After travelling from Noosa to Rainbow beach, Julie and I got our belongings all ready for our three day, two nights Fraser Island tour, that we are going on tomorrow!
It was crazy trying to fit all of our things for three days into our tiny backpacks so in the end Julie and I admitted defeat and we are taking two! Other than that (our strenuous decision making and packing) today has been completely uneventful – only the weather decided to change and that was for the worse so let’s hope it improves dramatically over night!
I won’t be able to post blogs while on the island so stay tuned and on Saturday I’ll post a whole blog dedication to Fraser Island and our adventures there! Until then… Good night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!

This morning Julie was up so so early, obviously, as it’s her birthday today! The morning started off with her opening her cards and presents, including the secret one from me, and then breakfast and we were off to the beach as Julie had a surf lesson booked. She was so so fab, despite the fact that the waves actually took her out quite a few times, she stood up nearly every single time she caught the waves and got better every time. So proud of my little birthday girl, check back on this blog tomorrow and I’ll add some pictures from my camera, of Juliet surfing, on to it!
After some hard core surfing from Juliet (and some hard core photo taking and sunbathing from me) we headed back to the hostel to get the shuttle to main beach (but mostly because Juliet couldn’t carry the surf board any longer!)
From Main Beach all the way to Sunshine beach there is a two hour nature trail and hike – by now you’ll know that Julie and I are obsessed with these walks, and this one DID NOT let us down!
Every single nook and cranny and opening in the trees gave way to the most beautiful and picturesque views of the beaches, cliffs and the wide open sea… We even passed a nudist beach while on the walk!

Once we’d finally made it back to the hostel we got ready for a celebration dinner for Julie’s birthday at the Coconut Grove restaurant. It was so delicious and Juliet and I probably ate about ten times our body weight in food, there was so much of it and it was all delicious. Now we’re back at the hostel and Juliet’s birthday is coming to an end, but not before some skype chats and a movie night – her choice!
Our time in Noosa is also nearly coming to an end with us leaving tomorrow morning, it’s been a truly beautiful and amazing place – so chilled, friendly, sunny and happy – however we are very excited for the next part of our travels and all the adventures we’ve got in store!

stay tuned.

This morning Julie and I got on the hour long ‘Aussie Zoo’ bus, to Australia zoo. We knew that the zoo was created by Steve Irwin’s (aka the crocodile hunter) dad and then carried on and renamed by himself, and we knew that it is situated on ‘Steve Irwin Way’ a highway named after the crocodile hunter, but we didn’t realised the zoo is basically a tribute to all the work that he did, both as an entertainer and a wildlife conserver. Every walkway, shop, restaurant, animal disclosure or even toilet has a picture of him or him and his children. There is a wall of photos, a timeline of his life from the start of the crocodile hunter to the moment of his death. There are films being played everywhere and every animal enclosure has a special ‘Steve’s did you know fact’ on it. There’s even carvings and statues around the zoo.

After having a walk around the crocodile pools and the koala area, Julie and I went to the ‘Crocarium’ to watch Bindi’s (Steve’s daughter) jungle show and then the families Animal Warriors show! Bindi is now like Australia’s version of Hannah Montana, singing about the animals of the jungle and also her dad, with over the top dance moves and her jungle girls as backup dancers, but it was great fun for the kids and they were all dancing along with her and she plays her role really well. She also is still at school as she’s fifteen so she does this in her spare time in the school holidays!

Then the warrior show started… And it was SO SO SO fab! At first the zoo entertainers came on, getting everyone excited and ready to see some animals and before we knew it there were Mccaws and all different birds whizzing and zooming over our heads as their trainers were in the audience so they flew from one trainer to anther! Then a man came on with a new bird that has never been in a show before, it was huge and although I don’t remember the name I remember it was ‘the yellow tailed…’ something. Anyways this bird has been trained to fly to a specific object and in this case it was a five dollar note. The trainer picked a random lady from the audience, got her to find a five dollar note, roll it up and hold it out. (She was atleast fifteen rows back in the audience) Suddenly the bird flew to her, landing right on her hand where the money was, taking it and flying back to the trainer. The trainer joked about keeping the money but soon the bird had flown back to the lady, with the money and put it right back on her outstretched hand!
Next it was the reptiles and although we couldn’t see the snakes and lizards that they were holding that clearly, it was easy to see that they were massive!

