So theme of this blog is wildlife. Wednesday night we arrived in Brisbane and after some transport issues, we jumped in a cab with a proper Aussie cowboy to head into town from the airport. He was up for the annual agricultural show in Brisbane where his cattle were being judged and was another example of just how friendly the Australians are.

We got to our hostel and headed for a drink in the bar before going off to explore Brisbane. We headed down to the river but Wednesday nights in Brisbane aren't exactly busy so after an hour or so wandering we headed back and to bed.

Thursday morning and we headed back down to the river to get the river cruise to Lonely Pine Koala Sanctuary. The boat took us all along the river from the city out through the suburbs where you could see the beautiful riverside properties as well as evidence of the awful 2011 floods from January. It was amazing to think how much worst they could have been if the earlier precautions hadn't already been put in place. That said, so much damage was done.

The cruise took us to the door of the Koala sanctuary so we headed in to meet it's residents. There were koalas every where!! (obvious I guess really) but they were far cuter in person than I expected. The sanctuary doesn't just have koalas but all typically Australian animals such as dingoes, platypuses, Tasmanian devils and of course 'roos!!

The two highlights of the day though were feeding the kangaroos, they were so soft and again very cute and then cuddling a koala!! The sanctuary look after their animals very well and ensure each koala isn't cuddled for more than 30 mins per day but it was such an experience. I really wanted to take Crumble home, she was adorable!

We headed back to Brisbane in the afternoon and wandered down to the river and botanical gardens where we found loads of sleeping fruit bats in the trees. We met up with Michael, Renaye and Archie for dinner (at the Mecca bar) and then headed back to the hostel.

Friday was a sorting/traveling day so after a session at STA travel to book the second half of our Aussie adventure we caught the Greyhound up the coast to Hervey Bay. We checked into the hostel there and managed to get to the beach in time for sun set. We then walked along the esplanade Having a drink or two and some dinner.

Saturday morning we headed to different accommodation (after some more Aussie kindness) near to the Marina and met up with Jo and Andy flying up from Sydney. Then it was time for the whales!

We headed out into Platypus bay on the boat 'That's Awesome' to find some humpback whales and wow did we do well! We saw some fantastic views of humpback whales including one particular male who seemed to enjoy showing off for us, slapping his tail on the water for ages before swimming under the boat and coming up for air just a few metres away. It was awesome! (photo on the front taken by my own fair hands).

Last night we headed to the Hervey Bay boat club for dinner and drinks. The whales were soooo good yesterday that we got up at 6 this morning to go again! We headed out at 7am to see some more whales and there were loads of them! Although we didn't get as close to them we did see one breach (jump out of the water) right in front of us and also made friends with a dolphin getting a free ride on the boat's wave. Just fantastic.

After the second whale watching trip this morning we got the ferry across to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world and headed to the Kingfisher bay resort where we have a villa for a couple of days. I am now sat by the pool with a glass of wine enjoying the winter sun :-) hard life. We are heading off to explore Fraser Island tomorrow morning and will hopefully see some more wildlife.