel was nice enough, we shared a 4 man dorm with a French fella. He didn't talk too much, then again I was intimated the first time I met Hannah...
The Brisbane Backpackers Resort was situated in an area of Brisbane know as Southbank, a fair walk from the CBD, filled with coffee shops and la de da typa shops. We dumped our bags and went on our customary exploration of the city on foot. Brisbane's a nice place; Smaller than the likes of Melbs or Sydney, but it was still great fun to wonder through. On the second day we visited the museum and the botanical gardens. The gardens were really nice and we were able to spot some pretty funky looking trees and some extraordinary wildlife. I especially liked the giant fig trees; The Fig's roots would wrap themselves around smaller trees beneath them, the smaller tree would eventually rot and die, leaving a hollow space in-between the roots- great for hide and seek I'm sure!

We took a boat back to Southbank and began planning the next days trip to...(drum roll please) Australia Zoo!!!
I believe the Zoo is the largest in Oz and was owned by the late Steve Irwin. His wife and two children have carried on his legacy as the zoo continues to grow. The zoo which was once a mere 4 acres, now covers 100 Acres of land! Crikey!
We took the train from Brisbane and arrived at the zoo around 10am- just in time to feed the elephants their breakfast! The Australia Zoo really is the Disney World of Zoos, kids would love it as everything is so interactive. As I said, we were lucky enough to feed the elephants! We were also able to get up close and personal with Kangaroos in there enclosure. At 12 o clock, the 5,000 capacity 'crocaseum' holds the famous croc show. Unfortunately the Croc they used for us was quite the diva and didn't really perform on cue. It was still a great show, I can only imagine what it must have been like when Steve put on the show himself.
My favourite part of the day was watching the tiger show. We saw the zoo keepers playing with the tigers as they jumped into the water pool and up trees.

After an amazing day seeing over 1000 types of animal it was time to retreat back to my natural habitat...bed!
Having to catch the 7am shuttle bus to Hervey Bay won't be fun, but at least we've got three alarms to wake us up nice and early...

31/05/12- 7:15am

... Morning...oh no!

Kind Regards
Oliver James Kenneth Smith