How time flies. It’s a year since we properly started planning our trip and here we are reaching our half way point. It brings mixed emotions. We’ve completely fallen for this travelling malarkey and in our little land of make-believe we’d keep on going for as long as there are still new places to discover. Alas, we know this dream will come to an end (on this trip, at least) eventually, but as long as the next half is anywhere near as amazing as the first we’re sure we’ll wake up feeling refreshed and satisfied.

In our lovely double room at the Brisbane YHA, that’s pretty much how we woke up a couple of days ago as well. As much as we loved campervan living, there’s a lot to be said for proper beds, in proper rooms. The bathroom was shared, but seriously it was five-star luxury for us. Annoyingly, we did have to check out by 10am and move into a cheaper bunk bed dorm room for the next couple of nights. Still it was fun while it lasted. After that, we wanted to book a trip we’d planned months ago. Apologies for pointing out the bleedin’ obvious, but this country is so damned big some ruthless cuts had to be made from our itinerary. One was a little island called Fraser Island. An ecological wonderland created by drifting sand, where wild dogs roam free and lush rainforest grows on sand. A primal island utopia, if you will, which can only be explored by 4x4. Trips there are pricey, and after many hours considering the combination of cost and time it’d take to get there, we realised it wouldn’t work for us on this trip.

Moreton Island, off Brisbane, seemed a suitable compromise. Although apparently not so appealing as Fraser, it’s still a sand island – possible the largest in Australia, possibly not. (We can’t actually remember if we made this up or not.) It offered sand boarding and suchlike to boot so we could atleast pretend we were at Fraser. Although cheaper, it was still priced out of our budget, but Mum and Dad Stallwood kindly chipped in with Aussie Dollars for our birthdays. Now, Brisbane might’ve been grey and drizzly, but in a few hours we’d be swooshing (tumbling) down the glorious dunes of Moreton on a board.

Or maybe not.

With it being the Easter Holidays everyone wanted some Moreton action and after making a gazillion phone calls to various agencies, our YHA receptionist broke the sad news that all trips to the island were booked up. Typical. Plan B involved a day of exploring Brisbane city, followed by another making our own way by bus and public ferry to another island called Stradbroke Island. Meanwhile, the Stallwood dollars are back in the wallet ‘til Cairns.

So for the rest of the day Bret led another Lonely Planet walking tour complete with (yet another) Subway lunch. We’re not sure how the weather is doing back home, but here the lack of sun had us down in the dumps for a bit. (We know, poor us.) Nothing a hot chocolate beside the gorgeous Brisbane River couldn’t solve though.

We walked through the nearby Botanical Gardens and the sun decided to remind us we were in fact Down Under as we then made our way to the city’s beach – a unique man-made swimming beach which overlooks the brilliant Brisbane River and impressive city skyline. What real East Coast city wouldn’t have a beach, right?

There was a market nearby which we mooched around for a bit before stumbling across a pancake diner by dinner time. And, as if we needed persuading at all, the heavens opened as we calculated our remaining dollars for the day so we took cover in the underground restaurant and munched on piles of creamy pancake goodness.

The rain was still pelting it down as we rolled out, so we splurged on a taxi for the 10 minute journey back to the hostel.

Back in the busy hostel bar, we got chatting to a German girl in her early 20s who’d just started her trip. She was us back in January - filled with excitement and anticipation. A bloke in his late 50s also joined us. He was coming to the end of his solo trip and was brimming with stories about everything he’d done on his Australia tour, mixed with a pinch of sadness that he was due to fly back to England soon. It was pretty cool to think we could be him in 20 years’ time – still travelling, still exploring, still creating memories from around the world. Well, it made us feel better about reaching half time on our trip.

This morning we were up bright and early to head by train, bus and 30-minute ferry to Stradbroke Island.

Turns out Brisbanites are lucky to have this place on their doorstep. Stradbroke has a string of glorious powdery white-sand beaches and just a handful of accommodation and eating options scattered on the entire island.

As we made our way along the sublime coastline walkway we spotted countless kangaroos, dolphins, eagles and turtles. It was a nature lover’s heaven. For lunch we stopped at a busy cliffside café for burgers in the glorious sun. Who needs sand boarding anyway…? It probably would’ve ended on the phone to the medical insurance company.

After another walk in the afternoon – spotting huge spiders, bats and toads - we were back on board the ferry to Brisbane for our last night in the city. Up on the hostel rooftop beside the pool, we cracked open our last bottle of vino from the Hunter Valley – a sparkling red – and drank with glorious views across the city’s skyline. Brisbane does have a lot more going for it than it gets credit for. It’s been a lovely place to ease back into backpacking without wheels as well.