Australia cont'd (Brisbane, Byron Bay, Sydney) & Tokyo, Japan

Our trip down the East coast of Australia continued with a 17 hour overnight bus ride from Airlie Beach to Brisbane. Our real highlight there was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary - the world's first and largest koala sanctuary, where we got to cuddle and stroke the koalas, and hand-feed lots of kangaroos. We also spent a day walking around the city to see the sights - in some ways it reminded us of a small version of London, with a South Bank complete with arts centre and their version of the London Eye.

After a short stop in Byron Bay, to soak up the sunshine on the beach, we headed back to Sydney in time for the New Year's Eve celebrations. For once we were staying in an upmarket hotel, and we even got upgraded to a a suite so we finished our trip in style! The fireworks take place on the harbour bridge and at various points along the harbour, so we decided to head to one of the lookouts - the botanic gardens - with a picnic early on to make sure we got a good spot. Turns out we weren't the only ones - we got there at 2pm but it was already very crowded! It was worth the wait though, with fireworks at 9pm and midnight, which were spectacular.

We spent a couple more days seeing the sights, including taking the ferry to Manly (named after the 'manly' behaviour shown by the indigenous people when the Europeans first arrived in Oz) and doing a 10k walk along the coast. We also found some great restaurants in Chinatown and Darlinghurst.

The final stop on our three-month trip was Tokyo. It was a bit of a culture shock - most of the streets are unnamed, and most signs are written in Japanese. Even with plastic models of food outside the restaurants it could be tricky to work out what was on the menu! Still, we had some great food and managed to find the main sights, including the imperial palace grounds, temples and shrines, and the cityscape looked incredible at night.

We can't believe that the trip has now come to an end. We've had an incredible time, some amazing experiences and learnt alot, too. Now we just need to plan our next trip...