After a quick two hour flight we were in Brisbane, Capital of Queensland in the middle of the East coast of Australia. We were excited to get stuck into round two of job/ house searching with our new companion Shereen. The drive from the city/bus station is always my favorite part of reaching our new destinations. This drive was particularly interesting and aesthetically pleasing as on one side of us we had a massive, dirty looking but still kinda pretty looking, busy river and the other side we saw high rise buildings and lots of cars and people. We didn't know much about Brisbane and at the end of the day our choice to head toward Brissy was a spur of the minute decision a toss up between that and Perth. In the end it all came down to location and cost we became bored of Melbourne as it was difficult to get out of the city and explore so Brissy it was and the cheaper option.

We had been all prepared and booked ourselves into Brisbane City Backpackers on their week stay to save a few dollars, we checked in and then took a moment to rip it out of Shereen for the fact it was her first hostel and all her preconceptions of what it would be like really were wrong. The hostel wasn't full of Hobos (Australian slag for tramps), or really young youths running away from home sadly there wasn't even a classic drunk/druggie. Nope just regular people just like us wanting to get away from life and start living a bit. We dropped our bags off and went in search of food.

We did the ten minutes walk into the city and this is when we soon realised just how small Brisbane was. We went in search for cheap food but ended up walking the entire length of the high street to only find a Hungry Jacks ( this is our Burger King, but Mc Donalds brought the rights to the name Burger King in Australia so they had to change the name!!! I realise that was a very unimportant bit of info, but I like stuff like that!) We ate our food and discussed our plan of attack.

As this was our second time doing this we were a little more prepared and we had sent a few CV's off while we were in Melbourne. As luck would have it I got a coaching job for a week to cover a school holiday soccer camp starting the next day. As a result we all decided that we should find jobs first then look for a house when we knew our location better. Luck was starting to be on our side and we had two interviews orgainsed for the next few days. Both Becki and I got offered a lifeguarding/ swimming teachers job and they were even going to offer Shereen a few hours so we would all stay. Unfortunately neither Becki or I got a good vibe from the centre and the staff just seemed strange so we kept our fingers crossed for the second interview. We arrived at Valley Pool a little flustered as we got lost a few times and ran into a lot of well how shall we say a little worse for wear Aboriginal people. Nevertheless as soon as we both walked through the door we could both see ourselves working here.

From the outside its hard to tell that there is a swimming pool behind as the architecture is very dated with an extremely noticeable English influence. When we walked through the doors we saw two girls moving the flags, both getting a little flustered that they were busy and two strangers had walked in looking lost, quite clearly not looking to swim. They hadn't needed to worry thought we were both more than happy looking at the huge open aired 50 meter pool that was just there infront of us. After a few more minutes one of the girls who turned out to be Gemma the Duty Manger, greeted us and lead us through the Speedo shop into the back office where her and Russell were to interview us.

We both had an unspoken plan to stay in Brisbane for about 4 months until new year but as far as this interview was concerned we were here for the long haul. The interview was more like a casual chat with Russ and Gem, we loved them and they loved us. After about ten minutes Russell offered us both a job and then spent the rest of time talking to us about our trip. The job sounded great although they wanted us to defiantly stay until the end of February, which was a little later than we have planned but that didn't worry us. After the interview we had a house to view which was only ten minutes down the road.

As soon as we saw 460 Ann Street all three of us fell in love! To be fair I am not sure we could have really gone down hill more than Tanner street but this flat was clean, big, own room, washing machine, no bugs and a good kitchen. The only problem was the landlord was really strange and the rent was a little too much for just the three of us. We were all on a high and loving our new home.

We decided it was time to have some fun and back in Melbourne we brought an unlimited pass to the theme parks so we took advantage. Only an hour and a half down the road to the Gold Coast the first park we headed to was Sea World. I think this was mostly my influence as I was having a lack of animal withdrawal. Sadly the weather we soon got to know so well started and the heavens opened up on us. Within only minutes of being outside we were all drenched from head to toe. We were determined not to let that upset us and we still wondered around the enclosures taking our pictures.

I have been to the American Sea World a few times and absolutely loved it, I even remember on one occasion I made mum sit through all the dolphin and Orca shows twice. The Gold Coast Sea World was very different as their main attraction was the dolphins and swimming with them for an extremely unreasonable fee. We still enjoyed watching everyone else splashing around with them, but I think it brought home the cost of Australia and that we needed to starting thinking ahead. We spent a few more hours walking around the park, but by lunch time we called it a day and headed home.

