Brisbane

December 6th - 8th

Our original plan was to make a stop at another national park before we got to Brisbane, but the rain was so torrential on the way north that we decided it wasn't worth it as there's no way we'd have been able to get out of the van to do any walking anyway. Damn you weather.

Got to Brisbane alright and stayed in the closest campsite to the CBD. A huge storm greeted us on our first night - always seemed to rain just as we were about to sit down for dinner which was really bloody annoying.

Spent our first day at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was about a half hour drive away and it was well worth paying an absolute fortune to get in. We were treated to a couple of talks (including a slideshow, get in) about snakes and koalas and saw a load of other aussie wildlife - wombats, dingoes, Tassie Devils, crocs, roos and loads of birds.

Practically had to get Sarah in a full Nelson and march her back to the car to stop her taking more photos of the koalas (which are not actually a member of the bear family interestingly - geek stat). To be fair they were pretty cute apart from the fact that they stink and make strange snoring sounds, but we managed to get a photo holding one (which most of my mates have already destroyed me for, cheers lads).

Wandered round Brisbane the next day and got the ferry along the imaginatively titled Brisbane River, as well as checking out the weird beach that they've built right in the middle of the city. It was pretty realistic, right down to the huge number of screaming children it attracted and the unsightly flabby white flesh on display from most of the adults present.

U2 were playing in the city later that night, but thankfully we managed to avoid Bono and his other chums.