Sunshine and Gold Coast! (sorry only a few pics!)

Sorry this is the first post for a while, been a bit crazy staying with family etc! Photos coming up are off a lovely little seaside town called Redcliffe..shame it rained a bit while we were there! Stayed with my Aunt Wendy and Uncle Lloyd which was great as Lloyd took us to a lot of places. He is also an Indigenous Artist so we went to a few galleries and some of the work is just stunning, very symbolic. He also took us to Toowoomba which is about an hour or so from where they live and wow the views are just stunning! The single mountain photo is near a place called Montville and my Dad actually climbed the bloody thing when he was a Scout! The odd plants are actually pineapples if you can tell! The views again were stunning as you can see and its all volcanic rock, prehistoric. The towns in that area are really quaint and there are some really quirky shops, very...hippy! There will definitely be some more pictures of the beach soon as we are on the Gold Coast!

Australia vs New Zealand Cricket!!!!!

Of all the bloody days for it to rain!! We were going to watch the deciding test game for Australia vs New Zealand at the "Gabba" which is the main stadium here in Brisbane. However it rained all the night before and was still raining at 1.15 when it was supposed to start! However we waited and waited....the rain had to stop an hour before play so the ground wouldn't be as wet so at 5.30pm they posted a message saying that the game would go ahead at 6.15 and we were no where near ready because we thought it would be abandoned and a draw declared! All about the money basically! Had the BEST time ever and am now an avid cricket fan though not sure who I'm going to be supporting when its an England vs Australia match....Ozzies are much better looking though :P chants of "you're a wanker" when the officials confiscated blow up balls being thrown around in the crowd was so so funny...mainly coming from the alcohol side of the stadium! The picture of me and the two guys is me with the cricket team (i wish!!) Tried to get some pictures but you really have to squint to see the players!! After Australia finished batting and started bowling we got a Kiwi out on the second ball....soooo awesome!!! Then just after the Kiwi's reached a 100 it just chucked it down and unfortunately the match was abandoned and the Test declared a draw to the booing of the crowd (Australia would have lost anyways we worked out!) Wicked evening out and so worth every penny!

Views of Brisbane and Roma Street Parkland

Since we haven't been doing anything major here in Brisbane, I've been saving the photos so to do it all at once! The picture of the views of Brisbane are from Mt Coot-ha which is close to where we are staying and on a good day you can see for miles! The beach type pictures is a place in Brisbane called Sceanic Beach and its just brilliant. You can be lying on the sand and watching the city on the other side of the river! They have life guards and everything, just a massive big swimming pool really!
Roma Street Parkland is the largest inner city sup tropical gardens in the world. Was a bit of a shame when we went because they had had a storm which brought down a lot of trees and because of the drought Queensland is experiencing many of the flowers were looking a little bit worse for wear. However the tropical Fern Gully was beautiful, and the amount of species of plants they have there is incredible. The red bottle shaped plants are called Red Flower Ginger and just looked so unusual. Later found out that it can be used in medicine! Going to the Sunshine Coast direction next week so cue the pictures of golden sands and crystal clear water!

Beach Day!

Ok, definitely my bad since I forgot the camera so you will all just have to imagine how beautiful the beaches were! Raquel and Ed took us up the Sunshine Coast today to a beach called Coolum which is a quieter and cheaper version of Noosa which is a little bit further north. However when we got there there were hardly any people in the water and the reason for that were all the bluebottles that had been washed up on the beach. For you guys who dont know, these are little jellyfish which give you a nasty sting which apparently bloody hurts! There were people swimming there but thats just stupid...instead we headed up to Noosa Heads and just WOW! There was a surf carnival so it was a little bit busy but just looking at the water it was stunning. It was so warm you didn't even shiver when first putting your feet in! There was some brilliantly fun waves which we were diving under and getting knocked over by, so funny! Went for a really nice ice cream afterwards which topped off a really great day, don't worry the camera will not be forgotten again!

Brisbane!!!

Well we're in Brisbane now, 30 degree heat and beautiful! Stayed the first night in a great little hostel which is the picture of the Old Queenslander house and the night picture is the view from our room. Had seperate dorms but our own balconys and were apparently the best rooms in the place! We got there quite late from Sydney so there wasn't really much time to do anything apart from buy food and chill out! Yesterday we walked into the city to meet my cousin Raquel who took us out for a great breakfast, definitely needed it! Staying with her for a while now, her house is in a lovely area and can't wait to start exploring around the Gold and Sunshine Coast. Yesterday was a day of just looking around Brisbane, we took the City Cat which is like a water taxi up the river and back again getting off at a stop called South Bank. They have actually built a beach there, very strange seeing people lead on towels on sand in the middle of the city! Also went to the Botanical Gardens where they have mangroves and just a beautiful selection of plants and walks you can do...hope you like the pictures...lots more to come!

Katoomba and the Blue Mountains

Been in Katoomba two days now and staying at a really nice little place in a tent with an amazing view! Weather is still really hot but we're not burning which is great! First day we were here we went to a place called Echo Point where you can see the rock formation "The Three Sisters" and the best views in the world. you can see why they are called the Blue Mountains from the blue haze. Today has been a big day for walking! Started off at 8am and started our walk at Sceanic World where you can get a cable car across the mountains if you want! We did a trail to Katoomba Falls first but because there hasn't been much rain there wasn't as much water, still stunning how the water goes down the mountain. From there we took a trail called the Furber Steps all through the rainforest and down the mountain. I've posted a picture of one of the sets of steps so you can see how steep they were! Once we got to the bottom we took the Sceanic Railway back to the top, the steepest gradient being 52 degrees....I was feeling pretty queasy but Kyel was loving it! The picture of the kookaburra and the sunset is from our tent, you can hear them laughing all the time, so funny! We're leaving here tomorrow and heading on up to Brisbane via Newcastle and Byron Bay so we'll try and upload more pics as we go, hope you're enjoying them so far! lots of love C&K xxx