Wednesday 14th January-

We enjoyed our time at Coffs Harbour. On the first night we wandered down to the harbour and ate some fish and chips (the fish was 'hoki'), which were very tasty. The next day we spent on the beach as it was too hot and sunny to move. On the way back home we stopped at an amazing ice cream place called Cold Rock. You choose your ice cream from a variety of crazy flavours, and then you can add any sweets or chocolates or cake things you like from their selection and it all gets mashed up into the ice cream. yum! Helen had white chocolate ice cream with maltesers and milky way, and Chris had cookies and cream ice cream with MnMs and tim-tams. We decided that the curry place on that road smelled too good to miss so we went there that night and had a nice meal. The next day we walked to the Botanic Garden. We walked around the nature trails for a while looking for animals. We didn't see anything but some small mud crabs for ages, but on our way back Helen spotted a koala bear high up in some tree branches, and later we saw a wallaby hiding in the forest. The day after that we got up early to go to Pet Porpoise Pool, but when we got there we decided it wasn't really worth the $25 entry fee to watch another seal or dolphin show. We then did a very long but scenic walk along the beaches to The Big Banana. This was a banana plantation with a few extra things to do. We did the 'banana experience' which involved 2 short films about the history of bananas and then a tour of the plantation and packing place. We learnt some interesting things! The banana plant is a herb not a tree, There's just one bunch of bananas per plant, and the plant moves 25cm uphill every year! We weren't there very long so we walked to a shopping centre for a look around.

The next day we left at 5.50am for Brisbane. We arrived there at about 12.45pm and had a very long, hot walk to our hostel (Brisbane Manor Hotel). The hostel was a lot nicer than we expected for the price, and very big! Our room had a fridge/freezer, TV, sink and dressing table!

Sunday 18th January-

Brisbane was very hot, mostly over 30 degrees. Most of the days there we spent in the town. We had a quick look around the City Hall/ Museum, which had some paintings and sculptures in. We went to the shopping centre and bought some much needed clothes replacements as ours (mostly Helens) are falling apart, not used to being worn so much! We also went to the cinema and saw 'Yes Man', which was very funny. We had a brief walk through the Botanical Gardens (which was really just a park) and also walked down to the South Bank to look at the small man-made beach and pool area. We cooked ourselves some nice meals in Brisbane, including a very healthy one of steak, sweet potato, rice, peppers, onion, corn on the cob and broccolli!

Sunday 25th January-

We arrived at Mooloolaba next. It was alright but there wasn't a lot to do there. Our main reason for going was to see Underwater World- an aquarium. It was quite good and had otters and seals as well as the usual fish. There was an old big car that had been water-sealed and was now being used as a fish tank, which was cool! We saw a seal show there and listened to a talk about the otters. The other couple of days there were spent wandering around the beach and shops.

On Thursday we travelled up to Noosa. When we arrived at the very pink hostel they took us down the road to a random but very nice and modern apartment! So we had our own house for a couple of days, which was nice! Another couple moved in a couple of days later, but they were nice. On Friday we went to Australia Zoo- Crikey! (Steve Irwin's Zoo). It was really good, even though it rained most of the day and there was a massive storm too. We were OK though cos we had our bright yellow ponchos from Chris's mum. Helen is in love with wombats and Chris would like a koala bear. We got to stroke a koala bear which was great. There was a really good kangaroo and wallaby area that you can walk through and feed and stroke them. We saw a show at the Crocoseum, with the Irwin family presenting some of it (minus Steve of course, although everyone here seems to act like he's still alive). The show was good and included birds, a big snake and a crocodile demonstration. The next day was cloudy so we didn't do much. Yesterday Chris had a surf lesson in the morning, which he really enjoyed. There were 2 instructors and just 3 pupils so it was like a private lesson. After numerous falls and many hits from waves he managed to stand up and ride some waves.

It is Australia day today (26th), so there is likely to be a lot of things going on. We are heading up to Rainbow beach later. After that, Helen would really like to go to a national park to see the turtles laying their eggs on the beach, as it only happens December-February, but there doesn't seem to be much accommodation around there and it's not easy to get to, so we'll see.