Warning this blog contains no scenes of graphic nudity...

So alot has passed since my last blog entry, zo i better start where i left off...

Australia Zoo was fantastic! we had to take a coach from noosa transit centre out to the zoo because its about an hour or so from noosa itself, with a dvd of steve irwins life story to pass the time. the dvd was great too, really interesting commentaries from steve and his family on how he got into animals and that leading up to running the zoo. The zoo itself is cool, its set in a really scenic area blending perfectly in with the surroundings. The animals are all in really well kept enclosures and are really close to you when you walk round. In the kangaroo and koala enclosures you can actually walk up to the animals and pet them, it was pretty crazy stroking a kangaroo to be honest, i almost felt guilty for eating a kangaroo steak in airlee beach. The crocodiles were the best though, tv doesnt get across the size of them compared to seeing them first hand, they are crazy huge! The giant tortoises were pretty impressive too. Walking round we found some zoo keepers with a baby aligator so i had to pet its tail. The show in the crocoseum was funny, bindi irwin performed several dances and singing with four back up dancers to get it started then they brought out the animals for the displays, elephants came out and walked around followed by some exotic birds then snakes. the highlight of the show was terry irwin and wes demonstrating the crocodiles, getting one to jump up for food and do a death roll. The only downside to the zoo was that it is a little smaller than it appears on the tv, but it was definately worth seeing.

After the zoo, the next day was a greyhound trip down to surfers paradise for a night and to meet up with hannahs friend chrissy, via a breif 5 hour stop in brisbane. Brisbane was pretty cool, a good mix of styles but with a really laid back feel to it, i spent all my time there wandering around the city centre shops and watching all the different people wandering around whilst hannah went off to see some home and away actors in a shopping centre. Surfers paradise is crazy, its a built up town with skyscrapers and other tall buildings and flats right on the beach, a ridiculously nice long sandy beach that stretches miles along the gold coast. the town itself is full of shops and bars, not really alot there to be honest but worth seeing. All that happened in surfers was a good old fashioned night on the tiles, resulting in much money being spent due to the high prices and entry fees. I had my first encounter with a wonderous creation called the jaeger-bomb on this particular night, and my 2nd, 3rd 4th, a mix of red bull and a shot of jaegermeister, nice. The resulting hangover was cured by a trip to the beach for a sunbathe and as it happened there was a surfing contest going on with professionals from around the world in attendance, not bad entertainment really.

Byron bay was next, a really nice small town again with a fantastic beach. Much rest and relaxation was needed by then. Literally all we did was wander around and spend time up at the beach where i got some photgraphy done. (appologies for the lack of photos, i cant find anywhere that will allow me to upload). Byron was nice, somewhere i could live but i imagine it could get pretty boring after a while.

So this leads me to Sydney, where i have currently been staying for 3 nights. The first day we arrived i spent a large proportion in bed, as we checked in at 6 am after a 14 hour night trip from byron. After getting up around 1 ish, we headed off to the famous bondi beach. I have to say it was not what i was expecting, not that i know what i was expecting if you get me, but still a very nice beach with lots of people around sunbathing and surfing. Bondi itself was also pretty cool, a mix of Brid and Scarborough in style crammed with surf shops, bars, restaurants etc but obviously much cooler! and hotter! After an earlyish night and lay in we decided to take a walk round the city, ending up infront of the awesome opera house. i know you all will have seen it on the tv but it looks so much bigger and awesome when you are next to it! We had to walk through the botanical gardens to get there, a crazily relaxed and pretty park next to the city where you feel completely away from the city life. We also went up sydney tower to check out the views which werte incredible, a big rival to seattle towers view, though it was slightly cloudy so my pictures will probably be poor. Manly beach was the destination of yesterdays efforts, a good bit of sunbathing done there on what i would say was the joint second nicest beach we have been on so far. A nice relaxing day leading up to last nights painting the town accompanied by our room mates. Not much of an eventful night compared to the ones we have had so far but still good fun. Today was spent going down to the rocks, the historic first settling point of sydney and a walk under harbour bridge, just so happened there were 2 weddings going on under there at the same time which was weird. we also checked out darling harbour, definately a rich mans boat park, and really cool. The aquarium is there, might pop back and do that before we leave, i have a few more days here so i can fit it in, possibly tommorrow as the weather may not be that great, and i fancy checking out the art gallery in the botanical gardens too. I have also discovered the wonders of sushi here, as a couple of places do chicken and beef sushi, very very nice.

I will post more about sydney when i explore more, but so far this city is definately one of the best cities i have ever been too.