Not long after we left Noosa on the bus, Si became desperate for the loo. He was in so much pain and so scared of going to the toilet on the bus!! I asked the driver to stop, but she wouldn't. Si ended up jumping off the bus in a random town to relieve himself.
I hauled Simons bags and mine off the bus and checked in to base central backpackers.Off to the shops we went and stocked up on food and, more importantly, lots of horrible goon! The nightclub beneath our hostel was hosting a 'ladies night' which encouraged men to get their frocks on. Si jumped at the opportunity. Simon slapped on the make up, nail polish, dress, bra and stockings! Such a gorgeous girl NOT. Our night began drinking on the rooftop bar and then we made our way down to the balcony beside our room. My 'posh' red goon was definitely hitting the spot! I had a drunken clumsy moment of falling off a window ledge and landed straight on the corner of a large metal ashtray. I had the perfect "V" shaped bruise on me bum - black, blue and purple. The wine helped numb the pain! We danced about in the Down Under bar - a dive but good for a backpackers night.

The next day we were told of Simons late night antics. Simon had been sleep walking loads during the night!! He was apparently searching for the toilet outside on the balcony and was lost in the hallway too. Later on we were also told by some other people staying in our dorm that Si had got out of bed and tried to get into their bed as he thought is was his.

We spent our first few days in Brisbane searching around the city centre for a job. We didn't have much luck. We got ourselves an Oz sim card, tax file number, bank account, RSA and a flat in the city centre (Happy Days). During our first week in Brisbane we also meet up with Si's friends from back home, Ian and Lisa. The night we meet up we went to a student bar across the other side of town, with Ians work mate Cooper. The place was massive, it had a huge outdoor area and basement and a good night was had by all.

We managed to get a reasonably priced flat in the city. We had a double room with air-con, an open plan kitchen diner and living room with a large BBQ and balcony. On our floor was also a communal heated outdoor pool and gym, which was extremely handy on a hot day.

We kept applying for jobs and handing in CV's but heard nothing back from anywhere. Finally Si applied for some agency work and we both were put on the books at Pinnacle. I got my first shift that day and rushed to get a uniform. I was a waitress at a Christmas function in Gambara's restaurant. Although fun, it killed my feet. New cheap shoes cause huge blisters!! Our second job was at the Hilton Hotel. me and Si got split up, he worked in the restaurant and i worked in the function rooms doing more Christmas functions. While we worked for Pinnacle we had various jobs, working for P&O Cruise, waiting on staff and bar staff at Brisbane entertainment centre and working at Brisbane International Tennis open.

At the Tennis we were put on fish and chips. Even though serving fish and chips wasn't pleasant as it left us spotty and greasy - it was fun. We made friends with people who worked for the agency and some Aussies who worked for the company we were on loan to. One guy Simon worked with kept supplying him with alcoholic drinks and food - mega jealous! We also had the funniest co-workers - the 'two fat ladies' who just moaned all day only about anything and everything. It was that funny I almost missed them a little bit when they weren't there.

Christmas was spent in Brisbane. Both our flatmates were away for most of the Christmas period, which was cool as it meant we had the flat to ourselves for most of the time. We spent Christmas day morning at the city lagoon in south bank. Despite clouds, Si still manged to get sun burnt. We also played with the bouncing on water ball and both managed to hit random people quite a few times. Si cooked a good BBQ for lunch (didn't burn a thing - not even the glass table). We then went over to Simon's friends house for the evening. We managed to Skype home and chat to our families. Our family and friends had clubbed together for our joint birthday and Christmas presents to get us a hotel for when we go to New York. (Thank you once again :) ). Whilst working at the tennis we became friends with an Aussie who offered to take us out for the day. We hopped on a train to her end of town and jumped into her jeep. My hair was completely knotted as we drove about with the top down. She took us to Emmundi Markets and drove us round the Glass House mountains stopping at scenic lookouts and small towns. We went back to her house for a while. At dusk she took us to Mt Cootha lookout where we could see the city and suburbs all lit up. A few days later me and Si caught the bus to the lookout point in the day light. We bought tickets to see the View but were sadly working. We did however, get to see Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal and Lily Allen in Brisbane Botanical Gardens. Another night we went to the Gabba to watch a 20/20 game of cricket. Luckily the lady who took us out for the day was behind the bar so we got free beer. Our flatmate took us to Movie World where we went on a few rides and met characters and watched Shrek in 4D which was really good. Our job search continued as we didn't have enough shifts at the agency. I applied for a photography job and we got a trial. Gotcha is a childrens photography company. At first we were PR ing, Si hated it and although he said he'd never ever do it again after our trial - he did, for seven weeks! After our trial we were asked to go to Rockhampton. We were there for a few days before moving the set up to Gladstone - possibly Australias worst town. I was quickly taught about photography and Si did the paperwork. We spent Australia day in Gladstone. A few days before we went to the local pub where they were playing beach cricket and have live local bands playing. On Australia days itself we went to the beach in the morning and spent the afternoon in the pool. The next day was my 22nd birthday. Si woke me up with brekkie in bed before work. He also got me a yummy choc cake! In the evening the two of us took the company car to the beach and had a BBQ. After Gladstone we were asked to work back in Cairns for a month. We were able to fly back and pack up all of our stuff from our flat and move out. We flew to Cairns and worked with some other English lasses for the first week before we were joined by Aussies. We stayed just north of Cairns in a lovely apartment on the beachfront in Trinity Beach. The beach was nice but you could only go in the netted area due to deadly jellyfish and crocs. One night when we were outside the local pub I noticed something out the corner of my eye. I realised it was a snake climbing up a picnic bench behind two lads so told them to move. They screamed like girls. After four months working in Cairns we were flew back to Brisbane to continue our travels.