Brisbane City

When we were pulling into the city in our coach after another short journey up the coast it was immediatly obvious to us that compared to the last two cities we have been to in Aus this one is small by comparision! Unfortunatly we could camp as the nearest site was 30mins drive out of the city, so it was back to 3 nights in a hostel! We found one which gave us a great deal which included in our price a free pub meal each, four free drinks at the pub each as well as 12 hours of free internet each! which it turns out came in handy as we were both unwell in Brisbane so stayed in a little more than we had planned! So with such a short time in the city we set about straight away in using up our free vouchers, our first evening we enjoyed a pub meal and a drink before an early night in a busy dorm! The next day was a brilliant day, we took a couple of buses out the The Gabba cricket ground and both watched our first ever cricket match between England and New Zealand, and despite our doubts England came through and won!! it was a great occasion, the atmosphere got better as the day went on and the drinking sessions got longer and it was just a great experience, even better was watching Laura happily support the English, even wearing her very own Barmy Army hat! However Laura was really unwell by the end of the day so we quickly got back to the hostel and pumped her full of drugs and went for an early night. Already onto our last full day we made an early start and headed into the city to explore. Luckily for us it was a mainly business orientated city so apart from a number of spectacular buildings and old monuments and squares there was not a great deal to see. After lunch we walked down by the huge winding river which made its way around and through the city and decided to cross over, this was a great idea. On the other side we were in an even more modern area than the first and we walked through a riverside park which had oriental buildings as well as a man made beach. Unfortunatly we did not have our swimming stuff or we would have been straight in! In one of the grassy areas of the park is where i left Laura for a bit of a snooze, and i headed back across the river for a quick look around the Botanical Gardens which were sat right on the bend of the river which as well as great views of the park and city in the back ground, gave me great views of the Harbour and Harour bridge and some Volcanic Cliffs which formed thousands of years ago. Eventually i got back and managed to wake Laura up and we headed back to the hostel to try and plough through our internet hours and pack ready to head north again.. already!!

Surfers Paradise!!

With all the hype surrounding our latest destination we really couldnt wait to arrive. We made the short coach journey north and quickly found ourselves a campsite which was situated thirty seconds walk from the most amazing surf beach we had ever come across, the golden sands stretched for as far as you could see and the waves were breaking in spectacular fashion. As if the setting wasnt enough we had great facilities to use including a swimming pool! To make it an even more perfect place to be staying as we were just up the beach from the main centre of Surfers we had a great view of the skyline which rose as we looked down the beach. Being the first time up the coast we had used the tent we were thankfully releieved it took us no time to put it up without one mistake! after spending the afternoon exploring inland we went down for a swim at the beach, it was incredible, we could not wait for the few days on this beach! During our stay we spent a large amount of time on the beach but also from our campsite it was a 30minute walk along the beach to the town, this lovley walk almost encouraged us to go down there several days in a row because we were able to take our time admiring the location as well as the jellyfish being washed up on the way down there. In the town we went out for a couple of drinks one night and the place seemed so friendly and buzzing with live. During the hot days we took the streets with all their shops and local stores as a break from the sun before quickly heading back for more swimming and sunbathing. As well as walking down to the centre of Surfers we also walked along the beach in the oppposite direction one afternoon which took us through some regenerated bush area and some untouched beach which was just as amazing as the rest, Also it took us slightly inland and we were able to expolre the expensive, posh Marina which was lovely to see, all the posh boats and crystal clear, still waters. But once again it was quickly back from this walk to get on the beach! Even though we were excited to keep moving up the coast, when it came to our last day at Surfers Paradise we were slightly dissapointed to be leaving such an amazing place behind

Byron Bay

After our short stop in Port Macquarie it was another 7 hours on the coach to our next stop of Byron Bay. We had just a short time here, another 3 nights, and it was definatly seen as one of our most worthwhile stops. We got picked up early evening time by our hostel, which was very kind of them considering it was Australia Day night when we arrived and the rest of the country was out getting drunk. We got back and settled in to our hostel getting to now a couple of others staying there. During the night we had an amazing storm with torrential rain, but by the morning it had cleared to leave gorgous day so we planned to borrow some bikes form the hostel and head up to Australias most easterly point Cape Byron, However 20mins down the road the bikes were not in great working order and were prety uncomfortable to say the least! so we locked them up in the town and decided to explore the town and spend the day on Byron Bay beach, which swept round the bay pretty specatularly and we had no problems having a day on the golden sands in in the gorgous blue sea. The day after we made no mistake, we walked into town this time and after the morning on the beach and some lunch we walked around the bay and up through the coastal rainforest to Cape Byron Lighthouse which gave us some amazing views along the coast and out to sea, we were apparently unlucky not to spot any dolphins but it was still definatly worth it for the views. We walked down through Cape Byron Reserve which we were hoping took us down onto another beach but other than taking us deep into the coastal rainforest we ended up back where we started. As it was our last night we thought it only fair to go into town after dinner for a couple of drinks, we picked a beach side bar with live music which was packed and was great fun! We realised that our short time was up already and we were a bit gutted not to have longer but definatly looking forward to our next port of call!