Brisbane & Noosa 9/1/12-13/1/12

Brisbane was the 2nd largest city which we visited in Australia. We struck lucky with a decent hostel. A good kitchen, clean bathroom/room and air conditioning are all luxuries when you're staying night after night in hostels and amazingly this hostel had them all! I like to cook, even out here, but when there's 20 people hovering over 4 gas hobs in sweltering heat then it gets a bit silly. I think we've managed to cook some decent food out here though and eaten relatively healthy, although my tomato sauce with spaghetti the other night was apparantly 'too tomatoey' - no problem though, I thought it was good so I polished off both plate loads!

The weather in Brisbane was very hot. The Australian heat just seems to stick to you and force you into shade whenever you can. We spent the 1st day having a look around the city and used the public boats which stop regularly up and down the river - a cheap way of seeing the city without too much walking!

We went out for a quick drink that night, which is something we haven't done a lot of in Australia. It's just too expensive and we're saving that side of things for Asia. You're probably looking at $6-7 for a beer which is between 5 and 6 pounds with the exchange rate. There's the odd backpacker deal about, but they're pretty few and far between.

One thing  about our hostel in Brisbane was that every door was locked and you needed an electronic card to open it. Clever thinking really from a security point of view. Apart from when Jenna went to hang our washing on the line in a closed off courtyard which was accessed through one of the locking doors. It was only after 10 minutes or so that I went in search of her, fearing the worst, that I spotted her outside in the court yard waving at me from behind the locked door.

On a side note, as Jenna has mentioned previously, lots of foreigners have no idea of spacial awareness. This is being backed up by the 3 French people crowding over the two computers either side of me as I write this! If they're reading this, give me some room s'il vous plait.

We then travelled up to Noosa which was a decent beach town. It was a bit expensive though and looked to be more geared up for local holidaymakers rather than backpackers. Our hostel was a bit rubbish, but the outdoor area was nice so we spent a lot of time there.

While we were in Noosa we booked a day trip to Australia Zoo, also known as the Steve Irwin zoo. Steve Irwin was the original 'Crocodile Hunter' who unfortunately died a few years back when he was stung by a stingray I think, while filming one of his programmes. The zoo was set up by Steve's parents a number of years ago and he took it on with his family and turned it into what it is today. We had a great time there and enjoyed watching the crocodile show. The show was actually performed by Steve's wife and his two children. We fed the elephants and Jenna posed for a photo with a koala. We also fed kangaroos and saw some giant tortoises. It was cheesey in places with so many 'crikeys' and other Steve Irwin references dottted all over the park, but it was funny all the same!