where is georgie?

Last weekend the two Sams and I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, about 40 mins bus ride from the Brisbane Central Business District.

We opted for it over the Steve Irwin zoo as its cheaper to get entry and you get to feed kangaroos and hold a koala there so we headed over there. It was a great afternoon walking around and seeing all the koalas (the grooms, brides and retired bears) and fed the kangaroos there. There were also various farm animals and reptiles but we werent so bothered about them :P

Bit disappointed as the photo of me holding the koala I was holding was LESS than flattering and so I will definitely go back at some point to get another one hehe! plus, they were cute and Orion, the boy koala we held, stretched up his head for a hug when I held him! Aw.

Since I didn't include any pics with my post about my brief stays in Byron Bay and Surfer's Paradise, here are some randoms:


Byron Bay


Byron beach



Our very hippy hostel!!



View of Byron



View as we hiked to lighthouse



We finally made it to the lighthouse!!




Surfer's Paradise


The beach and its big shadow from the scrapers!



Beach and city



Nice and sunny

Not much to report from Brisbane as yet. We are still on the job hunt and I have now joined a temp agency for legal secretary work which I hope will provide me with a month of something.. anything!! Really need some money.

It was my birthday on the 15th, my first away from home, which was a bit weird but good in the end! It didn't really feel much like my birthday, just a day where everyone was supernice to me lol. We woke up at 8am after a terrible night's sleep (very noisy neighbours in the next dorm making a whole lot of noise at 3.30am) and got ready for our RSA course (RSA = Responsible Service of Alcohol). Here in Australia, in each state, you need to undertake training for your RSA if you want to work anywhere that sells alcohol. I've never worked in a bar so I was kind of hoping they'd go through some bar stuff but the whole 4 hrs was talking about the legislation (ok, I get it, this is important) and otherwise just reiterating that you cannot serve alcohol to minors or those already intoxicated. Four. Hours. Lord.

But anyway. It was an easy course in the end and we got our certificates. Sam and I would like to go to the outback (4-6hrs inland) to work in a pub so we did the course. It's only when I checked my phone later I had amessage from the temping agency, which is typical. I didn't really want to come all the way out here and do the same job I did back home but a job is a job and I need one to keep going. We'll see I end up doing (hopefully a bit of both!)

After our course we went to Nandos which, by the way, isn't a patch on the UK version :( It's in a food court and not a restuarant which was rubbish, the drinks are bottled and not refillable and its soooo expensive. £1.40 for a little tub of perinaise whereas its 50p back home. Just a small example of the expensiveness that is Australia! When Sam, Sam and I got back to our hostel, I nipped out of the room for a moment and came back to a cake with genuine 2 and 5 candles on it which has gone down v nicely! We napped for a while after the awful night's sleep and nearly didn't get up again to meet our friends for some birthday festivities later but I'm glad we didn't sleep my birthday away. We took a walk across town to the hostel they were staying in and sat on the roof where most of them drunk 'goon' (boxed wine) while I stuck to Lift (lemon Fanta) and played card games and listened to music. Nice and chilled out, the way I like it :)

Most of our friends have left today to move up the coast which is sad as we have met a great bunch of people and will miss hanging out with them on our travels but I'm sure that a meet up will be on the cards when we get home next year :)

Can't wait to hopefully get some work and earn some money so we can crack on with the rest of the coast. Brisbane is ok, and nice cos it reminds us of london, but even London gets old and is massively expensive (there is Louis Vitton and Chanel and a Tiffanys down the road from the hostel) so we are looking forward to moving on to somewhere different already.

Oops, not been very good at updating! But in my defense, in Sydney we had 24 hour Macdonalds wifi to steal but in the following places since then (Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise and now Brisbane) we have to pay. PAY?! I cannot believe that hostels don't do free wifi by now. But I suppose they need to make (more) money somehow.

Currently on $4 an hour net and have about 5 minutes left so brief update before I get more net and more time to update properly:

Byron Bay - went to Byron after Sydney, 12hr drive from Sydney to there. Didn't 'get' it at first, v small town, gorgeous beach etc. Did a day at the beach which was great - actually, more like a morning cos the sun went in a bit - and then the next day a MAMMOTH trek up to the lighthouse at the most easterly point (possibly of Australia? i forget...) and the views were amazing. That's when I realised why people love Byron. Small, quiet but nice. Hostel we stayed at was The Arts Factory - v hippy! Can't decide if we really liked it or not but an experience.

Surfer's Paradise - it is basically what I imagine Miami is like. We even drove through a place CALLED Miami as we got there! The sky scrapers are right on the beach so the shadows made it a bit chilly and the waves were really rough and current was strong so not as enjoyable to get in the water. We had AWESOME accomodation here though for $22 a night. Six of us went and we boked together asking to be in the same dorm. They couldn't fit us in so they got us 2 family room swhich share a kitchen and bathroom - BLISS! Cooked our first cheap meals there ($2 for baked potato and some coleslaw - yum!) and could watch wahtever TV we liked! Finally, we are in the country of home and away and neighbours and actually get to WATCH it! V sad when we left this morning. Also, the logo for our 'hostel' called The Sleeping Inn, is a cartoon man with an erection. "Get excited about where you sleep" - hysterical! google the website.

And now we are in Brisbane. Home of the Veronicas. So already plus points. It's not got a beach but feel at home-ish here since it's like London. Our friends already hate it due to no beach. Stopped in somebackpacker places for ideas on the job front on our way back to the hostel but apparently work is tough at the moment and you have to really work to find ANYTHING. Bit demotivating. Fruitpicking season also doesnt start for 2 weeks. Bad times.

Had a bad day today, but just skyped the parents so feeling a tad better. Wish me luck on the job front!!

On Sunday we went to the Sydney Sky Tower and had a meal in the restaurant at the top, that revolves!! Very bizzarre and cool, the views from the restaurant were AMAZING but I just couldn't get a good photo or video of them. Humph. I wish you could take pictures with your eyes... there are some sights that just don't look the same through a lense.

And so with that, our OzIntro week is over :( I was really aprehensive at first, as a rare drinker, I was worried we'd be in a group with a load of fresh uni-leavers that had a high capacity for alcohol and just wanted to get drunk all the time but we have been in such a great group of people who are all really friendly and we've made some great mates :) Will also miss our 'leader' Benny, who has been awesome. Will be back in Sydney for our Aussie xmas and new years so will hopefully reunite with some of our buds and take the festive ozparty bus <3

Pretty much all of us have stayed in the hostel and spent yesterday going over bookings and stuff for our trips that we have booked and getting work help etc. Last night, Sam & Sam, Gregg, Joe, Brian, Katie, Michael and I all went to see Prince of Persia at the local cinema. It was terrible. Well not terrible but not great. Jake Gyllenhaal was the only redeeming quality. I dropped off to sleep a total of 14 times...

Today we popped into Sydney for a wander around before heading back to the offices for more job looking etc. Pretty boring day.

Tomorrow most of our group are getting the Greyhound Bus together up to Byron Bay which should be a chore but better travelling with a big group for our first leg, especially as it is such a long one (12hrs and 15mins... ouchie). We are booked into the Arts Factory in Byron and are there fore 3 days initially. Maybe we'll stay if there is work but likely to move onto Brisbane after that. Looks like there is fruitpicking work at places 3 hrs or so from Brissy so we'll get up there and see what we can get our hands on.

Panicking about jobs a bit now... really want to do the picking to get our visa but I'm unfit and worried no one will hire me haha! oh well, we'll see what happens...

Should be net at Arts Factory to post updates so hopefully update soon :)