Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So after a wicked few days in Noosa we were back on the Greyhound for Brisbane, our next stop down the East Coast - thankfully only a 2 hour bus journey, which sped by thanks to biscuits and napping. Arrived at the Transit Centre in Brisbane about half past midday, where we faced our first challenge of the day (other than getting out of bed) ...turned out to be a huge interchange for all modes of transport and a bit of a maze - thought we would never find our way out the place! Thankfully, disaster was averted and we did, after 3 different sets of escalators, dozens of fast food vendors and then a walk down Roma St! Found our hostel about 500m down the road, hard to miss really given it was a massive orange building with the name scrawled for all to see and covered in scaffolding....good start. We had a 6 bed dorm in an attempt to budget better, Brisbane is pretty expensive for accommodation and we were paying about 30 bucks a night each (15 quid). Despite initial appearances the hostel was actually really quite nice - massive kitchen, lounge area, patio and pub, swimming pool and even free internet! Downside...our WEIRD room mates - a French guy who I awoke to find staring at me, slightly creepy then a crazy and extremely anti social Chinese couple who had made a bunk bed into what can only be described as a den... ALL their multiple belongings (2 suitcases worth of stuff EACH) on the top bunk and then using the spare sheets as curtains around the bottom bunk where they were both sleeping. However, they were in there no exaggeration 24/7 except to use the bathroom (and occasionally one of them would venture out to ship in supplies). Hardly saw them but could hear them, awkward! First steps of action in Brisbane were serious amounts of laundry and a trip to Coles for breakfasts and lunches (although the kitchen was nice we were still too lazy to actually use it properly!) before going for a walk around the river, central shopping area and pedestrianised streets and heading back via the Roma Street Parkland...something along the lines of the world's largest sub tropical garden area in a city centre (?!)...think I have that wrong but you get the gist! It was really pretty with loads of flowers, plants, trees etc set around a huge expanse of park and amphitheatre and all over looking the main city. Came back to the hostel to feel awkward around our Chinese friends and decided to go to the hostel pub instead for happy hour. Managed to time it pretty well (unknowingly) so that when we went for dinner next door at the Beetle Bar we once again hit happy hour plus had promo vouchers for $7 steak, cheap! Would have been rude not to have pitcher after pitcher of VB and Snakebite.... until happy hour finished and we went back to our hostel again for happy hour round 2! By this point we were both fairly pissed and so after a ridiculous argument (of which neither of us can yet remember the cause!) I took the opportunity to storm off and call my Mum (not that Dan cared and proceeded to work his way through another pitcher singlehandedly!) Came back and passed out!!
Unsurprisingly the next day (Sat 30th) I woke up feeling gross and wishing I had drunk a lot more water last night! Dan had cleverly taken a couple of preemptive paracetemol so whilst not spritely was doing much better than I was! We chilled out for a while at the hostel as the thought of changing out my PJs was not appealing and eventually managed to summon up all my energy for the shops! (if anything was going to lure me out that would be it....!) Spent the majority of the day in the Queen St Plaza - got a cheap book and wicked pyjama bottoms of vegging out in the camper in NZ! (mine are turquoise with pink spots, Dan's Crystal Palace stripes!) before forcing down some KFC which helped with the hangover :o) Wandered around all the shops, unfortunately restricted to window shopping before spending a fair while updating the blog from Cairns to Noosa. Our evening took pretty much the same form as last night (only less drunken) with dinner at the Beetle Bar again - this time fajitas for $7 and despite attempting a few beers they didn't sit well! Headed back into town later on in the evening for the FA Cup Final - KO at midnight! Went to the Pig and Whistle, a British styled pub in the main pedestrianised mall, full of Everton supporters! They provided much entertainment and banter but when Chelsea won we made our escape quickly! By this time it was nearly half 2 (am) so Dan took advantage of the time difference to call his Mum in Miami and I played "spot the worst dressed chav falling out the club opposite"...fun times.
Didn't surface toio late the following morning (Sun 31st) considering the late night and after faffing had left the hostel by midday for a trip down to South Bank (not quite the suburb of York or London but just as nice ;o) lol) Really cool area with loads of cafes, bars, markets etc all set around an artificial lagoon. Sat sunning and reading until 3ish before we decided to have a nice lazy afternoon at the cinema with a small ton of popcorn - saw State of Play, pretty good political thriller. Headed back to the hostel around 6ish and uploaded all our pics onto the computer and thought about getting some dinner but couldn't be arsed to traipse back into town so settled for a foot long Subway, chocolate and fizzy strawberry laces for dinner! Came back, packed up our stuff for journey to Byron Bay the following day and played cards....in silence of course as our lovely room mates were already in bed at NINE PM!!! I don't know who is cooler...us or them!
- comments