Well the rain continued up the coast with us to Surfers Paradise and needless to say we didn't surf or sunbathe on a beach at all! The city is famous as it has great surfing, is the only large city with skyscrapers on the coast in Australia and is literally right on the beach. The skyline is pretty awesome and we got some really good views on an Aquaduck tour, a land and boat cruise for an hour round the city. I thought we were supposed to be quacking like ducks on the trip like I did in Boston but it didn't really go down well with the rest of my fellow passengers haha! Some of the houses on the river are worth millions of $AUS and someone even bought another house because the council wouldn't allow a helipad outside his. Mind you he still kept his original house and didn't live in the new one he'd bought, just used it for the helipad…ah I wish I had that kind of problem! The rest of our time there was spent walking around the shops, the farmers market and a day at Wet 'n' Wild water park which was so much fun! Definitely the best thing to do here, as the rest of the place is kind of like a Spanish holiday resort where there are amusement arcades and funfairs. The only thing to do here is to spend money and sadly we haven't got that much!

The next stop on our travels was the city of Brisbane and the wonders of Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. I was such a fantastic place and we got to get up close and personal with lots of animals such as kangaroos and koala's. We finally got to hold a koala and I can say that it is officially my favorite animal J They are so so cute and when you hold them they cling onto you like a baby. Afterwards though Nicki and I felt like we stunk and after sniffing our clothes all we smelt of were eucalyptus leaves and koala poo…my koala kept pooing while it was having its picture taken with me which was lovely! Another great thing to do was drink the locally brewed Castlemaine beer on the brewery tour. We learnt all about how it was made and then got 4 free beers at the end of it, which of course we thoroughly enjoyed! One of my favorite things about Brisbane was that we met some really great friends, 2 German brothers Christian and Johannes. After a really bad experience with some Germans in a hostel in Sydney they gave us faith back in the nation and as they were driving a Spaceship like us we all bonded and got to know each other. Turned out they were driving up the coast too so we planned to meet up with them along the way. I think they were the first guys we had met who were genuinely nice and not sleazy! Well it turned out that we met them the next day when we landed in Noosa, it was nice to have friends to share the journey and experience with.

Noosa…one of my favorite places I have been to in Australia, just an absolutely amazing place!! It isn't much of a party place but I think I'm getting old as I can't be bothered to party much anymore when I'm living out of a bag. There was a chilled out atmosphere here and the emphasis is on water sports like surfing, jet skiing and kayaking which I gave all a go. Jet Skiing with Nicki was brilliant; she was like a professional at it while I clung on to her for dear life! I had never done it before so was a little nervous but eventually got the hang of it and was speeding away across the pretty rough sea. Of course I fell in and pulled Nicki off with me, had a freak out that sharks were going to be circling me and quickly clambered back onto the jet ski. The next morning I went kayaking along the Noosa / Weyba River with my personal French instructor Stefan which was pretty cool. He took me through mangroves where we saw a wild stingray (ah poor Steve Irwin, I would have killed it for him but I don't think it was the one that killed him), and to the sandy sound of the river where there were pelicans and your own private beach. Was a great day and really enjoyed getting some exercise for once! After much persuasion from Stefan I decided to brave the sharks and jellyfish in the ocean the next day and learnt how to surf….now I don't mean to brag but I was a bit of a natural and managed to stand up almost every time!!! Most definitely going to have to head down to Newquay when I'm back and give it another try, absolutely loved it! For our final evening we watched the people and fish go by on a sunset river cruise. All I can say is I love Noosa!