So, I'd just arrived in Byron Bay when I left you last. We stayed there for 4 nights and it was pretty sweet. We stayed at the Holiday Village ended up in a "unit' (no not a prison one!) as there weren't 3 beds together in a dorm, it was $3 more expensive but worth it (we decided) since we got a kitchen, lounge area and bathroom just for our 4 bed room and the 1 bed room next door. This is probably one of the reasons why it felt a bit like a mini-holiday there! The weather was so changeable it was funny - it could be glorious sunshine one minute then pouring with rain the next - their worst summer in 4 years, apparently. We were quite lucky with our days though and got a good portion of beach time in - starting to feel suntanned now! The beach sand was ridiculous though, I'm sure I've never known anything like it. I think it was coated in glue or something because it just got Everywhere and Stuck! A good portion of Byron Beach definitely ended up in our apartment and I think I've only just washed it off my feet.

The nightlife in Byron is pretty limited and we ended up only going to one place, this was Cheeky Monkeys, conveniently located right opposite our hostel, about a 30 second walk! It's a crazy place that does cheap cheap food (we got a $2 meal one night - that's like a pound) and has a dancefloor literally made of tables so yes, I was dancing on the tables all night!

Our pickup from Byron Bay wasn't until 3 on Thursday afternoon, and much as lying on the beach is great we thought we ought to do something with our last morning there! So we took a walk up to Cape Byron to see the lighthouse and also Australia's most easterly point. It was another sunshine/shower day, hence the bikini/mac in the pictures!

From Byron Bay we travelled on to Surfers Paradise, where we just stopped for one night. You'd think this was surf central but it was in fact named after a pub! I was unsure about this place, it's a bit touristy and commercialised and not very Australian. We had a bit of a wander round on Friday and it's strange, walking down the street you've got the beach/sea on one side and skyscrapers on the other. We also crossed over to the river and sat opposite Chevron Island, lovely and peaceful and clearly a wealthy area, with huge houses with boats parked outside like cars! The club scene at Surfers is supposed to be really good too, though we used our night there to catch up on sleep from Byron!

Anyway on Friday night we arrived in Brisbane - the capital of Queensland, Australia's 3rd largest city, and the most spread-out city in the world. After checking in we headed to the hostel bar for a $7 meal and also the free drink we were meant to get with our OzExperience pass. It made our night when, after the barmaid knew nothing about our free drink and the manager told us to go back up to reception to get a ticket for it, the manager changed his mind and told us not only that we could have our free glass of wine, that we could have the whole bottle between the three of us! We were well chuffed. Then if that wasn't enough, Ellie got dragged up to throw a hoop over a deer's antlers and won another 10 free drinks - and thus it was a cheap night all round!

We had decided to devote the weekend to sightseeing Brisbane, so on Saturday we got up and headed over to City Hall in St George Square. This houses the museum of Brisbane but only one exhibition was open, this was about the history Brisbane's mental asylum and was sad and moving. We then went up the lift inside the clock tower (92 metres) for views of the city - but all you could really see was skyscrapers/a building site! Did have fun photographing a church though which looked like a little toy from that high up.

After this we headed over to SouthBank and Brisbane's cultural centre, and visited the Museum of Queensland. All these things are free, which is always good! It was entertaining - had dinosaur/'zoo'/aboriginal/transport sections - but quite bitty and maybe more aimed at younger children for the most part. After a quick eat in the cafe we headed next door to the Art Gallery which I enjoyed, it had a mixture of old/modern and Australian/international art. We walked back to the hostel via Queen St Mall, where lots of shops and cafes are, but our plan to visit the XXXX brewery for a tour fell through when we realised it shuts on Saturday afternoons and Sundays! oh dear, no beer tasting for us then. Instead we headed over to the Roma Street Parkland, the world's biggest urban subtropical garden, which was really pretty if a little out of place in the middle of a city! Wasn't too keen on the HUGE spiders dangling in their webs overhead though...

We walked back to the hostel through Anzac Square - Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand's Army Corps, and the square is dedicated to te emory of those who'd died in WWI and other wars. It had 3 paths one each representing the army, navy and airforce, and was a nice little area. Saturday evening was 'ladies night' in the bar but I didn't stay too late - so much walking and sightseeing had tired me out!

On Ssunday we walked over to Brunswick Street to check out the Sunday market, but we found there wasn't really much there. So straight on to phase 2 of the plan, we walked down to Sydney Street ferry stop and got the SeaCat - public transport down the river, a cool way to travel back into the city - to Riverside where we found a much better market and made a few purchases! Then hopped back on the SeaCat over to the SouthBank Parklands. This is an artificial but pretty funky area with cafes, markets and a manmade beach! After lunch and a mosey round we chilled out in the sun by the beach for a bit, then headed back to the North bank and (grabbing a lush ice cream en route) wandered around the city botanical gardens before heading back to the hostel after another action packed day!

So that covers most of what we did in Brisbane. I feel like we made the most of our time there but was ready to move on this morning (even if the 6.30 am pickup was a little painful!); also wouldn't rate the nightlife. We're in Noosa now; I shall fill you in on what we get up to next time!

Sorry this entry is a bit lengthy - I shall have to cut down a bit! xxxx