Week 4 - Australia - Coffs to Brisbane

---

Monday

No real rush to get to The Big banana, sweet i get a lay-in. 5 minute drive up the road and we see a big yellow banana, dead give away really good advertising that. We got there just in time for the next tour to start. The history of the banana, doesn't sound all that exciting, but really it was fascinating to see how even in the past few hundred year, just how it has evolved. Little lesson for you all here, just to show i was listening. Bananas do not grow on trees. It is in fact a herb. The "tree trunk" is actually a leaf wrapped tightly around itself hundreds of times. This herb then grows a flower, which can grow over night and its around the size of a decent watermelon this in turn grows fruit and tada bananas. I could bore you all to death with lots more info on them but im short on time and i would like you all to have the will to read on. During the tour the heavens open and we got our first real taste of tropical storms and this was a storm, thunder & lightning the lot. Not being able to walk up to the summit we decided to do that on the way out Tuesday morning. In the mean time.... you guessed it again shopping. In a brief moment of no rain we dashed to the car and headed for the Mall just around the corner. I thought it was my birthday, Tag let me buy a Nintendo DS to fill in those empty moments in between dinner and bedtime. Naturally i had to buy Final Fantasy III.

Tuesday / Wednesday

Packed up the car and head back to The Big Banana to do the tourist thing and get photos and what-not. The lookout was on top the hill we counted about 170 steps, wasn't too bad i must be getting used to all this walking. Once at the top the lookout had been shut due to vandalism but we could still get a fairly good view. Then it was off to Byron Bay we had booked 2 nights in the Byron YHA from Coffs so we were able to go straight there and check in. Whilst on the road Tag was checking the map out and she found a little place called Lawrence, so naturally we had to detour to get the cheesy town sign photo. Having checked the map out we decided to take a slightly less direct route up to Byron. On the way it all of a sudden started to get misty, next thing we know the air goes very cold and we start seeing what we thought was snow on the road and fields. As it turns out it was hail and MASSIVE pieces at that. We passed through a town called Lismore, which had obviously been hit by the storm, as we drove through the streets all the parked cars on the side of the road had big dents in the roof and bonnets, even some cars had, had their back windscreen smashed. In a weird way it was an amazing sight. Also due to the onslaught on the hail it had torn the trees up and there were leaves and branches everywhere with a very strong smell of eucalyptus in the air. We finally arrived at the hostel in Byron, which by the look of it hadn't been hit by the hail yet so we were a bit cautious of where we left the car. First impressions of the hostel weren't all that impressive, it seemed as though it was too big and would result in alot of noise at night. But as it turned out it was very quiet. I had a couple of sound roomies, which always helps. As were Tags, infact we went out to dinner with her roomies the first night there mmmm curry. After settling we took a wander round to the information centre to see what there was to do in Byron. Once again it was a place that had alot to offer but nothing we couldn't do at a later date. One thing that we both liked the look off was the walk up to the Lighthouse on the most easterly point of the Australian Mainland. Unfortunately Byron was still suffering from the rain and thunder storms we met in Coffs so it wasn't possible to go on the walk. This continued until Thursday, by which time we had moved to a new hostel a much more low-key place more along the lines of a guest house than a hostel.

Thursday

After the check in we headed on the walk to the Lighthouse. This really tested me up and down steep steps and slopes back down to sea level then up again. Many view points along the way helped as we stopped to take pictures. Once on top we had the most amazing views of the surrounding area. There was a little maritime museum inside nothing of major interest. So we carried on the walk down the other side, which thankfully was mainly all down hill and through rain forest so we were shaded. By the time we got back tot he main road start point my feet were starting to really hurt. This resulted in blisters on the balls of my feet so i got to rest up for the rest of the day 😊 Grabbed some take-away as neither of us could be bothered to cook, then sat in front the TV for the rest of the night. I made the mistake of watching the second episode of Season 2 Heroes i now want to watch it religiously, but i know i can't.

Friday

Checked out at 10am as-per, then Tag wanted to go buy some didgeridoos and boomerangs to send home so we went shopping. By lunchtime we were done and headed up to Surfers Paradise. On the way we stopped a place called Danger Point, sound ominous doesn't it? Not really. The wind was tremendous though we had to hang on to the railings when it gusted. Some amazing views as usual, across the bay we could see Surfers, but it was a little hazy so you couldn't see land just the high risers. For those who have seen Stargate Atlantis, you could appreciate how towers coming out of the sea must look. Apon arrival in Surfers we decided to have lunch then look around the shops. Again i bought more clothes thus taking my tally further past Tag. After having a chat we decided that we both needed to blow off some steam and go out for a view bevvies. So we googled hostels in surfers and decided on one called Cheers Backpackers. Mainly because it had its own bar :P We checked into an empty 4 dorm, sweet maybe some peace and quiet. They were holding a BBQ that night for $6 which is about 2.75 quid (no pound sign these keyboards). We got chatting to a few one of which was an agent for the hostel and there was an organised night out so we signed up for that and got on the vodkas. Whilst at the bar a bloke approached me and Tag and asked if we would like to enter a game of Killer for $2. I wasn't completely sure it was a good idea after drinking, but Tag convinced me otherwise. Without going into the boring details i will just say I won :D $22 tab behind the bar. 10pm came round and we needed to head out to the Club, which was called The Bedroom, im sure you can guess the theme. Only stayed for a few drinks as we were both really tired. Got completely lost on the way back to the Hostel but finally found it lol. We had a chat downstairs then decided to go to bed. I will point out at this time that when we left the hostel at 10.30pm we were still the only 2 in the room. Not any more we barge in turn the light on to find 2 people on the top bunks. OOOOPPPPSSS!!!!! Light out and turn the volume off.

Saturday

I was hungover and tired so i decided to stay in bed. As it turns out the 2 people in our room were French so we had a bit of banter about the up coming Rugby match. They were only stopping over so we got the room to ourselves again. I stayed in all day and Tag went to the beach to top up the tan. BBQ for dinner but only 1 bottle of Korona tonight. By 10pm we were still the only 2 in the room and Tag wanted an early night so she hit the sack and played the DS. Then all hell breaks loose. 10.30pm 2 18ish year old girls check into our room and they were the exact opposite of polite and quiet. All night literally until 5am they were in and out turning the light on bringing people in the room. At one point i lost my rag and told them all the f**k off (sorry mum), which they did but only to make noise downstairs. Best nights sleep ever, NOT!

Sunday

As you could imagine we were both wide awake anyways so Tag was up early i wasn't far behind out and good riddance by 10am. Off to Brissy, having spoken to a few people about Brisbane the word on the street was to stay at a Hostel called Tinbilly's so we rang ahead and they had room. Found it real easy and checked in. Go up to our room only to find it full lol...... so we go back down and they move us to the 3rd floor and a much emptier room, 7 share though. Although there was only 5 of us at this point it did fill up by the end of the day. Neither of us were really sold by this hostel it was way too big and had a bar connected to it plus nowhere to park our car. It just lacked that... Je ne sais qua. So we hunted alternative accommodation with parking, which we managed to find so we drove over to check it out and find out if they had room. They did so we booked it and left our car there, bit cheeky but hey. House-keeping day, loads of washing to do. Also we needed food but again neither of us could be bothered so we went out for dinner, we found a nice Italian in the Queen St Mall. A fairly good nights sleep considering.

---