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Published: November 29th 2006
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Hi all
Well spent my last week in Australia in Brisbane. After the fuss with the hostel we ended up with beds on the 2nd night as they had a couple of no shows which was a bit of luck so luckily we did'nt have to spend the rest of the week sleeping in the lounge area. The hostel was nice as very small which meant you got to meet everyone there and it was quite a sociable place. On the Friday we went for a wander round Brisbane and really liked the city centre as a big pedestrianised area with loads of great shops and lots going on. It did seem strange being so busy as everywhere we have been previously was very quiet. This was mainly due to the Ashes though and there were millions of people there with an amazing number from England, I did'nt realise so many people come over for it considering the journey. Anyway in the afternoon I just chilled out by the pool at the hostel while Rob watched the cricket with some of the lads. This was great but the temperature was well into the 30's so spent most of my time
in the pool as too hot to sunbath (sorry I know it's cold in England). That evening we were convinced by some of the others who were staying at the hostel that we should all go out for some drinks! We had all ready spent the best part of the late afternoon having a few glasses of wine whilst chatting. The voices inside our head where saying no, bad idea as going to the cricket tomorrow but unfortunately saying no to going out drinking has never been my strong point. So we dressed up the best we could (not easy when living out of a backpack) and off we all went to a bar called Down Under( the Ozzies are so original with their names). Claire who was one of our party was a big drinker and started ordering us shots which was not a good idea, before we new it we were dancing away, on the stage, in the cage, all over the place and having quite a laugh. Luckily the Ozzies are big drinkers aswell so you never look out of place however drunk you get which is a result. It was then decided we should go onto
The Valley which is another part of Brisbane which has good pubs and clubs. We all bundled into a taxi, although not everybody made it as some felt worse for wear and headed back and those of us that were still going headed to another pub/club. I have no idea what time we made it back to the hostel but do know it was the early hours of the morning and very drunk. It was a great night but getting up for the cricket at 7am was not so much fun and even Rob was completely unenthusiastic about it. Eventually after a very slow start we made it to the Gabba (cricket ground for you girlies) and went to our seats for when the game started at 10am. We lasted about 1.5 hours and then the sun came round and was directly on us and with monster hangovers we thought we were dying. The game was going badly, I had no idea of the rules, the players, the scoring etc so we went outside and crashed out under a tree for a couple of hours. I felt this was very backpackery behaviour and was slightly worried that all the police
patrolling the area might of thought we were down and outs and move us on but they left us in peace to nap. After lunch we felt alot better so managed to go back in and watch the cricket, although I was still abit worse for wear so luckily Rob got off lightly with me asking questions every 5 minutes. It was a great atmosphere at the ground and you could hear the good old Barmy Army miles away singing and chanting and being typically British. At the end of the day we caught the bus back and arrived at the hostel about 7pm and were asleep in bed by 7.30pm so a great day! On the Sunday after about 14 hours sleep we chilled out at the hostel and then went to meet Lynsey who was flying up from Newcastle to spend a couple of days with us. As we had not seen much of Brisbane after we had met Lynsey we wandered over to the Southbank which is a great spot on the other side of the river where there are loads of shops and restaurants and little walks. The best bit though is the huge man made
beach they have there as there are no decent beaches in Brisbane. They seem to have these in alot of the cities we have been to and are such a good idea, we spent the afternoon there and they even had a massive screen up with the cricket on. On the Monday as the cricket was still going (miracle) we decided to go back down and get tickets to watch that day. It was much better watching it and not being hungover and I was alot more interested so poor old Rob had me and Lynsey asking him questions the whole way through and I still don't think we understand the game anymore now. Anyway it only lasted until 11.30am as we are crap (the cricket team, not us) so we wandered back down to the Southbank and spent a very hard afternoon sunbathing by the beach. In the evening we went to China Town and pigged out on a fantastic Chinese and caught up properly on the all gossip with Lynsey which was lovely. Yesterday (Tuesday) we hired a car and headed down to Surfers Paradise as we had missed this out when we travelled up the East Coast
and Lynsey new it well. A real touristy place with great beaches although we only lasted 10 minutes sitting on the beach due to the wind blowing sand everywhere and driving us nuts. It was Schoolies which bascially means all the school kids who are taking their exams (like our GCSE'S) have finished so all flock to the Gold Coast to party so it was heaving with teenagers which made us all feel old (even Lynsey - ha ha). We had a fun day out though and after that we headed to the airport as we were flying back to Newcastle with Lynsey that evening. The flight was very quick, only an hour and we stayed at her place last night and then said goodbye this morning as caught the early train down to Sydney as flew to New Zealand today. It was lovely to see Lynsey again and she says hi to all of you at Crane & Co and hopefully she will come back to England in a few years (hint, hint). Anyway we arrived in New Zealand this afternoon and have booked into a hostel in Auckland whilst we sort out what we are going to do
in the 2.5 weeks we have here. I haven't managed to lose Rob yet he has followed me here, oh well it's handy as he can carry my bags for me - ha ha.
Well it's only a short one this time as a bit of a quieter week, however I am sure there will be loads next time as we travel round New Zealand. Take car all.
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