A few days later when we thought the weather had cleared up we headed to Movie World. This was the Australians version of MGM and O??????? The park was really cool and you could see the massive American influence with the mixture of the Australian culture. We watched the Stunt show which I think was almost like for like with the American one and tried to go on a few rides. Unfortunately the "random" weather again took its toll and a lot of the big roller coasters were shut due to the wet weather, so we got an ice cream and headed home.

We had a lot of friends in our hostel and some of who we will be keeping in contact forever. I have to say the hostel was one of the best we have stayed in as it had great facilities, brilliant atmosphere, and a fabulous vibe where you felt part of the family. During our stay we had a few really good nights out, but with the 4.45am starts we knew we needed to step up our game on house hunting. After doing some more research and a few discussion later we decided to take the unit on Ann street.

It was sad to say good bye to the hostel and after two and half weeks living in the same room with three other girls but I think we were all ready for a change. We became friends with an Canadian girl called Cathlin who moved into the flat with us to keep the costs down. Actually getting the house turned out to be a lot of trouble and on more than one occasion we asked ourselves if we have done the right thing. When we arrived at the flat, it hadn't been cleaned and the previous tenant's had only just moved out that morning. As I had work in a few hours we dropped our stuff and went to work while everyone else went to the city. We eventually got settled in to find our problems had only just started.

As we were all rental virgins we may have slipped up on a few minor details. Now we were under the impression we where renting from a small Israeli guy called Jeffro who had taken over the lease from a Colombian lady called Camilla. Alarm bells should have started ringing when so many people become involved in the equation. We paid Jeffro our weeks rent and bond money only to find out that he had given it to the previous tenants and not to the RTA. Luckly we had receipts and after a lot of hassle got the bond paperwork signed and sent to the RTA to be out into our name. The next problem was our first night in the unit was rudely disrupted when a drunk Mike (who we later found out was the manger of the building) started kicking the door down and threatening to call the police. We were all really scared as it took all three of us up against the door holding it shut and our finger on the call button to 000.

After about ten minutes Mike gave up and just walked away, so we called Jeffro and asked for an explanation, and the story unraveled. It turns out Camilla was given her notice to leave but the owners had rent was due on the property. Jeffro wasn't the landlord and he was just hoping to take over the lease when it was up in three weeks. And as for young drunken Mike he was under the impression the unit was empty as he saw people moving out that day and no one had paid rent in a while. After lots of back and forth between us, Mike, Jeffro, Camilla and Sue the owner we managed to cut everyone out and just dealt with Sue.

Both Becki and I had been told by Valley that there would be heaps of work through February as we had carnivals and we would be looking at 40-50 hours a week. Knowing this we agreed with Sue to rent the unit up until the 4th of March when work was going to dry up. Big commitment I hear you say? Oh boy the pressure of being locked into a 5 and a half month contract was unreal, there would be no getting up and doing a runner from this apartment! With all the confusion with the unit silly things like the details of the property and whats there and not were left out, so we are all keeping everything crossed that Sue is understanding that the unit has been used by a number of people before us so things are broken and wear and tear has happened?!?!?

After a week Cathlin decided she wasn't ready to settle down into a normal life and didn't want a job, so moved out and went back to the hostel. As part of our agreement with Jeffro he agreed to help us find a new housemate or he would pay the extra. We had a number of strange people have a look round the room but most people didn't want to share a room with a stranger. After about a week or two we stepped it up and as luck would have it Shereen started chatting to a girl in the lift coming to view another apartment. She gave her our address and said pop by.

I want to say it was housmate love at first sight, this tall hippy looking girl rocked up and we all got along really well and within a few days young Danielle would be the fourth housemate at unit 58! We spent a few days getting to know her, where she had been, what she was up to and where she was going next. She was a 23 year old English girl, from a small village with a massive party personality. While getting to know her we found out she had a sister coming to Oz in a few days to start traveling with her. Seeing an opportunity to save a few pennies both Becki and I saw the dollar sign in our eyes and offered her sister a space on our floor. It started out as only a few days and ended up a few months.

Rachel was her name and she was 28 and loved life!! Nothing was ever just ok it was always f***ing amazing in her words. We all got on like a house on fire made even better with a weekend away to Byron Bay.

So let the adventures begin in our new home Brisbane!!!