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Kat and Em's Travels
Tuesday 21st November
We spent most of our first morning is Brisy looking for somewhere else to stay as we didn't think 2 nights would be long enough. Then we did the "Lonely Planet Walking Tour" which was quite useful really as we got to see all of the sights (there weren't that many) in one afternoon. We didn't follow it to the tee though else we wouldn't have got lost! We ended up taking the wrong ferry to the wrong place on the south side of the river but it turned out ok because the South Bank is really pretty. There was lots going on, rock climbing and abseiling and people jogging and roller blading. No wonder you don't see many fat Aussies! There was also a lagoon and loads of restaurants and bars. Our hostel was in the West End on the south side of the river so we walked back. The West End is really cosmopolitan and there's a big Greek community there. We met our roomies Declan and Danny who had come up from Sydney to sell England shirts for the Ashes. We call them Rodney and Delboy as it's all a bit dodgy. We went out for a Mexican as it was cheap and then for a drink in a trendy bar. And paid proper prices for beer! I love how Kat drinks beer now.
Wednesday 22nd November
Spent more time trying to find another hostel but no luck. We went to an internet cafe in the city and somehow managed to find a hostel with availability for the 3 nights we wanted, yay! Then went up the clock tower to see the view. It wasn't really that great. But despite all the bad things we'd heard about Brisbane (Leanne really doesn't like it very much!) we enjoyed spending time there. Then we went to find a camera shop as I decided at the zoo that I really didn't like my new camera. It was playing up, so after some long discussions I decided on another new one which you will be happy to know I love! Then we went to Queensland museum. The best thing was the Ashes exhibition which was in its final day. We even saw the original Ashes cup. We learnt all about the history of the Ashes but we just tried repeating it to someone (3 weeks down the line) and we don't remember much at all! That evening we went to Down Under Bar in the city for a cheap steak with Hayley and Vikki. Declan and Danny were there too, selling t-shirts underneath tables and making dodgy deals with people for tickets to the Ashes. We were pretty much the only girls in there as it was full of men in Brisbane for the Ashes. I think they enjoyed the wet t shirt competition a lot. We met a lot of random people and I have pictures of them all on my camera - i needed to test it!
Thursday 23rd November
We had to check out of our hostel and had a bit of a mare getting to the next one as it was on the other side of town and there was a severe shortage of taxis as everyone obviously wanted to get to the cricket ground. The new hostel was in Fortitude Valley which is the big party place in Brisbane. This hostel was reeeeeally strange. The majority of people seemed to work in Brisbane and when we looked into the other rooms there was stuff everywhere. The guy on reception said we'd have to move into one of these rooms, luckily this didn't happen! We somehow got the best room in the hostel which was huge, newly painted and had brand new beds and duvets, yay! Walked into town after checking in and stopped off for a pie. We love the Aussie pies, there must be about 50 different flavours. They are even better than Greggs pasties at home, especially after a night out. Kat thinks I recently had a conversation with some pies when I was drunk, I'm not sure about the truth in this. Then we checked out China Town and went to the Art Gallery - but it was closed :( So we bought some strawberries and went to the lagoon to eat them and sunbathe and watch the cricket on the big screen, what a life! Then we went for Subway, so healthy aren't we! We went back and got ready to go out but then decided we couldn't be bothered so we went to McDonalds for a milkshake (it gets worse) and watched TV in our room, such luxury! By the way an Irish guy won Australian Idol. Also, if anyone remembers Rebecca from Home and Away she's been on the cover of all the magazines because she died of breast cancer. She was only 32.
Friday 24th November
Went over to a suburb of Brisbane called Bulimba and started a bit of Christmas shopping in the funky little shops there. Then caught the CityCat to New Farm Park. It wasn't too impressive as all the grass had dried up in the sun. Got back into town and checked out the huge Christmas tree in the centre. We feel so un-christmassy at the moment! Then we went Christmas shopping again and had fun wrapping up all the pressies when we got back! That got us in the Christmas spirit. Went to China Town for food - we justified eating out every night at this hostel because despite having a nice room the kitchen was disgusting. We saw a cockroache in there and it put us off completely. The food wasn't great. Then decided to go to Bunk hostel's bar but I'd forgotten my ID - they ID you everywhere! So we went back to our hostel to get it. There's a bar under the hostel and we had free entry so we went to see what was going on and it was the Australian Women's Breakdancing Final, it was wicked! We stayed there for ages watching them all. After that I ended up typing some of this journal and met some random drunks while Kat went to bed.
Saturday 25th November
Had a lie-in, yay! The hostel was so noisy in the night. I swear the drunk boys got in our room somehow and slept in the empty beds, then left before we woke up. I really don't think I imagined this. Spent the day at the various markets in Brisbane on Saturdays. Got some clothes and jewellery. We are such flashpackers (that's what our friends Vikki and Hayley call us cos we travel with hair straighteners). We met up with them in the Botanical Gardens that afternoon. That night we went back to Bunk bar for some $4 pizza and met Dan and Craig from Guernsey.
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