Botanical Brisbane

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Really enjoyed the coach ride to Brisbane looking out the window and I had a lollypop that the French guy had one for us the night before! (No one can remember his name!) I noticed these beautiful purple trees as we arrived into Brisbane and they really stand out against the other green trees.

I walked to the wrong hostel because there are 3 of the same chain in Brisbane but they have me a map and showed me where to go.

Brisbane is a little but like Sydney as it's busy and modern looking however there are less tourists and no opera house! I decided to go for a walk to see the area so I walked down through the main shopping area and into the botanical gardens. From the edge of the gardens I could see story bridge and I walked along the river edge round the entire edge of the gardens and back through the shops again. I found a shop called the reject shop with really cheap stuff in it a bit like the range and I bought some cup-a-soups and some shampoo!

On my way back to the hostel there were live bands playing in the streets and I stopped to watch a girl singing, it was really lovely.

I walked back to the hostel and read my book.

It turned out that I was in the same room as the couple from Hailsham and they had just come back from the zoo and invited me to join them for dinner in the bar under the hostel. The bar had a deal of steak and beer for $10 so we all had that and it was really yummy and a really good deal.

We went back to the room and I read my book and finished it.. Slightly disappointed in the ending but was still good! Then I put my ear plugs in and eye mask on as I had already been warned about a guy in our room snoring really badly!!!



Went on a similar walk to yesterday with Adam and Amy and my camera! Took some pictures of the purple tree in the botanical garden because it's so beautiful and this time we walked across the goodwill bridge to south bank on the other side of the river. There is a man made lagoon on south bank with sand and water and a kids water play area, also because it was a weekend there were markets and we walked through and got some homemade lemonade. We stopped and had some lunch at an Asian place I had chicken teriyaki with rice and it was delicious. After lunch we went to the lagoon and sunbathed on the sand. On the walk back to the hostel I showed them the reject shop so they could get some cheap bits and I spoilt myself with some sparkling water.. From a glass bottle!!



Back at the hostel we met up with English Lauren and went to the bar downstairs for a dance.. It was meant to be another ladies nights but they only gave out 1 free drink so at 9pm the girls went down for a free glass of champagne and we made friends with the Brazilian guy running the bar called tolio and when we moaned that in surfers all the drinks are free for ladies on ladies nights he promised us a few free drinks during the night! I only had to buy one drink all night! Rung Fran when our song came on but it was only 3pm for her!! Then went to bed not forgetting the ear plugs because of the snoring guy!



Adam and Amy checked out the next morning but I ended up having a really good day. In the morning I had some lazy time and just sorted through my stuff to try and make some more room packing! Then I headed into the botanical gardens and found out the council gives you free wifi in the gardens and it was really fast! After having a small play on Facebook I walked over to south bank and through the market, I had a corn on the cob from the stand for lunch and then sunbathed on the sand.. I was just falling asleep when a kid ran past and covered me head to toe in sand I had hoped my hair wouldn't need washing again but that was before it was covered in sand! It was really hot so I decided to walk back to the botanical gardens and chill in the shade on the wifi.. On the way back I walked past a live band playing on the waters edge so I stopped and watched them for a while. Umbrellas had been put out for people to sit in the shade to watch the band but in the breeze these kept on falling over and the singer of the band said "I know people are killed by falling coconuts each year, but here at south bank it's umbrellas you need to watch out for!" Haha!

Chatted to my mummy in the botanical gardens after using the wifi and it was so beautiful sitting there as the sun was setting. Back at the hostel I treated myself to some cheesy chips at the bar under the hostel with a German guy in my room called Lewis. The chips weren't the same as back home because they use chicken salt and this gives it a completely different flavour especially with cheese! Decided on an early night as have to catch the coach to noosa at 10am!

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