Brisbane and the Gold Coast

Hey all!

It's been a while since I have posted as I have been soo busy!! Everything moves soo fast over here especially when you are non stop. This is literally one fo the first times ive been able to sit down and write this.

So we arrived in Brisbane on the 25th of March at an amasing hostel (my favourite so far) named Bunk, it had a TV room, Hot Tub, Bar, Swimming Pool and tons of people we have met along the way. It was a real good laugh. Janhavi joined us for a couple of days which was good fun and quite surreal to see her the other side of the world. Natalie also joined us for her easter break and has now travelled down to sydney with stu. We spent until the 30th visiting Southbank [public beach pool] and going out in Brisbane's Valley [brisbanes top nightlife location]. We then headed down to Surfers Paridise [which is apparently the benidorm of Australia] lots of high rise buildings and miles and miles of stunning beaches where we spent most of our time. We only stayed in Surfers for one night before we headed down to stay with Vicki and Jack [Verity's Cousin] in Burleigh/Miami. It was really good to be out of the hostels and into a home. Vicki and Jack were both very kind to us letting us stay for the time we did, we had a good laugh and really enjoyed ourselves. Within the week we stayed we managed to visit Burliegh Heads [stunning view all along the coast], go to Wet n' Wild [which was sooo much fun, we spent most of our time on a water ride called the Tornado, which threw you and 4 other people down a watery half pipe at high speeds, it was good fun!] and also in Burleigh I took a surf lesson which was amasing. The waves were brilliant and I managed to catch quite a few, on my first attempt to stand up I managed to do it which I thought was a great achievement. We were using big boards and they were really good conditions. I really hope to do more as we go down the coast. However my last day in Burleigh, I hired a board and spend most of my time on the beach with my head in the sand as the waves were very rough as there was a storm brewing.

We are now in Byron Bay, back with Mike, Joe and Emma. The weather here has been rubbish lately but we hear its better in Sydney (which is where we are heading tomorrow). Despite the rain we have managed to go out on bike rides up to the lighthouse which was the most easterly point in Australia and watch dolphins below in the sea which was really good to see.
I'm not sure if you have head back home about the Shark attack on a 16 year old boy in Ballina [15mins south, a couple of headlands away]. This happened yesterday so all the beaches were closed to surfers and swimmers which was quite scary. However we plucked up the courage to go surfing this morning which was good fun. Tipping down with rain but ah wel we were wet anyway.

So tomorrow we head to Surf Camp for one night then to Sydney where the 4 of us will be re-united again. :)

keep checking the photos! We've got tons up now!
Still loving every minute, hope your all enjoying the snow back home.

Alex.