We took the train to Brisbane a second time, and decided to check out the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary!! (I love zoos and all things relating to animals) We spent the whole afternoon there and besides koalas, we saw wombats, kangaroos (which we were able to pet), a wide variety of birds, dingoes, cassowaries, snakes and other reptiles. They had a little farm, with animals like sheep, goats, ducks, and chickens. We saw a sheep dog show! The farmer demonstrated how border collies are used to herd sheep. (This made me think of Molly). The highlight of the day for me was having my picture taken while holding a koala!! He was so cute and barely moved at all. He just clung to my shirt. Queensland is the only state in Australia where it is legal ... read more

Thursday was our first trip into Brisbane. We walked down to the Mudgeeraba train station, where we bought our day tickets to the city. The system in Brisbane works using zones, so by buying our tickets from one of the furthest zones and heading right into the city’s core, it basically gave us unlimited travel anywhere we wanted. It was a shame though that we arrived just as the train was leaving. Though a half hour wait wasn’t really much, it still tends to be discouraging. Lol On the train, heading into the city, the scenery was quite nice. Australia really has some lovely scenery when traveling long distances. Plenty of rolling green hills to see along the east coast. Once into the city, we headed for the pedestrian outdoor mall, which was a suggestion of ... read more

Leaving Byron Bay after just one day was tough, but our next location was one that boasted some pretty high expectations with just its name… Surfers Paradise! Our bus ride was fairly short this time, and when we arrived we were greeted by Graham and Lorna! You see, before leaving Canada, it was suggested by our friends the Walters that we should give their friends in Australia a ring. This was a great offer, but Hillary and I didn’t want to bother anyone, especially people we had never met before. But we were assured that this would not be the case. If anything, we couldn’t have been further from the truth. Graham and Lorna are two of the most kind and generous people we had ever met! They welcomed us into their lives and we couldn’t ... read more

Our Greyhound bus on Friday left Coffs Harbour around 6am, which meant getting up much earlier to take a cab down to the bus stop. Very early day. But the bus ride was short, and we were in Yamba before we knew it. Yamba was a really nice little town. The YHA hostel there seemed really new, which was awesome! And it was located right on the main street, rather than out of town like some other towns we had visited. The other thing was that it was pretty quiet too. You feel a little bad when a nice place isn’t getting very much business, but on the flipside it’s awfully nice when everything is super clean because it’s not very busy. Lol When we checked in that morning, we went back to bed and napped ... read more

Saturday morning we got up and packed for the bus. We were starting to get used to this “changing towns” every few days now, so packing and unpacking wasn’t too tough. Anyways, we soon hopped on the Greyhound, and were off to Port Macquarie! Port Macquarie was a nice little town. It seemed to be best known for its Koala Hospital, and its beaches. However heavy rains in Australia were washing a lot of soil out to the ocean, making the water at the beaches fairly muddy. In other words, the beaches weren’t too nice at that time. So Saturday afternoon we explored the town, and used some internet at McDonalds instead. Once back at the hostel, we watched Live Free or Die Hard. But in Australia, it’s called Die Hard 4.0. Weird how titles are ... read more