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Alarm went of at half 6 and I was soo sleepy! No surprises there though! Got up and ready and Steph dropped me to the station at 7.15. Got my ticket and train no problems and met Lauren at central station. Got our tickets then got on our train almost straight away, was going to be a long journey to Beerwah, about an hour and half. We chatted and read a magazine we had then got the Beerwah at about half 9. Beerwah was a tiny little place and there weren't many trains going to or from central throughout the day, which surprised us as the zoo is such a big tourist attraction. We got a free shuttle from the station to the zoo and handed in our joint ticket thinking it wouldn't work…. It did! The boy just looked at it and let us go through! Although Lauren wont have a chance to go back to the zoo, I will be able to when I get to Noosa, whenever that may be! So not only did I get a student rate, I got a free ticket too! The zoo is really nice, big open spaces and loads of animals! As soon as we walked in there was a woman walking round with a big lizard, which we got to touch and she told us all about it. We looked at all the crocs, some of which were huge! We then headed over to the reptile house where there were tons of different snakes and then to the wombats, which were soo cute! We went through some bird enclosures, then to the kangaroos… we couldn't believe it, we just walked into to this big enclosure and there were kangaroos everywhere, no barriers or roped off areas, or even zookeepers! You could just go and touch the roo's and get photos etc, it was so cool! The roo's all looked pretty dopey, had heard they were meant to be aggressive so don't know if they were drugged up or just used to being gawped at. They felt really soft which I didn't expect. We then went to the koala's which I had been really looking forward to! There was a ranger there but he let us stroke some of the Koala's, they were super soft as well and looked so sweet! Most of them were snoozing but some were awake and seemed quite playful. Wanted to hug one and get a photo but you have to pay for that, maybe next time. They were really lovely. We kept going as we wanted to get to the elephants in time for feeding! I looove elephants so was really looking forward to seeing them, we queued up and everyone got to feed the elephant a bit of fruit. It seemed really rushed which was a shame but I guess they had a lot of feeding to do! I think when I go back I will stay at the elephant bit for longer. We saw the tigers next which were beautiful then looked at the red pandas which are always cute! Went through another large enclosure where there were more kangaroos and wallabies then got to the "crocoseum" where there is a big animal show. We got really good seats an they warmed up the crowd before the show began which was fun. They started by bringing some snakes around, then there was a bird show where loads of birds were zooming around he arena. Couldn't believe how fast they were. There was then a crane and some other birds brought out, all really colourful and native to Oz. The main bit of the show was of course the crocodiles! All the presenters left the "stage" area and two professionalguys came out, one who was the Steve Urwin character then another for safety! This huge croc came out and they were making him jump out of the water, showing how quick he was! Really wouldn't want to meet one!! The sounds when his jaw snapped together was soo loud!! The guy was really good, told us lots of interesting stuff. You could hear the honest fear in his voice so could tell these things were properly dangerous! Once the show finished we went to the big food court, which was jungley themed and got some lunch. We then went to see some more Koalas, some more crocs and some other animals, I can't remember which! Went into one of the gift shops and it was full with Urwin family merchandise! Everything in the zoo is themed around Steve and his daughter had become like a proper celebrity, she's on pencil cases, towels, has DVD's and even action figures! Really crazy! We went to watch the Koala talk which nearly sent me to sleep! I was just so sleepy haha! Had been there 4 hours and we were both ready to go, didn't feel any pressure to stay as I had my other ticket. When I go back I'd like to spend more time reading about all the animals and stuff, and will hopefully not be so sleepy! There were only 3 trains that afternoon back to central and it wasn't entirely clear when they were…. We had heard there would be a shuttle to the station in about half an hour which you had to pay for which seemed weird as it was like a minute from the station. We saw the otters and komodo dragon before we left, then went to the bus stop. Got chatting to a coach driver who was waiting to pick up a school group and he offered to take us to the station for free! So we took him up on that offer, again, wouldn't get that in England. He told us the train wouldn't be for an hour but there was a nice hotel down the road we could go to for a drink. We were going to check with the ticket guy at the station but there wasn't one… like I say it was a tiny place! On the board someone had written over the time in biro to half an hour ahead so we didn't know which to believe! We went to the hotel for a quick drink and Lauren had a muffin (wish I'd had one!) and it was really nice in there, we headed back to the station for the earlier time but no train arrived so we spent half an hour at the station that we could have had at the hotel. Got on the right train though and headed back to central, slept for a while which was good. When we got to central we knew this would be the last time we saw each other!! Was really gutted to say bye to Lauren as we'd had over a week together and got on really well. Wondered about staying in the city for a bit (it was only 4pm) but decided I would just get back. Got the train with no problems but when I got off at the station I wasn't entirely sure how to get back to Steph's. I knew my way back from the supermarket, but wasn't sure how to get there, so asked a lady who I'd been sat next to on the train. She said she was going that way so offered me a lift, which was so nice. Was the opposite way to what I would have guessed so was glad I had asked! Brought some dinner in the supermarket then walked back to Steph's, found it with no problems but felt I had done three sides of a square so made a note to check that. Got back and Steph was still out but Shelly was home. I went on the computer and started working on my CV and messaged home etc. Was making dinner when Steph got home and she said she would take me up Mount something-or-other as there were amazing views over Brisbane… she wasn't lying! After chatting to Shelly for a bit over dinner, Steph drove me to the mountain and we got out and it really was beautiful, you could see for miles around and it was al lit up. The moon looked incredible too, a really strong red. I've never seen it like that before! There were lots of people up there, we sat on the top on some grass, drinking hot chocolate and chatting as we looked at the lights, it was really lovely.We finished our drinks then headed back home, where I was planning to write some blogs as I was a week behind! Did about 2 words then felt myself drifting off so gave into it and had a great nights sleep :)