Brisbane

not sure what to say about Brisbane really. I haven't disliked the place but i could probably have done everything i did in one or at most two days but I was there for three and so it felt like i was constantly wasting time rather than rushing to fit everything in, like i have done for most of the rest of the trip. I dont seem to be able to get the balance right.

on the first day I wandered around the Queen St mall, which is the main pedestrianised shopping area of Brisbane, as well as looking around the Town Hall and related museum, the Modern Art Gallery and the Queensland Art Gallery.

on the second day i went on a tour of the Castlemaine XXXX brewery, which was fairly interesting for a tour that was mostly just looking at a large production line. there was a bit of history and explations of the technicalities of beer making that made it interesting enough. the 4 free beers at the end made it a very worthwhile way to spend a morning, although i did have to go back to the hostel for a bit of a snooze afterwards, a hangover is not a good thing to start with at 1 in the afternoon. Watched the Brisbane rugby league team playing in the evening in the hostel bar

On the third day i took a allday ticket on the various citycat/cityferries that operate on the river, and so saw some of the more external parts of the city, including an artifcial beach area and millenium eye-style big wheel on the riverside, botanical gardens and various park areas.
In the evening i rather aimlessly just wandered around for a few hours and had a strangely enjoyable evening walking with no destination in mind. i saw possums in the park and various other places that i had managed to miss over the previous three days. I also spent a very enjoyable hour watching a group of extremely bigoted and unpleasant Christian preachers getting shouted down and made to look ridiculous by a group of young girls, picking faults in eveyone of their arguments. extremely funny

I left Brisbane yesterday to travel up the coast to a place called Noosa. I was slightly worried on the bus in as the driver explaind it as a small coastal town mostly filled up with the retirees from Brisbane, but its actually quite nice, although i dont think i'd want to spend more than a day here. I wandered onto the beach and watched the surf festival/competition which was going on. and then went ona very pleasant walk through the nearby National Park, which went along the coastline and then back through the forest. I was supposed to be able to see wild Koalas in this forest but unfortunately i didn't see any, although i did see lots of wild turkeys.

i'm still in Noosa as i write this but i'm going to catch the bus to Rainbow Beach in an a hour or so, and it is from there that i will be going to Fraser Island. I think I'm camping on Fraser so 'm not sure when I'm going to get to post again.

I hope eveyone had a good time on saturday, whether at the stag do or in Nottingham

Sorry Mum, I've just realised that I forgot that it was Mothers Day yesterday.oops. Hope you had a good day whatever it was you did. love you and I'll post as soon as i can

Paul