Sephem

I arrive on Sunday and immediately understand why Adelaide is known as the quietest city with a million people. Where I am dropped is like a ghost town. The place seems quite nice and appears smaller than Brisbane. Due to some confusion with Hostel names I soon work out that I have been dropped at the wrong Hostel. I gather up my things and in 30 degree heat head for where my Hostel is. The place is nice and I head back out fairly soon after arriving to meet up with the people from my Great Ocean Road trip. We have a few beers and call it a early night. The next day is mostly a admin day (where I have to sneak into another Hostel so that I can use their pc's) except for the ... read more

Day 1 I awake at stupid o'clock as usual and gather up my things. I head to the pickup sight and find that once again the bus is late. After 30 minutes of waiting the bus arrives and is looking pretty packed. We head off and the First stop is a small town called Tarlee. We stop and have brunch (Bacon and Egg sandwich) and then shortly after move on. Up next is the Seven hills cellar door (winery) in Clare Valley. Here we get to try some wines (despite it being 10:30) and also play some football and cricket in the local grounds. We push on at lunch time to the town of Clare. Here I try iced coffee on the recommendation of the driver who is a scream, the iced coffee is very nice. ... read more

Day 1 The bus travels over the harbour bridge and I catch my first glimpse of Sydney circular quay and the opera house. I think it looks smaller than what I imagined somehow. I arrive at central at 00:20 in the morning after a very long bus ride where I finish my book and drain my I pod battery. Central is where all the buses and train form up on each other. I wander into the station as I need to make my way to Kings Cross. After half an hour of trying to work out where I need to be I eventually board the tube train. I've never seen one before that is a double decker. The tube takes roughly 15 minutes and I get off at my stop. I have heard stories of kings ... read more

I arrive back in Brisbane in high spirits but a few small things are enough to change that. The first is the fact that I miss my transfer to the hostel from the bus station despite ringing up and booking my place on it. Someone was kind enough to wave back at me as I try and flag it down though which was a nice touch. Apparently they have changed the pick up point in the week that I have been away. Second is being threatened by a drunk Hispanic man who tells me that people who mess him around end up getting shot. I struggle to understand what he is saying but eventually he gets the message that I can't help him with anything and he wonders off. I should probably point out that he ... read more

Christmas in Oz I arrive in Surfers paradise on the 21st to discover that the hostel is having a pub crawl (result!). I pay my thirty dollars and receive a beach towel, wrist band and a ticket for the raffle. If you win the raffle you get your thirty dollars back. I try and convince the person running the raffle that he wants to pull my ticket out. Subconsciously it must of worked as mine is the first name read out, I slide up to the bar and receive my thirty dollars. Five minutes later one of the employees of the hostel (pronounced hostelll here) comes round asking if anybody wants to earn twenty dollars an hour moving furniture. I tell him I'm in, maybe surfers paradise is my kind of place. The night out is ... read more

So the week in Brisbane has seen some highs and some lows. The highs being: relaxing at the lagoon with friends, hiring a bike and seeing more of the city than I could reasonably cover on foot, taking long walks around Brisbane and getting to see the botanical gardens and the houses of parliament, going out to a three story club and getting in for free, riding on the local ferry shuttle at sunset and in the evening, going to the imax to watch the new mission impossible film and booking up all of January with trips that will take me to Alice Springs. The bad bits: having a few days on my own as friends checked out earlier than me, getting sun burnt at the lagoon, being woken up imbetween the hours of 3 and ... read more