| 21st - Brisbane - Caught the bus south and landed at the Palace backpackers. (met Chris, whom I spent Xmas with in Melbourne!) Drank in the bar downstairs till about 2ish, but I was knackered so I left early. Keith had gone to stay with a mate. 22nd - It rained all day, so I hung around the hostel today. Life is tough! 23rd - Sun was out so I wandered down to the south bank and checked out the lagoon, pagoda and museam. Nice stuff! Went to see gangs of NY later then headed to bed early. 24th - Went to the Queensland University freshers fair - by chance (honest) we stumbled upon it and took in all the freebies and sussed out all the good venues for partying.later. Wondered round the state parliament for a while then headed back to the Palace for some lunch and sleep. Met the girls from Fraser Island later for some beers, then we caught a cab to the regetta hotel in Twong. It was the international students fresher party. So we mingled and chatted witht the pre-dominatly american crowd. I met some girl that I was a flight with from Darwin to Cairns. Danced and drunk till we left there at 2ish and headed back to the hostel bar. Tues - We couldn't get out of bed till 12ish then sat in the cafe for a couple of hrs. Just chilled and did nothing all day but recover! Weds - Sat in the cafe again for a while and then Paul left to catch his bus to Surfers. I got a call from Rich (Fraser Island fame) and he met me there. It was his last nite in Oz, so I persuaded him to come down to Surfers and party hard. So we met Keith and drove down in his saab convertible - unfortunately, I was in the back and it was raining! Arrived into town in the rain, and went for a walk into town to scope out some bars. Back to hostel to wake Keith up, then back into town for some dinner (KFC bucket). Back at the hostel, we all got showered/changed and polished off some beer and wine. Met the girls again at melba's and hung with them for a while upstairs at the disco then went to shooters. Rich and I met a couple of nice Canadians and some lovely baileys. Thurs 27th - Today we just rested and wandered into town, watched some movie at the hostel. The hostel was pretty basic and played exceptionally loud music at 9am to aid the cleaning stuff...we were not impressed, a job for my pliers, me thinks! Went out to shooters, but none of us were drinking, so it was a wild nite. The following day, Paul and I decided to try to catch some sun even though it was cloudy, but it come out for 20 mins. It had been raining for the past week, so we were not that happy. Sat out there for a couple of hrs and boy were we frazzled. Grabbed some dinner at the hostel and then went for some drinks at shooters and at Hoolihans irish bar, where it was cracking fun. Irish dancing and $5 pints of guiness - always a good thing. BUt it turned out to be a quiet & reserved nite! Sat 28th - Wet & Wild Today Paul and I caught the bus to southport for wet and wild. We were both rather tender with our sunburn, so had loads of cream on! Wet & wild was good - some good rides and one scary one where the you almost ride up the sides of the flume on your little dingy in the pitch black...fun times. We left there at 4ish just as a big thunderstorm hit and cleared the park. The river outside the pk was tiny when we arrived, now it was huge and overflowing onto the car park. Back to the hostel and we went to the cinema to see, The Recruit. Good movie with a wee twist. Sunday 1st - Left for Nimbim...bizaare place. Went to the museam in town and had a look around, then tried some cookies that are the local speciality. The whole town is a hippy place where drugs are the rule. The police (if there are any) turn a blind eye. The hostel we stayed at, Granny's, had some free wine, so that made things a little clearer. Monday - A slow start was dominated by my chat over brekkie with this hippie who had come from Dorset to Nimbin 30 yrs ago and was still there. We also discussed in depth the Spanish civil war, I never realised what a serious armed engagement that was... Anyway, cruised into Byron Bay and checked out my hostel (Cape Byron YHA) where Paul and Keith should have been waiting patiently for me. They were! I sat by the pool and slept today. Went out later to the Gt Northern Hostel and the beach hotel bar (my fave) then off to cheeky monkeys - which is a notorious haunt for backpackers, offerring cheap beer and a good atmosphere. It was quite a good nite there. Stayed till closing at 3ish then headed home...early nite! |