Back on the Road

We've now left Sunny Sydney and made our way North to even sunnier Queensland. It's absolutely roasting here. It's great. Over the last week or so that we had in Sydney we didn't get up to much. I spent a horrendous couple of days stuffing letters in envelopes for money. Worst job yet, thought I was going to go mental. Luckily I managed to score a better job off one of James' mates after a drunken discussion in a pub. We had gone to watch the Australia v England game in probably the busiest pub in Sydney. Very disappointed with the Wallabies. Needless to say I was cheering for the for them and, true to form as with just about every team that I back, they failed miserably. Was a good mix of pommes and aussies, so it made for a pretty good atmosphere despite the terrible game and result. A good few beers later I'd managed to land a cash in hand job flyering for about twice the pay I was getting through the agency. Did it for three days. Was good to begin with, but began to regret it after developing a blister the size of a 50p on my foot. Was good to be out and about, and got to see a whole lot of Sydney which was good. Our working days are now done, which is superb. No more work for the next 3/4 months. Woohoo!

On Saturday we went out to celebrate our last night in Sydney before going up the coast. We met up with Russel at the Surry Hills festival, which is basically an excuse to go and drink in one of the parks in Surry Hills.

Was nice weather, so sat about there for a while listening to the live music and drinking warm lager before heading to James' to meet up with him and Sarah for a few drinks at his. He's been trying to start his own aquarium, but hasn't been very successful. He got a quite small tank and put so many fish in it that about half of them jumped out during the night, dying all over his livingroom floor. Not being satisfied with fish, he's now invested in another tank housing two seahorses. So the grand unveiling was on Saturday.

They were pretty impressive, although I'm not convinced he has a clue how to care for them, although I'm happy to proved wrong. We all went out for a Thai meal which was good fun.

My hair is an absolute disgrace at the moment. It's entirely out of control. I've not had it cut since we were in Cusco back at the beginning of May! I got it all shaved off then and have let it grow since then, almost 6 months. It is particularly unusual looking as it is all the same length all over. Without any gel ini it, it looks a bit like an old-fashioned motorbike helmet. Thinking about just letting it grow until we return in February to see just how ridiculous it becomes.

After the meal me Russel and Jenny went down to a pretty scummy Irish pub in the city to watch the highlight of the evening - Scotland thrashing Ukraine in the football. We ended up watching the game in a kind of dingy social club in the bowells of the earth. Sarah and James came down to join up with us and left after about 5 minutes. Not very impressed with the place I don't think. Meanwhile me and Russell had got psyched up for the game and donned the blue and white in support.

Was quite a good atmosphere, probably about 50 or 60 folk in the place. We were making most of the noise after drinking for the entire afternoon in the lead up to the game which kicked off at 12am. Both of us got pretty carried away and did quite a bit of running, screaming and throwing lager about the place in celebration of each of the three goals.

Such a good game. Very proud to be Scottish at the moment. We ended up back at Bondi for about 3.30am needing to be up to take a taxi to the airport at 7am. I was a total wreck. I'm never drinking the night before we have to fly again. Felt like death the whole day. I did however battle on, and we managed to do some sightseeing round Brisbane when we arrived.

Brisbane's ok. It seems a nice enough place but we've been totally spoiled by Sydney. You can't help comparing them, and Brisbane just doesn't cut it. We wandered down through the botanics and along the river Brisbane which was nice, but other than that, and a massive Casino in the centre - which we weren't aloud into because we were wearing flip flops - there didn't seem to be a lot to see. It does seem to be a bit more "Australian" than Sydney, by which I mean Sydney is really cosmopolitan and there are so many tourists and different nationalities, whereas in Brisbane there are a lot less tourists and more Australians, and even some Aborigines.

We used Brisbane as a base for a trip to Australia zoo on our second day. It was about 1 1/2 hours North by train and bus. I thought Jenny might need some reigns put on her she was so excited.

Australia zoo is Steve Irwin's zoo, and to be fair it is probably the best zoo I've ever been to. As you would expect it's really hands-on, and there are loads of shows going on throughout the day. The centrepiece to the zoo is a ridiculous 5,000 seater stadium, like a football ground, called the "crocoseum". They had various birds swooping around the place literally feet above your head as we sat there which was pretty amazing. Then they brought out the crocodile and made it jump out the water and attack from the water for bits of steak.

Was really impressive. The water is clear so you can see it stalk up to the edge then lie perfectly still before striking. All very entertaining.

They also had large areas where kangaroos and wallabies were roaming free and you could go up and feed them, or torment them. I think they are now my favourite animals.

They just lie about on their backs all day, eating and scratching themselves. We saw a couple of children get a bit to close to one of them lying down. The stupid mother was encouraging them to crouch down right beside it and they were getting a bit rough, grabbing at its face. Naturally the kangaroo took offence to this, turned and took a proper swing at the boy, trying to punch him in the face! Funniest thing I've seen in a long while. Luckily he was wearing a cap, so he only took a smack on the peak.

The elephants were a highlight also. One of the keepers was throwing a football at one of them and it was smacking it in the air with it's tail. It enjoyed rolling the ball under its front foot, before popping it like a balloon. The keepers then had the elephants come right up to the barrier so that you could feed them various fruit and veg.

Jenny went mental for this and kept re-queueing up to do it after a go. I think she managed 4 or 5 turns, and was grabbing two bits of fruit on her last few goes......probably meaning that some poor child didn't get a go. But she had a great time. It was pretty amazing, as you got a real sense of how massive an animal they are when their towering over you and sniffing about at you with their trunk. One tiny little boy was clearly terrified and wouldn't let go of the fruit, kept turning away and trying to back away from the elephant, until his Dad grabbed him and thrust him towards it. I've never seen a look of horror nor heard a scream like it. Probably scarred for life.

They also had tiger cubs which were very cute, and we went to watch a tiger show which was pretty spectacular as well. They had them jumping up on the handlers and climbing up posts to get their food. All in all the place was great and we both really enjoyed it.

Jenny had a tanrum when we had to leave and cried all the way home because she didn't want to leave.

Yesterday we left Brisbane on a 5 hour bus North to Hervey bay. The main reason we're here is as a base to get across to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It's supposed to be amazing. It's got spectacular beaches and rainforest to explore. The only way to get about the island is either to go on an organised tour on a coach, or to hire a 4x4. We've decided to splash out a bit and go on a road trip adventure by hiring the 4x4 and camping gear. So we set off tomorrow for a couple of nights in the bush over on the island which should be fun.