Hello again,

Sorry I’ve not posted for so long...I’ve been far too busy having fun!

After leaving Leconfield we had one day to waste in Tamworth whilst we waited for our bus to Brisbane (which was at 12.50am!!). Thankfully, this meant that we were able to sleep most of the 9 hour journey to Brisbane!

We arrived in Brisbane at around 9.45am on Sunday, booked a hostel through the information desk at the bus station and then headed off, armed with a map and some fairly vague directions, in search of the Base Embassy hostel. It turned out to be a very very long walk!!!
We made it to the hostel before check in, so we stowed our bags in the storage room and went for a wander. When we got back, we had the fun task of ferrying our bags to our room....on the 3rd floor!!! (thank god for lifts!!)
We spent the rest of our first day in the city chilling, and wandering around in an attempt to get our bearings.

The next day was a very early start for us – we had booked tickets with Greyhound to go to Australia Zoo. So we had to be at the coach terminal to meet the bus at about 7.45am! The zoo is around 90 minutes drive outside of Brisbane and we arrived there just after the gates opened.
Australia Zoo is huge and is really a kind of shrine to Steve Irwin who put so much work into the place (but it was a bit weird seeing so many photos of him all round the place!!!)
So we spent the day wandering (as you do) round the zoo, petting the koalas (I even had my photo taken with one – they’re heavy little b*****s!) and feeding kangaroos and wallabies, some even had joeys in their pouches! So cute! We even got to hand feed some elephants whilst we were there!!

We just about made it round the entire zoo by the time we had to head back to meet the Greyhound that would take us back into Brisbane.
By the time we made it back to the hostel, Marijke had arrived and we decided to go out for some food. We followed the directions given to us by the receptionist, this lead us to a quiet back street with no restaurants down it! So Marijke asked a random passer-by for directions to a good Italian restaurant...he went one better and walked us to it (even though it was out of his way).
The food at Café Mondial was amazing! Admittedly, it’s not the cheapest of places, but the food was excellent, the staff were friendly and the atmosphere was chilled! So we sat with a bottle of wine and enjoyed the evening!

We ended up extending the night, and after making a quick pit stop at the hostel we headed to the Down Under Bar which is basically backpacker central!! With cheap drinks and random competitions to win bar tabs every night, the atmosphere is good and the people are happy.....if a little hammered!!
We ended up chatting with a guy called Rob (nicknamed Mr Half a Suit by Marijke) from Sydney and spent the night dancing and singing along to all the cheesy songs!
We finally left the bar at about 2.30am and stopped at the 7eleven for post night out munchies! All in all a very good night out – more because of the people rather than the venue though!!

The next day 3 of the jillaroo group left to go south to Surfers Paradise, leaving me, Marijke and Jasmine in Brisbane.
Marijke and I decided to wander down to the Botanical Gardens in time to join in with the free Tai Chi lesson that happens there every Tuesday (such a good laugh!) before we set off across the Goodwill Bridge to explore the South Bank of the river.
The walkway along the southbank is beautiful and the modern style tunnel that arches over the pathway is covered in pink and purple flowers. We saw the lagoon (which is basically an outdoor swimming pool with an artificial beach next to it!). We wandered round there for a good few hours before heading back to the hostel, tired and foot sore!

The rest of my time in Brisbane was spent job hunting and chilling out with Marijke and Jasmine!
However, all of the farm jobs that I was going for were being given to the men instead – very sexist, but understandable at the same time! Still...very annoying for me! So, with no job on the horizon, I decided to head north towards the warmer weather!
Next stop.........Airlie Beach!!!