NSW and Victoria

---

After leaving Hervey Bay our next stop was Brisbane. Here we spent a few days enjoying just being in a city, as it’s our first city for a while. So for the majorirty of our time there we enjoyed walking through the many parks and the busy street doing some shopping.

On the first day we headed over the river to the Southbank, where there is a lagoon and park area for BBQ’s which is a very cool feature to have in a city. The lagoon is designed so that there is a beach in the city, whilst sat by the lagoon you can see the sky scrapers along the horizon. What we saw of the city, we found it to be clean and modern with a mix of old and new. The main shopping street contained a few big shopping centres, so we had to have a look in. Laura bought a few new clothes and we bought a new book. The city also had a few large green areas. One we found most interesting was Roma Street Parkland. It was well looked after and very colourful, but the best part was dodging the lizards that appear out of no where as they were well camouflaged. These lizards were called water dragons and eastern dragons and seemed to be everywhere. After exploring Roma Park we found a camper van in the city square giving away free ben and jerrys ice cream which made the day even better.

It was soon time to leave Brisbane so we 'hopped' back on the bus and had a 4 hour jounrey to Byron Bay. We arrived early evening so we just checked out the facilities at the Backpackers Inn - which were pretty good there was a decent kitchen, living area, free body board use and the beach was a 2 min walk behind the hostel. So we had an evenng walk along the beach to check out the waves as Byron Bay is a big surfers spot for the australians.

On our first day the sun was peaking out luckily, as the day was forecast showers and you could see the dark clouds looming. As the weather was forecast showers for the next few days also we thought now was the best time to get out on the body boards. After getting over the slight chill of the water we were soon catching the waves. It was really good fun, Andy kept colliding into me on purpose when we both caught the same wave and I was goodat catching the wave all the way into the shore. After messing about in the sea it was time for lunch and it started to rain.

The following day we hired bycyles form the hostel and headed to the lighthouse you can see from the beach. We thought it would be easy to get to but it was a challenge for our unused muscles! Got some good snaps on route and at the lighthouse. We then headed into town to search for gifts and to buy some bangles.

Our last day at Byron we hired the body boards out again, this time however the waves were pretty big and really strong so it was a battle to get out and catch the waves. We tried to make a few videos of us catching the waves too, so we can show you back home. The afternoon was spent lazing on a hammock reading, then we headed into town for a wonder round a hippy sunday market. We also treated ourselves to some milkshake and a brownie slice. Before enjoying the late afternoon sunshine sat on some rocks by the beach. We found Byron Bay a nice relaxed surf town and througly enjoyed spending a few days there.

The next day we got ready to catch the overnight bus down to Sydney, unfortunately we had to spend all day waiting around but eventually we got back onto the bus for our next 4hour trip. When we arrived in Sydney the bus made the journey over the Sydney Harbour Bridge which gave us a really good view of the Opera House and city centre. Once we had checked into our hostel and freshened up we headed back to the city centre. We really enjoyed looking around the harbour and the Rocks area of town as well to find out about the history of the city. After walking across the bridge we then headed back down the busy streets to get some rest at the hostel.

The next day we decided to head to Bondi beach. So we boarded the local bus and headed out to the beach. The weather was a bit overcast that day but we still enjoyed seeing the famous beach and the Bondi Icebergs swimming pool. When we got back to the city we decided to head back to the harbour to see the sights all lit up at night. We then walked back through Darling Harbour and stopped off at one of the many cafes for a warm drink. We really enjoyed the big city feel of Sydney and it was good to see all the famous sights. But the next day it was time to move on again so we boarded what we hope will be our last night bus and headed for Melbourne.

We arrived in Melbourne at 8am and after some difficulties found a hostel. Again the weather wasn't very good so we waited until later in the day to go explore. The city seemed a bit more spread out that Sydney but we soon found our way to the Victoria Market and other shopping centres. The next day we headed back into the cityfor a bit of a look around. After a lot of walking we found our way to Captain Cooks Cottage which he had brought over to Melbourne from Yorkshire. The weather was still pretty bad though so we ended up heading back to the hostel early. The next day was our last in Australia so we booked out of the hostel and made our way to the airport and New Zealand!!

---

Comments

[mum]

Very good, sounds lovely , pity the weather was unsettled it would have had a better feel if it was hot and sunny. You seem to be having such an interesting time and lots of nature, xxx

[Dad]

So was cook at home? Or was he out exploring again, It sounds like you'v had a good time in oz. Hope nz is as good if not better, Not long now and you will be home. love Dad Mum xx