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05/01/2010
Hoping to leave the grim weather of Noosa and Australia Zoo behind us we arrived in Brisbane to the same grey clouds. Our hostel, City Backpackers, was a short walk from the bus terminal so we dragged our stuff up the hill and checked in. We had pre-booked 2 nights here because we heard it had free wifi and that would give us a chance to catch up on our blog and to upload some photos. For the first evening that was pretty much what we did, pretty tired from a day at the zoo we settled down to an evening of blogging.
The next day we had planned to meet up with Tom and Rach, who stayed in Noosa an extra night, at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary but we ended up having a long sleep in and when we arrived at the bus stop to catch the bus we were told it would take a good hour and 30mins so it wouldn't have made the journey worth it. Instead we both walked up the road from our hostel to the Castlemaine XXXX brewery for a grand tour. It was $22 and lasted about 1 hour 30mins and told you about the history of the company, beer and how it was made. It was quite impressive when they took you around the package area to see just how much beer passes through there everyday. The tour finished with free beer in the bar which was good and gave us the chance to try all the different XXXX beers.
Later that evening, having got in touch with Tom and Rach, it turned out they didnt make it to the Koala Sanctuary either as their bus was late so we arranged to meet for a drink in the evening. When they arrived at our hostel they were a little worse for wear with one of their australian friends being sick out the front and Tom hardly being able to stand. haha. We had a couple and Coen joined us and then we went to bed.
The following day, after another relaxing morning we decided to extend our stay here for an extra night and went out exploring the city on foot. We walked across the bridge onto the South Bank and visited the Queensland Museum. Quite a bisarre mix of bits and bobs, but free. After that we popped back to the hostel for some lunch and to meet Kev who had just arrived from Noosa also. Having met him we went back out and walked along the river to the lagoon where Alex went for a swim. After drying off we popped into the Museum of Modern Art which was really cool before heading back for some dinner - pasta! With our bellies full of pasta once again, we decided to look into accommodation for Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay. This became tricky. It was high season and they had jacked all the prices up and everywhere was full. Uh oh! We rang around everywhere but to no avail. we were stuck in Brisbane. Finally finding one nights accommodation in Surfers and two in Byron Bay but for two nights away we booked ourselves into our hostel for a further two nights. Not letting this get us down, we decided that tomorrow we would hit Wet 'N Wild.
So getting up early for the 8am train the three of us, armed with sunscreen, a packed lunch and our speedos, hit the water park. It took just over an hour to get there and luckily for us the weather was on a turn and the blistering sun came out for most of the day. It was great fun. Kev was a bit of a wuss and didnt come on all the rides so took photos of us on some of them instead. They had a swim in movie being played in the main swimming area at 7pm but we didnt bother staying for it as it was a crap film and it would've meant us getting back late. That evening we crashed out and watched a bit of the Goonies being played in our hostels rooftop 'cinema'.
The following morning, knowing that this was now going to be our last day, we wanted to see a bit more of the city so we bought boat tickets that takes you along the river and you can hop-on hop-off as much as you like all day for only $5. It was really cool to see the city from the river, some quite spectacular high-rises in the city and then plush riverfront houses in the suburbs. We took it all the way up to the university of Queensland and back, getting off at a few stops and walking around. In the evening we had a few drinks in the hostel bar and Alex wooped Kevs arse at table football before packing and getting to bed for our early bus ride to Surfers Paradise.
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