After almost 22 months of travelling in Australia the time has come to finally sample the delights of Australia's East Coast. I managed to escape Mooroopna a little bit later than expected as I was kept on at the cannery for a week longer. In all honesty I was dying to leave but needed to milk SPC Ardmona for all the pennies I could. It had been three months since I had left Melbourne to come up to the Northern Country in Victoria and all of that had been spent in a Caravan on my own. I feel like I need to be re-introduced to 'normal' society very slowly. In fact after around seven months staying in Urban Central in Melbourne, the complete opposite to staying alone in a caravan in terms of the social side, and then three months alone in a Trailer Park I'm not entirely sure what 'normality' is any more. A happy medium somewhere in between Urban and the Trailer Park I guess.

I was eager to get out of Mooroopna as soon as I could but having missed the first train out ( I was characteristically up too late), I was amazingly organised enough to check out of the Caravan Park an hour and a half before the next train was due to depart. However, someone certainly didn't want me to leave the 'City that never wakes up' just yet. There was no-one to check me out at the Trailer Park and return my deposit. 'Am I ever going to get out of this place?' I thought to myself. After a long wait the owner finally turned up and I managed to catch the last train that day down to Melbourne. Phew!

It was a relief to get out of Mooroopna. I wasn't planning on hanging around in Melbourne with the plan being to head up the east coast to find some more work for a few weeks. I am heading off to South Africa in the middle of June so something to keep me going for the period in between would be fantastic. Whilst down in Melbourne I stayed in the Melbourne Metro YHA. It was a tough decision not to go back to Urban Central. It did feel like I was cheating on the hostel but I knew that if I went back I would spend money like it was going out of fashion. And that was not what I needed right now! So I spent two days in Melbourne planning my next move, which I decided was to head for Brisbane. I booked a flight to the Gold Coast, as it was a lot cheaper than flying to Brisbane and the plan was to make my way up to Brisbane straight away by bus and train.

I booked my flight with Tiger Airways - the first time I had travelled with Tiger. At the point of making my booking on the internet I made an incredibly naïve schoolboy error which came back to haunt me on checking in. I decided to choose the option of having 15kg of 'checked-in' baggage instead of paying an extra 10 dollars for 25 kg. I really should have thought more about this and known better. I have accumulated a fair amount of stuff over the course of my travels but I really didn't realise how much stuff exactly. On checking-in my bag was 25 kg. 10kg over my limit. 'That's 150 dollars please' said the check-in lady. My jaw dropped. Cue anger and a few badly chosen expletives! Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up appearing on one of those programmes like Airport Security where the Check in girls have to deal with 'difficult customers'. I tried the 'I am a backpacker, I can't afford that' old chestnut. It didn't work surprise, surprise. In the end I decided to try and re-distribute my check-in luggage and carry on luggage to see if that worked, or if all else fails ditch some of my belongings, which I really didn't require. Consequently, in a bin near Brisbane Airport there is half a wardrobe full of old clothes and other items which someone could find useful. Get there quick though! I checked in again, this time with my hand luggage weighing significantly more than last time but my checked-in luggage only 2kg over. I decided to cut my losses and pay the 30 dollar excess. For a flight that cost me about 60 dollars, spending 150 dollars extra on excess luggage was taking the michael, especially as I could have paid an extra 10 dollars at the point of booking for an extra 10kg. Lesson Learnt, I guess. Now I understand how these low budget airlines make their money.

It was a short flight to the Gold Coast Airport, which is situated about 100km south of Brisbane. I hopped on a bus and headed to Robina Train Station, where I needed to jump on a train to Brunswick Train Station to get to the hostel I had booked - Bunk, situated in Fortitude Valley. The train was busy. I arrived at Robina Train Station to a sea of police officers. Strange I thought. The station was totally dead. All of a sudden though people started to arrive. I had arrived at the wrong time as the Rugby match between the Broncos and Penrith had just finished. I managed to grab a seat though, but got a few funny looks as I was wearing my Woking shirt! Well, it had to be done. Woking were playing in the play-off semi-final that evening…..
I arrived into Brunswick Street station in Fortitude Valley and made my way towards Bunk hostel - a short 10 minute walk. Brisbane was buzzing. It was a Saturday night and I walked through an area with lots of bustling bars packed with revellers, I also saw that Chinatown was in close proximity to the hostel. The hostel was certainly close to the action. I arrived into Bunk hostel and checked in. My first impressions of the hostel were good. It had a bar adjacent to the hostel which was heaving, the rooms were 8 bed dorms but very large with ensuite. I was impressed. It was all very clean as well. The only downside, which I found out when I turned into bed was that the bar adjacent to the hostel is open until around 4 in the morning. Great if you are there to party. But, this time, I wasn't there to party. I was here for a quick stop-off while I looked for work. I decided to check-out after two nights and moved to the YHA hostel in Upper Roma Street where I was to stay for a further five nights. I was expecting the YHA to be a lot quieter, which it was. It must be said the standard of YHA hostels is generally excellent but the one in Brisbane is even better. It has been recently renovated, has a fantastic kitchen, swimming pool and TV room. It also has a Café which serves relatively cheap food. It was a good decision for me to move here, with no bar to influence me to spend lots of money!

As for Brisbane, well it is a really great city and I will be coming back here when I travel down the east coast properly after I return from the World Cup. The City is built around the Brisbane River in a type of a 'U' shape. Along the river there are many bars and restaurants which are very busy at night and give a really good feel to the city. The city also has a botanical gardens - a great place to relax and chill out on a nice day and this is also next to the river. Just a fifteen minute walk from the YHA hostel is the area known as 'Southbank' which has a whole street of market stalls selling anything you would wish to find. And of-course for a night out there is Fortitude Valley which is where a lot of the clubs and bars are located. I'll be back here again to do the Touristy stuff.

During my short time in Brisbane I managed to get down to the GABBA - the home of Cricket and AFL in Brisbane to see an AFL game involving the Brisbane Lions & the Fremantle Dockers. I have become a bit of a Dockers fan over the course of my travels in Australia, having started my Aussie travel adventure in Freo and I wanted to see them live at some point and luckily they were in town while I was in Brissy. Brisbane Lions are one of the more fancied team this year to do well in the AFL and it was also a chance to see the famous Brendon Fevola play. Fevola is one of the most famous 'Footy' players in Australia, not only for his talent on the field but also for some controversy off the field. You see, he had a naked photo of Michael Clarke's girlfriend (Lara Bingle) from the days when Fevola was in a relationship with Bingle and this photo managed to make it to the papers causing a huge furore over here. Clarke had to fly back from Australia's cricket tour of New Zealand to sort out the mess. Back to the match though and it was actually the best live game I have seen so far. Fremantle were superb and managed to win by about three goals but not before a Brisbane fight back in the fourth quarter. The atmosphere was a lot better than at the MCG or the Etihad Stadium. Probably because the GABBA is a smaller stadium and a lot closer to the action. The fans were a lot more vociferous as well. So Fremantle continue to surprise everyone and won again. Go Dockers!

Two days later I headed off to Bowen. The plan was to fly to Proserpine and catch an airport transfer to Bowen, where I was lucky enough to get a bed at Bowen Backpackers. The plan is to find work. More seasonal work perhaps. I've heard they do Tomatoes up there. And I thought I'd seen my last tomato for a while! Another new town and another new adventure......