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Day 90- We got the early bus to Brisbane and arrived in to the city at 9:30am, we were couchsurfing with some students and they were in the suburb of Herston so we jumped on the public bus there, which wasn't far. After a long and very hot walk uphill to their house we arrived outside beautiful 'Queenslander'- a one storey house made from wood and on stilts. All the houses are on stilts to keep them ventilated so we walked up the stairs to find one missing - both of us nearly fell through with our massive bags on. The front door was open, we were soon to find that they don't actually close it or the back door, not even at night! We walked straight in to the house to find it very dark, smelly and extremely messy with three people lying on the settee and floor. They were just all lying, nobody stood up or anything when we walked in they just all said hi, I said 'hi, are you expecting us, we are the couchsurfers'. They were all just lying around, we sat down and they asked where we should put our bags, we were told just to leave them there, not being shown to a room or given a tour anything. After 10mins we decided to go out in to the city. We got off the bus at the city hall and ate our tuna pasta we had made that morning, the square in front of the city hall had a giant Christmas tree, the star was a giant solar panel and all the lights were solar. We then walked down to the city botanical garden and had a little look around, every city/town in Australia seems to have a botanical garden. We then stopped at the parliamentary house where Lloyd noticed a free guided tour that was starting so we signed up, We were the only two people on the tour and the guide talked more about boats and travelling than he did about the building and politics. We wandered through the city centre which was all decked out for xmas with carol singers and decorations everywhere. We decided to be really naughty and stop for a Starbucks, Lloyd had never tried the toffee nut xmas latte so that was our excuse. There was a Coles supermarket right next to it so we got some food and went back to the house to make some chilli and rice for tea. There was a few more people at the house and we found that 2 of them were also couchsurfing. It was about 9pm and we still weren't shown where we were sleeping so after asking we were told we could have one of the guys room who had just left, much to the other couchsurfers disappointment who were both on settees We had a beer/cider with everyone before heading to bed.
Day 91- We got up early intending to do a bush walk up to Mt Coo-Tha but is was chucking it down. We sat around until 10am but by this time we were sick of waiting so we just headed out. The second we walked out it began to clear up in to a nice day. We caught the bus in to town and then the bus up to Mt Coo-Tha where we were dropped off at the Mt Coo-Tha botanical gardens so we had a walk round. They were beautiful and massive, our favourite part was the herbs and scented plants, we spent ages smelling them all and trying to follow our noses. We then stopped off at the Sir Thomas Brisbane planetarium, which was pretty interesting, we decided not to pay for the overpriced tour and just had a little look ourselves. We then tried to find a way up to the lookout at the top of Mt-coo-tha, we were sure there was a bush walk but we were unable to find it so decided to follow the road up. As we walked up the road Lloyd stopped and shouted for me to stop as I looked down I saw a massive snake, normally I wouldn't be too scared but we have been told a million times here that we should presume every snake is a poisonous snake as there is a massive chance it could be. So once I seen it I shrieked and ran 20 feet back and hid behind a lamppost We then just walked round it slowly and continued up the mountain road. The walk was long and really hot and I was starting to think we should head back as we had no idea how far away it was and I was worried about missing the last bus. Lloyd was convinced it wasn't much further and so sang xmas carols to me to encourage me, he sang all the way ending with the 12 days of xmas, this made me feel so much better! As we finally got to the top we seen a bus at the stop and I ran up to it to see when the last bus back was, and it was that very minute! The driver was just about to pull away so we had to jump on, never got a chance to take in any views- so annoying!! We went straight back to the house as we were shattered, we spent the evening talking to Ruth, Amber and Joel. Joel told us about his 'religion' Pastafarianism. This is basically a group of people who dress like Pirates, drink and believe in the flying spaghetti monster, no joke! He told us it was his birthday the next day and his Pastafarian friends would be coming round for a party. One of his friends was a 'Pasta' (a Pastafarian priest) and was going to marry him and his friend and we were invited. So we went to bed excited for the next day.
Day 92- We got up early and headed to the morning market in the West End of Brisbane. It was great, full of food stalls, clothes, nick-nack's and books. After wandering round we bought some German sausages, mine was a cheese-Kransy and Lloyd got the Bratwurst. We sat and watched some folk singers, there was a really hippie atmosphere. We got some non-alcoholic home brewed cider and sat for about an hour, it was fab. We then walked along the river to South Bank, it was such a beautiful day. We visited Queensland art gallery and the museum which was both good, shame we didn't have a bit longer there. We walked along Beach Street where the man made pools were, they were PACKED, so mad. There was another little market on which we had a look around before walking across the bridge in to the centre. We had to pass through the Botanical gardens again, there seemed to be a lot of people queueing up for something. We googled the park and found out there was a massive free Christmas carol event. People were so organised with blankets, chairs, food and drinks. We wish we had known about it earlier. We decided to queue up the last 20 mins as we read they were giving away goody bags, when we got in we just didn't want to leave, the carols didn't start for another hour but we had to go as we were going to Joel's party. After picking up some alcohol we headed to the party. We had a really good night, we played a few drinking games then the wedding began, so strange! After the ceremony Joel decided to do some fire dancing in the back garden. Everyone was just sitting in the back but me and Lloyd decided to take over the front room and had a good dance and right laugh before bed.
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mam me and bernard had a good laugh about the snake lol xxx