Hey Guys, Amy here.

Well over the past few days we have been the most amazing toursist ever! And all of it for free.....we havent done anything that needs to be paid for......bargain!!

Arrived in Brisbane at 2pm on Sunday. On the way from Mooloolaba we climbed up Horseshoe mountain (or something similar), it is one of the glasshouse mountains and we had an amazing view of the other mountains and could see Brisbane in the distance. On arriving in Brisbane we explored the hostel, it has a pool on the roof and a roof terrace so you can sit and eat dinner whilst looking out over the city. Wandered to try and find somewhere that was showing the football cos I was convinced that Hull were on the telly but unfortunately I was wrong and so we sat in a dingy pub for ages only to find out that it wasn't going to be on, nevermind. Sam also tried to ring home but first the phonecard wouldnt work so she went in a mardy and then when it did work her mum wasn't in.....the rudeness (oh and by the way Denise you owe me 25p connection charge lol).

Monday morning and we started off on our (walking) tourist trail of brisbane. First stop the City Hall, which includes Brisbane Museum. We went up in a rather scary lift to the clock tower and looked out over the city (not as nice a view as un Brugge). Then wandered round the museum (included too much art for mjy liking). Then hit the shops,........too expensive to buy anything though. Scouted out some lunch and walked for miles, eventually returning to pretty much the spot in which we started and went to an underground food court. Far too much choice and as anyone who has been for a meal with me will know it takes me ages to decide. So after 3 or 4 times round the food court we eventually stumbled upon a totally veggie stand and Sam had a veggie burger which was huge ( she struggled to get it in her mouth!!) and I had kinda a folded pizza topped with lots of veggies - very nice and filling. Podged as we then were we stumbled back out into the sun and headed for the Cathedral. T ook some pictures of the outside but didnt go in cos it wasn';t free (bad I know). Took a short stroll to Anzac Square and sat there for a while in the shade and read some free papers. After this we wandered round some more shops and then headed out to the Botanic Gardens. Pretty amazing. I nearly had a heart attack when a big lizard snook up on me. Saw so much wildlife. Wandered round for a bit and then walked all the way back along the river to our home. Only we walked too far and couldnt get off the path and so had to walk back adding about an extra 500m to our already inceasing tally of how far we'd walked. IN the evening we cooked the most amazing dinner. We took inspiration from the Jacket Spuds we'd had in Hervey Bay. I had cheese, pineapple, bacon and sour cream (Sam had the same minus the bacon) with mounds of Salad. We were fat pigs afterwards. Went to the bar in the evening and did the quiz. We only cheated slightly and came 5th so imagine how much the people who came 1st must have cheated lol. Know found my specialist quiz subject though.......capital cities!!!! And I;m good!!!!

Tuesday morning we got up and decided to take in the cutural side of Brisbane. Went to two art galleries and the muesum of Queensland. Very interesting. Spent the afternoon lounging by the lagoon with its man made beach (there isn;t a beach in Brisbane). I was kept very entertained by the group of teachers behind me who were obviously on a school trip. They were talking the most amazing amount of rubbish and I was so distracted that it about 3 hours I only managed 13 pages of Dracula. I couldnt stop giggling at them, can just imagine your trips being as comical Chlo. Headed back to the hostel for dinner and went to bed soon after cos I was shattered.

Yesterday we were on a mission!!!! We wanted to plan for the rest of the trip from Sydney through to Adelaide, then to Uluru and then flights back to Sydney. WE spent the morning going round some travel agents getting quotes for flights. We'd already picked out the trip we wanted to go on and pretty much knew who we wanted to hire a campervan with (this was based on the budget). Wandered over the other side of town (it was a chuffing huge trek) to find the campervan office and had a look round. Afterwards we took a stroll round China Town (stopping quickly at Warner Street for me to pose under the sign) and then to an internet Cafe to set in mtion bookign everything. Decided that it was cheaper to book flights ourselves so Sam did that. Asked the travel agents to book our trip for us and they asked us what else we were doing. We explained all about the campervan hire etc and they asked who we were going with. Thankfully we hadnt booked anything as they managed to get us a better deal with a better company (one we thought we couldnt afford). So know we get to travel round in a Spaceship. (http://www.spaceshipsrentals.com.au/australian-campervan-hire/) and they look amazing. Booked all the rest up and walked home very triumphant that we'd managed to get it all done in one evening. Spent most of the evening wandering round trying to find somewhere to eat but most places close early and so we ended up at a pizza takeaway (BBQ Chicken - yum) round the corner from the hostel. It was very nice all the same and we took the rest home and had it for breakfast this morning.....yum yum!!

Today so far we've been very lazy. Spent most of the morning in bed relaxin and then wandered down here to write this. Had a few problems with our roomies which we;re hoping to sort out later including things going missing etc. Later we're going on a tour of the XXXX Brewery which includes 4 few drinks and now we're becoming better beer drinkers I;m sure we'll really enjoy it.

Thats all for now people. We're off to enjoy our beer. Moving to Surfers Paradise tmr afternoon where we hope to become amazing surfers (we can live in hope lol).

Love to you all. Gossip on the messgae boards please, I love reading your messages as much as you love reading this (well I hope you enjoy reading it)

Ps - I hope the added food info is up to the required standard chlo.

Sam here now to add a bit of info about the XXXX brewery tour. It was really good! The tour itself was great too, not just the beer at the end. I never thought I'd really like lager but I think I've found my niche. It's pretty good stuff all in all. The 4 free drinks were appreciated lots and we also got an extra free drink too. Very generous lol. Then we went back to cook our dinner. Always the best order to do things. Fortunately we didn't need to do anything to difficult, just whack things in the microwave. Today we're off to Surfer's as Amy said...hehe! Beach bums for a few days, yey! I might hire a body board to play with, start practising with something a little smaller. Right, I'll leave it for here, will chat soon, I'll write the next one, think AMy's taking over on here a bit (lol)! x