Chermside Motor Inn Brisbane

... was bought by a competitor! Jump or get pushed - either way - time to move on!<br><br>Redundancy followed, and a new job found soon after. Unfortunately - the substitute employer wasn't nearly as good - and it wasn't long before questions were asked 'why are we here?'. Giz was not enjoying her work (positively repulsed more appropriate!), and I was having moral conflicts from day dot. And so - we asked ourselves "what do you do when you've decided you don't ...

... is a highly refined technique in which you wander around looking rather helpless asking other people what to do. Two other passengers on the coach (English girl and Swiss girl) had booked a room at a lively hostel in the nightlife district of Brisbane, so I tagged along with them. The three of us checked into an eight share room together and in a highly predictable pattern immediately proceeded to the ground level bar to familiarize ourselves with the city of Brisbane ...

... good, actually, even though I'd been flying for about 24 hours. A guy from EF was at the airport waiting for me, and gave me a ride to my new home in Algester. The whole day went in a bit of a blur, and I ended up pretty much sleeping until the next morning, as it was time for school. The school was really nice as the people there. Gave me a really good feeling about the next 9 months that I will be spending there. Anyway we got to see around Brissy, and then we had to do an ...

... handwritten travel diary but so far it seems like 'cut 'n' paste" is the way to go.<br><br>I will be uploading one or two pictures a day while we are on the road to this blog but the main site will be Flickr (not a typo) and I'll post a link to that website later.<br><br>Note to self need to find another word to begin the paragraph other than "I"<br>

... trip!!!.. and so I spend one entire day browsing the net, phoning up and booking stuff and changing my plane rides.... initially I was only going to stay 5 weeks and so I had only planned to visit the East coast from Sydney to Cairns and then fly to Uluru for 3 days and back to Sydney... but now I have decided to stay 3 months and so I have a lot more time to visit other parts of Oz.... and so I come up with a very exciting plan!!... <br><br>I'm going to make my way up to Cairns as ...

... which were interrupted occasionally by an underground eruption which formed a peak every now and then. They're a beautiful sight. We rocked on over a dirt road to Woodford and stopped in the local for a beer (and more drugs) to see the real Aussie Easter experience - lots of families out eating and drinking with country twanging guitar and songs played live in the background. I suspect further exploration could land me in the set of Deliverance ...

... were in the middle of nowhere, so far away from anything. Then at dinner they started playing Van Morrison so we didn't feel so far from home! Today we've been to some of the beauty spots on the island and I don't think we've been anywhere so beautiful ever. We swam in lakes that were like bathwater with sand like talcum powder. It's so idyllic and unspoilt. We drove along the beach which is amazing but unfortunately the ...

... particularly the cassowraries (as we had gone on a number of  cassowary spotting hikes in NQ tropical rain forests with Hazel and Mike, but this was the first time that I have actually seen one in the flesh) and they really are quite spectacular. We are pretty tired by the time that we all got home so after a couple of 'livereners'  Mike and I were sent out once more into the Valley of Death to hunt down a Thai takeaway ...

Stepping out of Brisbane airport brought back some very vivid memories of Asia, hot and sweaty! I'd forgotten how truly hot weather can be. When I arrived it was about 35 degrees, with 85% humidity, and it felt like you were swimming through the air. Surprisingly, this was LOVELY! Managed to make it out to Indooroopilly train station, where Aaron duly turned up barechested (bogan tastic!) in an effort to shame me..to no ...

... a quick detour to the cultural centre on the south bank, which I remembered had a man-made sandy beach and good views over the river to the main CBD. <br><br><br><br>Unfortunately the local council are currently redesigning the beach &amp; pool area, so we just had a quick look around, I bought a bucket of raspberry Fanta from Subway, and then we set off again.<br><br>H runs his own investment ...