When I wake up on the plane we are flying over the outback and have an hour or so until we land in Brisbane. There's a carpet of cloud covering everything below. The fruit in the breakfast is nice. Grapes, mango and apples among other juicy doings. I got 2 stonking bruises on the tops of my feet. I'm guessing it's from the new sandals. Felt so nice to take my hiking boots off on the flight. I don't care if my feet stink.
It took me about 2 hours to get through customs at Brisbane airport. I made the mistake of being honest about my convictions and supposedly I didn't have the correct visa either. To make matters worse I needed a poo. Eventually I got my passport stamped and was allowed through. I then got 2 of my 3 packets of beef jerky taken off me because the meat is from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay which is classed as foot and mouth countries. There was a vodafone stand at the airport so I bought myself a cheap and nasty phone to use. I had success with the 2nd hostel I tried. He gave me directions to walk but I quickly realised he was directing me from the wrong place. I turned my 3G on and used my iPhone to locate the hostel on maps and was a 4 hour walk from it. Turns out he was directing me from a train station instead of airport. I then get a text straight away from Vodafone saying I have used over 3mb of data so far, costing £3 per mb. Great. So looking at an address on the map for 30 seconds has cost me over £9. Nice one Vodafone. Incredible. There is a bus that drops peeps off at desired hotels/hostels so I sort that out and get to my backpackers accommodation, 'Banana Bender'. By the time I get there it is raining quite heavily. I book in for 3 nights. I'm in a 4 bed dorm with 2 other English peeps and Czech man. The Czech man has been living at the hostel for a year, which is quite bizarre. Adam and Jules are from Southampton and Glasgow. They tell me about how great the north of Australia around Cairns is. They are travelling together for a year. They are a couple. Adam is ex navy.
I take my shoes off and realise my feet were worse than I thought. They are swollen and very sore. I lie down to rest them, the next thing I know I wake up and it's 10pm. I had no idea I was so tired. My feet are still pretty sore. Its stopped raining now too. I take a much needed shower, then get directions to some food places but on my way I behave like a moth and head down one street simply because it was brighter. It's a lively street with lots of bars. Karaoke seems quite popular tonight. I've never heard Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams sound so bad. I head back on track, find a fast food place and get myself a chicken tikka sandwich. My feet hurt a bit walking around. When I get back to the hostel I am greeted by several little lizards running around on the walls outside. I managed to get a photo of one before it scarpered under the 'banana bender' sign. Wi-fi is available here but reception is closed when I get back. I take another nytol to help me sleep tonight. There is a fan that constantly runs in the room as its so warm. I hope my feet and the weather are better tomorrow.