Travelodge Garden City Brisbane

... I ended up texting mum + playing capitals :)! <br>I was feeling really homesick, as I had none of my own things, wasn't really eating + was so tired it was unreal! But mum kept me going :)! <br><br>On our last day in Rainbow, I was told my luggage would arrive! So I was on a high! Rhihannon + I decided to try + keep busy! So we went for a really long walk along the beach, before going for lunch! We also decided that we wanted to go up to the sand ...

... on this jaunt. <br><br>In my efforts to be an authentic, and one might say arrogant traveller, refusing to speak in English to my foreign friends, I have insisted on giving myself a crash course on Mandarin - iPOD stylie. An ancient language so removed from what I know that I figure hey, let's just learn the basics. Ni hao - hello, Xiexie - thank you, and the most essential phrase for all emergencies: Qing gei wo pijui - i'd like a beer please. Sorted.<br><br ...

... br><br><br>This is my first real trip here in Ostralia so if i make a few mispronunciations of names you will have to forgive me as i am not familiar with the local dialect and funny sounding names, an as far as the idiot ( remember Trevor nick named Stewart that and he told me that idiot thinks the its a term of endearment) goes he will be a mere vessel in which to carry me to the various locations we shall ...

... like an angry seal however after 10 minutes of driving on the highway I discovered Michelle had put her in first gear. Switching back to automatic we then drove smoothly into Brisbane and we were once again delighted as our hostel was awesome. It just recently opened and came equipped with a beautiful pool overlooking the city, a state of the art kitchen and an old lady who gave us a bag of food once Michelle gave her a warm ...

... to go to the legendary Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. On the free bus there we got to watch the man in action on DVD as he wrestled crocs, picked up killer snakes, ran up trees up after monkeys and be generally clinically insane. The zoo has some amazing animals and they are all really well looked after. Saw all sorts of Aussie critters like kangaroo's (which are so tame I got to ruffle one behind the ears!) crocs, (which I obviously didn't ruffle) koala's ...

... now enjoying normal Queensland weather. We will also have to wait out the arrival of the truck which now threatens to arrive over Easter. What chance of an unloading on Good Friday? We are not holding our breath. Good thing we built lots of time into the itinerary to cover contingencies. Let's hope its enough.

... some up close and personal encounters with koalas, kangaroos and a never ending array of other marsupials that we had never heard of. And the rain eventually did stop long enough so we could finally be rewarded with some magnificent views of the Blue Mountains from the aforementioned Echo Point. It was also enjoyable to see how much pleasure children can get from simply dropping leaves off of a sheer cliff. After our stay in the ...

... with skyscrapers, small streets next to highways, but still it all seemed to fit in together quite well. As we said before, it was bloody hot, so we found us a terrace by the river where we settled in for a few drinks and early dinner (again we were on the wrong time as it changes between NSW and Queensland, so eventually it was a VERY early dinner :-)). As the afternoon turned into evening and the weather cooled down, we slowly started to head back ...

... too, and we crossed a big part of the country, it was nice to see the infinite variety of scenery. Finally at 9 am we landed in Gold coast. About 1 hour from Brisbane. Lorraine and Brian ( french and Irish couple ) which who I lived in Ireland the year before are living in Brisbane, they arrived to Australia 2 months after i started my trip, and they always told me if you come we can host you, so here i'am! They picked me up to the train station and told me ...

... the next day which was a shame as it was our last chance to meet up with them. Anyway, I had my inevitable problems with my shoes and had to take them off. I shouldn't admit this in print, but I ended up wearing Simon's shoes (note I was wearing a dress) and he walked down the streets in his socks until we got to a place that we wanted to drink in, when we swiftly changed back! Isn't it amazing the places pain and alcohol will lead you to! Needless to say, we got a taxi ...