Then, with a massive round of applause, Terri (Steve’s wife), Bindi and Robert (Steve’s kids) all came into the spotlight to do the crocodile part of the show! It was such a delight to have the actual Irwin family showing off the crocs and feeding them and Julie and I feel so lucky we got to see this as obviously it’s Easter Monday but normally the kids would be in school! Robert (who is about 11 and literally a mini version of Steve) was first up and they joked about how he was feeding the biggest croc in the zoo, and along to some terrifying music, a teeeenytiny croc swam out – but it was still so aggressive and Robert was very brave to get that close! Then the real big croc came out, she’s the biggest crocodile they have in the zoo at about 8 feet and from up in the stands I was even scared!

Each of the Irwin family took it in turns to feed the massive crocodile, including little Robert! And when it was Bindis turn, she, with the help of her mum, demonstrated how the crocs can jump up vertically in order to reach food!

The last exciting moment of the show was when Steve’s brother in law, Toby, got in the water with the crocodile! And he also demonstrated with a caucus on a rope, how strong the crocodiles are as it basically pulled him in the water every time! The whole way through the show everyone was making comments about Steve, what he’d taught them, what he’d have done and how he would have teased them all, it was a lovely sentiment and it’s quite moving that they include him in everything they do in the zoo!

It was a lovely day with brilliant weather at an absolutely incredible zoo, and I even managed to lose Juliet for a few minutes to pop into the shop and get her a present for her birthday tomorrow – but shhh don’t tell her!

Today we woke up early and headed straight for main beach, as the name suggests, this is the main beach in Noosa. It was so lovely with calm waters, right next to a national park with expensive modern houses built up in the hills looking over the bay. Along the beach there is beach bars and restaurants heaving with people, and although this is probably because it Easter weekend, I can imagine them being busy a lot of the time.
Julie and I spent the whole day just chilling, relaxing and soaking up the sun. I read an entire book and we only left our spots on the beach to cool off in the sea or to fill up our water bottles. The sky was clear blue and right next to us a man built the most incredible sandcastle!

It was such a relaxing day.
After an exhausting day doing nothing and a lovely drink in one of the beach bars, we headed back to the hostel.

In our hostel we’re sharing a room with two German girls and their friend is staying next door. We haven’t really had a chance to speak to them much as they don’t speak good English and none of us spend much time in the room (we were in bed before they got in and we were at the beach before they woke up). However when we got back to the hostel today, the three of them came into the room saying they needed to talk. They said that they had left their car keys in the room and they were now gone. Julie and I immediately jumped up offering to help look for them and one of the girls said “we know all about thieves”. Realising we were being accused of taking the keys, Julie and I immediately told them we would never dream of stealing from them and said that they could search all of our stuff. We’re very conscious of our belongings, being in shared dorms,
so mine and Julie’s stuff is locked away in our bags at all times, however the stuff belonging to these girls is everywhere, no wonder she’s lost her keys. Anyways, we opened our bags for them and let them have a rummage before they realised ofcourse we haven’t stolen their keys. Julie and I then proceeded to move all of our stuff out of the room so they they could have a proper look under the beds etc.. The keys were no where to be seen and the girls (no with a complete change of heart towards us) thanked us for being so helpful and declared that the keys couldn’t be in the room… they were no where to be seen.
After turning down our offer to help them search the beach, where they’d been the night before, for the keys, the girls left the room and Julie and I were gob smacked. We’d be so stressed if we’d lost something a valuable as car keys but they didn’t even seem to care that much, just accused us and happily searched our belongings. Anyways the girls now smile at us and are much more friendly towards us, trying to speak more English and introducing us to their friends, so I guess some good came out of the car key interrogation!

Sucks for them though because Julie and I have a whole bundle of Easter eggs which we will eat while watching a film, instead of sharing them with our room mates. Hehe. (Although we wouldn’t have shared them anyways)

Why all of mine and Julie’s mornings start before 6am I do not know, we much be crazy as we actually chose these bus times, but this morning we were up at 5.45am ready to check out of our hostel and board the bus to Noosa. After about an hour we were driving parallel to the sea and white long beaches and we knew we were close.
Noosa is a beautiful town, quite busy but at the same time unbelievably chilled with a friendly atmosphere. We were met at the bus stop by a pink van with dolphins written along the side, ready to take us to our hostel: “the dolphin beach house”. We were extremely excited to be in Noosa, by the beach and even more excited when we arrived at our hostel to discover it is all pink!

