WillandJo

Having spent yesterday saying goodbye to Will's family, we woke up and walked to the bus stop round the corner with our luggage to catch a ride to Sutherland Train Station. We made it to Town Hall Station in good time, and after a short walk we were checking in to our room at the Park Royal near Darling Harbour. With the sun shinning we set about walking up George Street towards the Harbour Bridge and the Pylon Lookout that we previously missed out on because of bad weather before. Thanks to our YHA card Will managed to blag us a concession entry, and once climbed up the 91 meters of stairs we received a great view of the bridge, the Opera House, Circular Quay and North Sydney. We also tried to spot Wills uncle and ... read more

To prepare us for the day ahead of cycling around the wineries and line our stomachs we took advantage of the motel breakfast and stuffed our faces. We were then picked up by the Grapemobile bus at 9.30am and drove past a few of the wineries to Palmers Lane where we picked up our bikes for the day, water, maps and a few recommendations of wineries we set off for a day's wine tasting on our bikes. The first stop was at Waverley Winery that was only a short cycle away, and as it specializes in aged wines we were keen to taste the difference with the wines from the prior day. Although we were there first customers of the day they were prepared for us and we merrily worked our way through their aged wine ... read more

With the rain continuing to fall all night (apparently 50mm in total) we were less than enthusiastic for going on the sea kayaking tour we'd booked the day before, so Will went and cancelled it first thing. After repacking our bags and checking out we made a hearty breakfast of porridge before catching the shuttle bus to town with the popcorn we'd pre-made to snack on at the movies. Before heading to the cinema Will bought a cap. Our choice of film to fill the gloomy afternoon was Sacha Barren Cohen's Dictator. Although the film was quiet short it's inappropriate humour made us laugh. As we came out of the cinema we were created by a transformation in weather and blue sky's. On the way back to the beach Will bought a T-shirt and Shushing roll ... read more

With our next coach journey on the greyhound not till late afternoon we had a slow start not getting up till 10:00, and then headed for the miniature golf across the road for a complimentary 18 holes on the Waterfall course! Jo started well winning the first few holes but Will reacted well to the taunting and stormed back to win the next five holes with a couple of holes in one! Although Jo won a couple more holes and we halved a few, a quick tally up at the end of the round showed Will has retained his dignity and snatched the victory so he can stand proud next time he plays a game back in the UK! With sun shining we decided to soak up the rays whilst doing a little admin on the ... read more

Having again been the first to wake in our dorm we walked back to the transit centre to catch our early morning bus as the rain started to fall on Brisbane. When we arrived in Surfers Paradise it was still raining so we opted for a taxi to take us the short journey to our Motel in Mermaid Beach. Unfortunately we were still a little early to check in so we left our luggage and trudge back through the rain to a shopping mall Jo spotted in our taxi. After a coffee, a tour of all the shops and a couple bargains we headed back in the sun to the Active Stays motel to check in. As we'd booked this package through Groupon it came with several vouchers for the local area, a bottle of wine ... read more