Australia (3) - Brisbane - Manly, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise and Brisbane

Sorry for the delay in getting another story out but we have not stopped for a while. We left Phil Kings at 10pm on the 7th to get the Greyhound overnight bus to Coffs Harbour. During the day we visited Manly beach, a beach within the Sydney area accessible by ferry. A very nice day but it was windy, the views on the ferry were pretty cool as shown above.

So on the 8th we arrived in Coffs Harbour at 0625 and got a taxi to the hostel. Unforetunately, the hostel did not open til 9, in the mean time we did some swimming and body boarding. The hostel were cool and had our room ready by 0930. The rest of the day was spent laying in the sun in tempartures around 28C, tough times. That night a group of us walked up to the bay and to a peak over looking the area and enjoyed the sunset, followed by a BBQ and a lot of goon (cheap boxed wine). Bad hangover...

The next day we headed to the relaxed area of Byron Bay and the seriously chilled hostel, Belonghil Beachouse. The first night we walked up to the lighthouse overlooking the bay for amazing views of the area and had a chilled evening. The next day we did some body boarding (I have added a photo for the ladies above) and sun bathing. The cloud cover was a relief seeing that tempartures were around 28C. The second night we had some chilled drinks, just Sam and I.

On the 12th we arrived at Surfers Paradise, a kind of Las Vegas/tacky resort by the sea. Neon lights and boozing Aussies. A guy we had met in NZ sorted out some Rugby League tickets for us for the game, Gold Coast Titans vs Illawara Dragons. It was a good game to watch, though my knowledge of RL rules is quite limited. I think I will keep to the union code. Sam enjoyed it as it was something Australian. We met up with some other friends from NZ and had a good night out. The next day was spent on the beach, though this was spoilt by torrential rain!!! Its not all smooth sailing down under.

On the 14th we arrived in Brisbane or Brisvegas to the locals. That night we did a pub quiz and came 3rd, not bad. Yesterday we went to Australia Zoo, the same zoo that was run by Steve Irwin. It was brilliant to see where all his hardwork had come together. The interaction the keepers have with the animals is amazing, as can be seen with the tigers above. It was quite sad at the same time to see how effective had been around the world. Last night we did bingo with a difference, Bogan Bingo. So much fun... http://www.boganbingo.com/

Sam sends a big hug to you all...
Today we are going to look around Brisbane and then tommorrow we are heading to Noosa. Fraser Island and Whitsunday tours are booked so keep your eyes open for them.