Its such a lovely hostel and you can tell it’s family owned by the care that has gone into every aspect. With pink walls and bright turquoise doors with pink swirls, the whole hostel looks friendly and inviting. Then our rooms, obviously the beds are pink, but not only that, the dorms are immaculately clean and smell so nice! Every two rooms also has their own kitchen, living area, bathroom and outside terrace area. AND the hostel had free wifi which is such a bonus! We are a two minute walk from sunshine beach and a five minute drive from main beach which is home to the Noosa surfers. Even though we’ve only been here half a day, I already absolutely love it and it’s such a lovely place to spend Julie’s birthday on Tuesday! (We’ve already picked out and booked a restaurant hehe)
After a massive food shop, including buying each other surprise Easter eggs for Easter Sunday tomorrow, Julie and I made a massive and extremely delicious stir fry for dinner (we really are chefs in the making).

So far so good in Noosa! I’m already looking forward to tomorrow…

Today we went to Brisbane’s famous city beach, also known as the street beach and the lagoon! As it’s Good Friday today and it was a beautifully clear day, everyone seemed to have the same idea as us, taking the city hopper free ferry over to South Banks, to enjoy a day on the beach (well kindof). Thankfully Julie and I got up early this morning and so when we arrived at South Bank pier one, the beach was busy with kids running around and parents sunbathing but not as busy as it would be later, and so we bagged a great sunbathing spot.
The street beach is a man made beach, right by the river in Southbank. It is basically a mini beach as it has a small beach area, obviously with sand, and then a water area but the difference is, the water at the street beach is clear, without waves or tides and so is safe for little children to play to their hearts contents.
Even though it was heaving with people and the view across the river is sky scrapers, the lagoon looked so pretty in the sun!
And I didn’t know it was possible for sky scrapers to look nice but they were glowing too!

City beach seems like the place to be on Easter weekend with families after families after families all with extended families arriving to enjoy the sun and the clear water! Soon it became so busy that kids were literally running over Julie and I, who we’re lying in the sand, in order to get to their parents or the water and every time we brushed all the sand off of us, we were covered again by a kid throwing sand or running right next to our heads. By the afternoon our relaxing day on the beach wasn’t so relaxing anymore, but we’d had enough sun anyways so we walked across the bridge and saw the view of Brisbane down the river, before heading back to the hostel.

This morning I sorted through my backpack to find clothes I haven’t worn yet and won’t wear, clothes I don’t need anymore and things I’ve bought that I need to send home and took them all to the post office, squeezed them into one box and sent them home via sea. Just a tip, sea mail is a WHOLE lot cheaper than air mail, and even though it takes 60 to 90 days, I’ve saved myself about $150.
This afternoons exploration took us to Kangaroo point, and after hopping on to the city hopper a free ferry that travels down Brisbane’s central river, we arrived there. Julie and I were a little but mislead as we thought that kangaroo point would be a point, maybe a park or a view point where we could sit and have a picnic, look over the city and enjoy the view. However kangaroo point is an area of Brisbane, including houses, shops, some river activities and a small patch of park land. Ofcourse Julie and I set down on the small square of grass and sunbathed for a few hours before finding a cute little coffee shop to play cards in.
This took almost all afternoon and meant that when we boarded the city hopper to get back to our section of town, we were able to watch the sunset from the back of the ferry.
After dinner we went on an exploration to find cheap ice cream and some how realised that the movie we both wanted to see was out, now! Googling the movie times showed us we had five minutes to get to the cinema before it started so we power walked there, but then I realised id already taken out my contact lenses and didn’t have my glasses, so we ran back to the hostel and back to the cinema, begging for a student ticket even though we didn’t have student cards and sat down just as the film was about to begin.
The film was ‘The Other Woman’ about a lady who finds out her boyfriend is married but then, very unintentionally, becomes best friends with the wife, and then they find out he’s cheating on both of them, so they recruit the new girlfriend to their girl gang and all plot to get back on the husband/boyfriend etc, it’s such a feel good, funny, girlie film!
Deciding to watch the film was a great decision as it was truly HILARIOUS and a perfect yet bizarre end to a very bizarre day.

