Sydney - Brisbane!

Hello from a very sunny and HOT Brisbane!

Well what a week it has been, i cant believe we are here already and that we only left Sydney 10 days ago! So we are now in Queensland, that means only one more state (western australia) and i have seen them all, how cool is that!

So travelling up the east coast is really fun! Its really busy, all the buses are full and you have to be really organised keeping on top of the game, but thankfully im quite good at that!! So, we left Sydney and took a short bus ride (2.5hrs ish) to Newcastle. We stayed in a really lovely hostel there (you can always rely on a good YHA!!) it was right on the beach, so we spent our one day there exploring in the morning and recovering on the beach in the afternoon!

From there we went to Coffs Harbour, it was a long day getting there, probably about 7 hours on the bus, but no air conditioning meant it was quite hot at times! I think any ice creams i had last week were sweated off on bus journeys, hehe!! Coffs was cool, a bit spread out though which made it difficult to explore, although theres not a lot to really see there, we walked along the harbour and the beach, although it was too windy to lay on the beach that day and not be covered in sand, any more than usual! We had two days here, which was probably just right. Although we are doing the east coast quite quickly (because my friend Jen who i am travelling with is going back to the UK) i still feel like we have had the right amount of time in each place, which is great! The highlight of Coffs is the Big Banana! Yes Banana! Coffs main export is bananas and to celebrate this, they have this big plastic banana on the highway! Yes, i know it all sounds very cheesy, but according to the banana goodie shop (dont worry i didnt indulge!!) over a million photos are taken off this banana a year! Theres a small theme park type thing there, but that was too energetic for us, so it was a banana smoothie and banana split (to share) and it was awesome!! So that was Coffs, all about the banana!

From there we have had this weekend just gone in Byron Bay. It has been my favourite place so far, but unfortunatly it rained all weekend and was cold too (22/23!!). It was a shame, because the beaches there are beautiful and the hostel had a really ncie pool as well. We had too console ourselves on Saturday night with a box of wine and dominos and it did do the trick, although im sure i have that seasonal defective disorder, two days without the sun and it was just so sad! It was a great place there though, also a couple of km walk away from the most easterly point of main land Australia, so we walked up there on Sunday afternoon, which was pleasant. I liked it here because it had a great hippy/surfer vibe. It is still clased as quite an 'alternative' place and i liked all the independent shops here.

Our next stop on Monday could not have been more different. Surfers Paradise and into Queensland. It was like going from Austin to Florida. High rise buildings, chain stores, theme parks and sunshine!!! We only had a night here, as its only really good for nightlife and then recovering the next day on the beach, which is exactly what we did!!

So no wonder, when we arrived in Brisbane last night at about 7pm i was shattered!! Its ok here, it doesnt have the greatest reputation around oz and i havent seen anything yet to change that. I prefer Adelaide i think, for cities on a smaller scale. We have just two days here, before we head to Noosa on the sunshine coast for a couple of nights and then on Sunday afternoon we arrive in Hervey Bay to enable us to depart to Fraser Island on Monday (australia day!!). Im really excited about Fraser Island, everyone you meet says it is a highlight and we are doing a 3 day/2 night self drive adventure! There will be 10 of us in our group and you are given a briefing the afternoon before and maps etc and then just go off and explore! It should be really good, and will be great to drive again, just got my fingers crossed i dont get us stuck in the sand!

Then its the Whitsundays after, it really is all go but its exciting, the fast pace is good, lets just hope we can keep it up! I'll let you know.....!!!!