wet t-shirt competition

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Day 105 - Wednesday 16 January

After checking out at 10 am we took advantage of our free transfer to the bus stop before catching the bus to Brisbane. Just after lunch the bus pulled into central Brisbane where we awaited our free pickup to the hostel. After checking in we headed back into the city centre to have a walk around. We had planned to do the xxxx brewery tour but have heard there's a better one in New Zealand so we'll do it there instead.

Russ has been struggling to get over Asia the past few days and suddenly announced he was going to go back next week for a while. By contrast i'd struggled earlier on but I don't mind Australia now, although its not as good its not that bad. It seems it only takes me 3 weeks to adapt back to the western world something thats good to know for when I return.

After looking round Brisbane for an hour ( I quite like the place), I left Russ to visit flight/travel agents whilst I went for a free didgeridoo lesson we'd been offered. I've already got one at home and can manage to play a tune on it but I cant do the circular breathing thing, so run out of breath after 30 seconds. They didn't teach you how to do it in the lesson just how to play a note so I left after only 10 mins and found Russ in a nearby travel shop.

He seems to be on a real downer for some reason today but after looking at his sums its not economical for me to return. Hes been living with his parents the past few years so has a bigger budget then me, but its still over 500 pounds just for the flights. Thats dearer than i can get flying from London. Even though the daily living expenses will be lower, because its only for 3 weeks it still works out about 200 pounds more expensive than staying here (knew all that accountancy training would come in useful somewhere). Being over budget already I run the risk of running out of money before the year is out. Strangely the days in Bangkok all seem to coincide when his girlfriend is off work so no doubt i'd be abandoned. I declined to go instead i'll try my luck with Ji-Won in Sydney and see what happens.

I wasn't planning to go out tonight, but as Russ is so depressed today i agreed to. Theres a wet t-shirt competition on at a big backpacker bar called Huge in town so it should be fun. After getting in (you have to be non-australian and show your passport on the door to get in), I awaited the competition to start. Unfortunately it didn't start until about 2:30 am and when it did it was a little disappointing. I've seen better.

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