Yesterday I forgot to blog about the coolest smoothie bar ever! It’s called Kiss The Berry and it’s famous for it’s Acai Bowls. Acai Bowls are a blend of Acai berries (obviously) and then lots of other fruits making a smoothie consistency and then topped with home made granola, locally sourced honey and other toppings depending on which bowl you chose!

I had the KBT original bowl which was a blend of Acai berries, banana, strawberry sand apple juice, and then it was topped with homemade granola, banana, strawberries, chai seeds and locally sourced honey… and it was DELICIOUS!

If anyone’s ever in Brisbane, you have to find this shop!

This morning Julie and I went to finish some shopping and I bought the most Australian shoes ever, that Australians don’t even seem to wear except in their houses: UGGS! (I’m very happy with my purchase as obviously they’re so much cheaper here than in England yipppeee)

After lunch Juliet and I caught the bus to Mount Coot Tha, home of an amazing view point and the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. The botanical gardens here are truly beautiful and we were immediately struck by the gorgeous smell of fresh flowers and trees, all glowing under the bright blue sky!
We first went up to the view point which is directly infront of a clearing in the trees, showing the sky line of Brisbane city centre.

Then after lazing around on the wedding lawns, reading our books and listening to music we went to explore the gardens a little bit more, crossing rivers and passing through gardens
and found ourselves in a quaint and perfectly pruned Japanese garden.

To get to the Botanical gardens we had got the bus, and when it arrived Juliet realised she didn’t have any cash and so I paid for both our bus tickets, this meant that we both had no cash for the journey home. After we’d finished in the botanical gardens we headed to the garden restaurant in hope of finding an ATM but the restaurant was closed… And so was everything else in that area. Stumped for what to do, we contemplated walking until we found somewhere but I spotted a friendly looking elderly couple so went to them for advice, asking if they knew of an ATM anywhere close or anything we could do. After contemplating trying to get us onto the bus for free and then offering us money only to realise they had no cash either, the couple gave us a lift to a shopping centre close by, that they knew had an ATM and also a bus stop with busses going directly into the city centre. We are such idiots not making sure we both had cash with us but we’re also so lucky to have bumped into the sweetest couple who were kind enough to help us out!
At the next bus stop, when we got on the bus the driver said we could pay when we got off, and when we arrived at our stop he waved us off telling us not to worry, so that was the next kind person we met this afternoon! Our luck seems to be improving!
After a very needed food shop (we’re down to our last piece of lettuce) Julie and I have had an exhausting, if not stressful, afternoon and are ready for the burgers we’ve bought for ourselves for dinner.

This morning we got on our bus at 6.45am (a painfully early start) as planned but instead of getting off at Surfers Paradise, we went straight through to Brisbane. This is because after hearing lots of not great things about surfers paradise and stories of people who regret going, we decided that it might be a let down after Byron and we’d rather have that one extra night in Brisbane to explore the city a little bit more. And we’re so glad that we made that decision!
On arriving in Brisbane we found a cute little chocolatier (of course we did) and made a plan for the next few days. Despite people saying there’s not much to do in Brisbane, Julie and I had trouble squeezing everything in! However after googling and looking up info in the guide book we now have a plan.
This afternoon we decided to go shopping as Brisbane has been named the shopping central of Australia – it just had to be done! Considering Julie and I are the worlds two worst shoppers, her with a shopping problem (she buys everything) and me also with a shopping problem (I buy nothing) it actually turned into a very successful shop with us buying nearly everything on our lists!
We also found the cutest tea shop, filled with every tea imaginable, blends, herbals, vanillas, teapots, decanters and much much more!

After a couple of weeks of home cooking budget meals in hostel kitchens, Julie and I were in a luxurious mood after shopping and so decided to treat ourselves to dinner. We went back to the hostel and dressed as nice as we could, for the backpackers we are, and went to a restaurant called ‘Healthy Burgers’ and both had a very unhealthy burger with all the toppings, bacon, avo, salad, you name it!
Then in true Julie and Steph fashion, we came back to the hostel dorm, and watched a film in our bunks. We can say it’s because we want to get a good sleep ready for the bar crawl tomorrow, but actually we are extremely exhausted after a busy day travelling, shopping and exploring!