I left Alice Springs in what looked more like British conditions, rather than Australian ones. It poured, but they can't be used to it, because the runway staff on the tarmac was smiling away whilst it tippled down. When I was on the plane, the gentleman next to me said "it doesn't feel like Alice springs, it feels more like we're taking off from Manchester Airport". He wasn't far wrong. I did a bit of thinking on the plane that was nearly 3 hours long. In the space of just under 3 months, I've been on all the major domestic Australia air carriers, Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Blue. I haven't been on Tiger Airways, but apparently they are awful and like Ryanair, so I will give them a miss. All the ones above mentioned are all fairly impressive to be fair. Jetstar are the cheapest and market them selves on an airline that can take the traveller places that a traveller never thought they would ever afford. Virgin Blue (Now Vrgin Australia) is quite good in my opinion, and you can often find some similar prices to Jetstar. I didn't mind flying my way around some of Australia, even if it wasn't really the 'backpacker thing to do'. I have tried to limit Greyhound journeys as that 3 and half hour journey from Brisbane to Noosa still lingers painfully in the memory. I must have headache for about 5 hours after that journey. I've seen a fair bit of Aus now, but haven't seen Cairns or Darwin due to the weather. I'm happy with the amount of stuff I have seen though, and it's not quite finished just yet.

I saw a famous comedian on the plane, and all the flights attendants were kicking up a fuss about him, but I still can't find his name anywhere. If you're a person who loves seeing famous people, Qantas is for you, if you don't mind running the risk of being on a plane that has an engine failure that is. On the International flight, I saw some of the Aussie Rugby Union players, and on this latest Domestic flight I saw that comedian whose name still eludes me. The Plane was like a 5 minute rollercoaster when descending into Brisbane, but I soon got my bags and was on the train into Brisbane City. It was weird taking this journey as I did the same journey 3 months ago when I arrived into Brisbane (and Australia for that matter) for the first time. I still did not completely know what to expect, as the floods could have changed it but it all seemed to exactly the same as I viewed the CBD from the train.

I took the same walk from Brisbane South Bank train Station to the hostel as I did when I came to Brisbane on my first morning in Australia. I carried those bags sweating like mad and I soon remembered how I swore to myself how I would never do this walk again, but here I was doing the same again. I walked through into Brisbane Backpackers and there Sweet Caroline was...."I can't believe you're back" she shouts. Big Merseyside Dave was there as well, assuring the receptionist he had paid last weeks rent. Some things just never change.

I went into the bar area and the kitchen area and It was just so much quieter than last time I was there, when the Ashes was taking place. The floods had really hit, but it didn't help when the media still portrayed Brisbane as a disaster zone, when to me, the City centre at least seems more or less fine.

I met a fair few Kiwis this time around as well in the hostel, and one of them used to play rugby with the rugby league God that is Mr Ali Lauatiti. They gave me advice on what to do/where to go, when I visit NZ. We watched the rugby league game involving the Indigenous all stars and the NRL all stars in the bar area. I was tempted to go watch it on the Gold Coast, but after a quick think, I thought I would just wait until the season starts for proper. It was strange watching it though, because after my experience in Alice Springs, I could not imagine any of them indigenous kids playing Rugby. If any of read my Alice Springs blog, you'll understand why I hold that view.

I did my first bit of paid work as well, which involved removing things out of one of the flood hit houses in one of the worst hit areas of Brisbane. It even rained on the day I was working. The overall objective was to make the house higher, so this would never occur again. I got paid a fair bit for a couple of hour's work which included me getting fed chicken sandwiches and free beers at lunchtime.

I also bought a 'backtracker travel pass', which gave me unlimited travel from Brisbane to Melbourne and back. This included Byron Bay, Sydney, Canberra etc. I booked a place on the train to go to Sydney for Monday morning but Sunday night, some friends said how they were travelling up to Fraser Island on Monday morning, so I thought it seemed a good time to visit Fraser. So that train had one less passenger on it on that Monday morning. Spontaneous stuff is good though right?

I almost forgot to mention about the lagoon where I spent many a happy sunny day in November. I walked down there and it was all fenced up. Neither sand nor Water was there when I walked down. It was quite sad to be honest, and the picture above which I took from the fencing around where the lagoon was says ""Floods can flood off". This sums my second trip to Brisbane up really.

Think that's about it for Brisbane the second time round. Brisbane Backpackers Resort still seems the friendliest Hostel I've visited with regards to meeting so many friendly and entertaining people. I'll be back again before I leave as I fly to Auckland from Brisbane.

Next blog will no doubt be about Fraser Island.

Speak soon everyone x