In and around Brisbane!

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Our arrival was pretty uneventful - thanfully - no scary crashes in the taxi this time! And we opted (naturally) for the cheapest hostel we could find employing as many of the discount cards we had been accumulating (and lugging around) for quite some time! Opting for accommodation in Prince COnsort Backpackers, in fortitude Valley - again a bit of a red light district! Ooooops! But a pretty cool hostel nonetheless! The first day took us out and about in the city onto the city ferry to do some of Brissy's sightseeing - and believe you me there isn't a great deal! We were also suffering from the extreme temperature and humidity increase - thus activities became pretty minimal - opting for a haircut in a trainee centre - due largely to their AC and also to Jen and I looking like we had been dragged through hedges backwards!! And shortly after that a rather lengthy consult with Peterpan's travel agency - in hope of giving Jen and I a bit of structure and fewer opportunities to waste time (we are exceptionally good at this!)

Having to have got the van back on time, we had decided that we would brave the Gold Coast again and go all out cheesy with some theme parks! So from Brisbane we headed south backtracking slightly to enjoy a day out at Sea World, to see performing Dolphins, Seals, Birds and the like as well as braving a few random roller coaster rides - which were pretty pathetic it has to be said! The day out was good though, encountering sharks, sea cows (dugongs) pelicans, dolphins etc and all that cheesiness! Well it has to be done once in a while - unfortunately we pushed our luck a little and decided we would try out Wet 'n' Wild a water flume park - BIG mistake, HUGE!!! Firstly we had been spoilt somewhat by the luxury of Dubai's Wild Wadi, secondly we made the ENORMOUS misjudgement of the last week of the school holidays! It was packed - so not only did the flumes not push you back up the hill, you actually had to queue for atleast 30 mins, though more like 50 for any flumes! Thus we opted for the sun lounger option without the issue of sand and lazed around all day, reading and people watching! Only to end up rushing out of the park as the skies opened!!! And sooo it was back to Brisbane where we had decided would be the best place to spend Australia Day - given our limited options (I think Sydney was THE place to be!!!) However, it gave us an excuser to go out for a drink!!! Although who needs one hey?!

Scarily enough though, arriving back at the hostel and settling in, a guy came into the dorm, looked at me quizzically and asked if I knew Jenny Kowalczyk - seriously spooky!!!! It turned out that there is someone out there reading our blogs and he had seen my photo on there and recognised me! Jen's face was a classic when she saw him! Just goes to show how small the world really is!!! Aside from all that Australia Day saw our first beers since New Years and man did they have a rapid effect, ended up chatting to some Ozzie guys who took us to a local pub for a spot of dancing! All good fun, with Jen securing herself a date for the next day! The remainder of our time in Brissy was spent securing a series of tours and all our accommodation, playing off travel agents to drive the prices down (highly satisfying!!!) In the end got a pretty good deal with a variety of funky little trips planned!!!

This did however mean that we were once again committed to bussing it about! YUK! Still not a great fan of public transport - except for its benefit to the environment of course!!!!

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