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Byron Bay was very nice-it would have been nicer to spend a bit more time there but as we've booked everywhere in advance (because it's so busy!) we can't really change the dates as often as we'd like. From Byron we went to Surfer's Paradise, which is quite a cool city-there are loads of sky scrapers which all seem to be residential blocks and the beach looked pretty good too. Unfortunately we were staying in a dump of a hostel! It had a nice bar area that showed films too, but our 8 bed dorm looked like a prison cell and the bathroom was just disgusting-everything was brown with grime and smelly. I looked online for other places to stay but as it was so busy the hostel we were in was the only one available! Luckily we were just there for 2 nights! We went to Sea world on our first full day which was really good fun. It was a bit sad seing all the dolphins in captivity as they looked so sleepy and bored compared to the ones we saw in Kaikoura-the pool was only 7 metres deep and it seemed like evrything they did was because they were trained to do it, so we felt a bit guilty paying to go in and see them. We went to see a show too which was OK, but was nothing compared to our experience in New Zealand. We saw a polar bear too, which was also good to see, but again it seemed quite cruel to keep a polar bear in Australia. There's also a water park at sea world which was free to go in to which we stayed in for a little while. As it was only $10 extra to go to Wet n Wild the next day we did that too! It was a bit more overcast that the previous day but it was still really warm. We definitely got our money's worth as the rides were awesome and we stayed there pretty much all day! The buses to and from the theme parks were really good-it cost about $10 for 2 return tickets and they went directly there so we couldn't get lost. It would have been nice to stay in Surfer's Paradise for a bit longer (in a different hostel!!!)-we only managed to have a quick look at the beach, which seemed very nice, and the city seemed so big that it have been nice to have had a bit more time to explore.
From Surfer's we went to Brisbane-we arrived at about 7 so after we'd had some dinner (we found a McDonalds! Yay!) we met our Sweedish room-mates who were very nice (although they found Aus cheaper than home!Must be pricey there!) and went to the 'Down Under' bar for a drink. Sam stayed up until the early hours to watch some English football but I thought I'd skip it. Brisbane is also a very nice place-it's a big seem but it's quite quiet and very very clean. There's no beach but they have a little man-made lagoon which is basically a massive swimming pool that looks like a beach-it even has sand! We spent a day there and were very glad for it because it seems to be getting warmer and warmer the further up the coast we get. While we were there Sam booked on a trip which includes 2 nights on Fraser island and 2 nights crusing the whitsundays, he got quite a good deal but it was still a bit more than i expected to pay so I'm saving my pennies for the barrier reef!
Noosa was our next stop and it also a very very nice place-our hostel was a few minutes out of town but they ran shuttle buses so we still managed to get around. We had a really nice room and the hostel had a pool and a good bar. On our last night we went to a bar that was sticking out over the river and had a really good view of the town. We went to the beach for 2 days as it was so warm and the beach was really really nice. They all seem to be lovely over here and so much cleaner than the ones at home-there's no rubbish on them at all. We even hired body boards and caught a few waves until the sea started getting too rough. On the second day Sam came out of the water saying that his ankle was burnign, and when we looked around we saw that there were loads of little jellyfish scattered along the shore-the lifeguard gave him loads of ice and said that they were blue bottles, but we moved further down the beach once Sam was better and there didn't seem to be any further along. I bought some hair-dressing scissors in Noosa and we both had a DIY haircut, and although we went to a nice place for our last one the lady didn't take enough off and we thought we could do better ourselves (which we did!)On our last half a day we hired a jet ski for half an hour andthen caught the shuttle bus into town for our bus to Rainbow Beach.
We spent a night in Rainbow Beach which was ok, it had a nice beach but the town itself is very small and there's not really a lot there. After spending an hour walking between the two little shops we gave up on our hopes of finding some burgers to barbeque and settled for 'snags', as Sam insists on calling them now. On the plus side i did find a half price bikini so not all was lost! We walked up a sand dune for a view of the beach, but that took a lot of effort! Pippies hostel was very nice-it had a pool and our room also had air-con! It was like a fridge and so nice compared to the temperature outside!
After our free breakfast today we caught the half 8 bus to Hervery bay. It's a pretty big place and very streched out, and it's also boiling! We took a 15 minute walk to the supermarket and when we came back we both looked like we'd just run a marathon. Our bus driver said it will reach 36 degrees today! We're staying at the palace backpackers hostel as Sam had vouchers for here included in his trip. While he's away I had booked two nights in a dorm, but the receptionist said it would be easier for them if I just stayed in the double! This is a MASSIVE novelty as I can't even remember the last time I had my own room! Sam goes tomorrow and has his Whitsunday trip in about a week's time so we have to make our way up to Airlie Beach for then. It's still really warm here so we might have another dip in the pool before dinner.
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