Brisvegas
Trip Start
Nov 11, 2007
1
10
26
Trip End
Feb 11, 2007
Brisbane,
Australia
Friday, December 7, 2007
Well I'm now in Brisbane and have been since tuesday. We laft Jane's to catch our greyhound bus in the morning and had to say our emotional farewells to Jane and Karen at the house, plus Emma too. We had such a lovely time with them and it was so nice to have a few home comforts after staying in the hostels down the coast. Chris drove us to the bus stop and waited with us till our bus turned up. He was amazing whilst we were at Jane's. He was a great tour guide, a lovely bloke and told us so much about the area - it was lovely to see someone so passionate about the place they come from. After saying goodbye and getting on the bus, we travelled all of about 10 mins down the road before a comfort break/stop for those who had been on the bus for ages. It was ok though because we looked in the little shop and had a bit to eat before getting back on the bus for the drive down to Brisbane.
We arrived in Bris about 3pm and were told our hostel was up the hill about 400m. Walking around in australia is hard at the best of times cos it's so hot, but add a massive backpack and a hill and you get the perfect combo for a sweaty backpacker in need of a very cold shower and a cold beer!! It felt so weird to look around us and see all the high rise buildings and all the traffic, plus all the people that were buzzing around. After spending so long in smaller coastal towns and on islands it felt very strange to be back in a busy city. After checking into our hostel and finding out we didn't have air con (not so bad cos I'm on the top bunk meaning I get the fan blowing onto me) we dumped our stuff and headed into town for a look around and some food. We followed the road round and found the main shopping area. I also found a place where Jack, Pete and Dan had had their pics taken when they met up in bris and like the sad person I am I had my pic taken there too lol!! After having a quick look around the shopping area, we went for a steak dinner - wooop! Only $6.95 with chips and salad so not bad at all really.
When we checked in, we'd been told that tuesday nite at our hostel was ladies nite, and we were given vouchers for $2.50 wine and $3 spirits. So we therefore decided to make use of this offer and go out to our hostel bar that night. It was also Rachael, the girl from our fraser island group's brithday so we invited her along too for some birthday drinks. After showering and changing, we were stood out in the corridor near our room and who should walk out of a room down the hall but selina, my friend from home who I bumped into in cairns and airlie. Both of these times she was with her brother, but he's now gone home so she agreed to meet us later for drinks and a catch up chat. We went to the bar and got stuck into thr wine and then selina came and joined us and we had a great chat. After a lot of alcohol was consumed, we all felt like a dance so we headed into town in a taxi and found a club called 'the beat' that was open. Walking in we realised it was dead but we were so drunk that this was a good thing, drinks were cheap and we had the dancefloor nearly all to ourselves. With the added bonus that there was a resident drag act who did a great britney impression, complete with baby (doll) and fake bump plus shaving his hair off halfway through the dance. He/she came back about 1am for another great performance of fire eating in a massive ballgown! It was weird to say the least but hilarious at the time!! We had a great night even if the club was pretty much empty. After the 2nd appearance by the tranvestite, we decided that was quite enough and headed back. We finally got to bed about 4 after chatting to some canadians who were sat in the seating area when we got back.
Needless to say, after so much white wine I felt incredibly dodgy on wednesday, so the morning was slow. We had already decided after seeing the shops that we were going to have a shopping day and that's what we did. Nothing to report really except that Brisbane is a great shopping place and I had a nice day browsing around. We headed back to eat and get dressed up for the theme night we had been told about at our hostel which happened to be pirates. I decided not to drink lol after having so much on tuesday night. It ended in a quite early night after speaking to Jack on the phone which was lovely.
Yesterday (thurs) catherine and mel had booked in for a hair appt so me and jen ahd a very lazy morning, sunbathing and swimming - including falling over by the pool cos nobody warned me how slippy it was! I have some lovely scratches on my leg - and then we headed into town for an internet session and a bit of a food shop! We're trying to cut down on how much we spend on food so cooking lots of toast and pasta - yum! Lol! We spent the evening chilling out with selina and watching some tv. Boring bunch really aren't we!
Today me and Jolly have been to the XXXX brewery for the tour and some tasting. I had a really great time and learnt alot about beer making although I'm not sure how much of it I'll remember because we got bombarded with info! We heard all about the history of XXXX and saw how it's made and bottled. Then came the best bit. Included as part of the price of the tour we got 4 glasses of beer for free. We tried the 3 XXX sparkling ale which was actually really nice and made me a little light headed as it was 2pm and I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Then we had 3 of the XXXX gold lager which was also really nice. It was great to chill with some afternoon drinking!! I'd recommend anyone to go to that place as I really enjoyed it. We've got a busy weekend ahead of us as tomorrow we're going to explore the South Bank area of Brisbane and hopefully go to see a Warhol exhibit at the Gallery of Modern Art, before visiting the City Botanic Gardens in the afternoon and maybe catching the free christmas concert that's on there tomorrow night. Then on sunday we're planning on catching the city cat boat taxi and going to the arts and crafts markets on the other side of the city in the riverside area. And maybe even finding somewhere to have a sunday lunch! Wooop! Then I think we're planning on visitting the Australia Zoo on monday! So lots planned before we leave on tuesday for Surfer's Paradise.
Hope everyone is ok and enjoying the run up to christmas! It doesn't feel like it's gonna be christmas soon at all to me! It's far too hot! They keep playing christmas songs everywhere and it's so weird! Sorry I'm not emailing everyone separately, it's much easier to just do this blog but I hope you're not all getting offended. I haven't forgotten about you all honest!
Lots and lots of love,
Smiffy xxxxxxxxxxxx
Gympie Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15281&l=66923& id=510031269
Brisbane Photos so far: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15282&l=cc09c& id=510031269
