13. Brisbane, Australia - Take 2

The bus journey was from 5pm to 8pm so not too long in regards to Australian standards! When we got to Brisbane we had to do the walk from the bus transit centre (Roma Street) to the hostel (Bunk Backpackers) again...we had now done this three times! But least we know where we're going I guess.

Best we could do with the bus motion!

On the way to the hostel we spotted a photo opportunity, involving kangaroos.

 

We got to bunk and checked in. After all these dorms we've been in, we haven't had any really bad experiences at all. Always nice lovely clean rooms, nice people. But this one, thankfully we were only staying for one night, absolutely stunk...of dirty clothes and just not very nice things. Safe to say we got straight our as soon as we could!

 

We headed down to the kitchen and had noodles for tea (20 cents a meal...bargain!!). And these were tasty as usual! And YES I do look pregnant in that picture below but its the terrible posture I had at that moment in time!

 

We then went outside and over to see the gorgeous Brisbane city skyline! :) it was absolutely amazing!

 

We then tentatively went back to the dorm and went to bed! Bare in mind it was 11.30pm, to our pleasure there were girls talking and laughing at full volume which was realllyyyyy appreciated! Thankfully we nodded off pretty much straight away, kind of!

In the morning we got up about 9 and headed for breakfast. Didn't want to come back to the dorm so took our bags and checked out. Plus time was pushing on anyway so wouldn't of had time to go back up!

We had some toast and cornflakes and off we went. On the walk we love to do, for the fourth time, back to Roma Street bus station hehehe.

We were pushing it and got there 10 mins before it was departing, thankfully we checked in pretty much straight away and off we went, on our way to Sunshine Coast!!!

P.S you may be wondering why we have come back to Brisbane. Basically we have a package which includes hop on hop off bus travel from Brisbane to Cairns. Due to Surfer Paradise and Byron Bay being south of Brisbane, this wasn't part of the package. So we had to return to Brisbane to officially begin our pass! Just in case you were interested :)

Off to Sunshine Coast we go! :)

Rach xx

Three weeks to go..... (updates/roadtrip adventures!)

Helllloooo,

As of Wednesday, it will be only three weeks until it all starts!! Now that we are under a month away, planning has increasing picked up pace...

This week has been eventful, we have booked ALL of our accommodation for the Asia portion of the trip (Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore) making us feel so much more relaxed knowing we actually have somewhere to stay. We've balanced price, with safety, location, and room occupancy (dorms). It's nice because we don't have to worry about having to sleep on the beach however it takes away a degree of flexibility but after all the planning we know to a point that 'this period of time will be perfect for this place' and to be honest it'll be one less worry of making sure we use the time we have to the full potential.

  

We also have sorted our accommodation for Bright Angel Lodge which is a stones throw from the Grand Canyon. This is part of a crazy roadtrip we have planned for ourselves which consists of driving from Las Vegas, going to Hoover Dam, on the way to Kingman to drive on Route 66 and visit the Route 66 Museum. From there we are driving east to the Grand Canyon which is where we will be staying for the night, getting some night shots of sunset and sunrise from a couple of the amazing viewpoints. After sunrise we will be heading (a lot of miles =a lot of fun!! :) ) east right over to Monument Valley to have a picnic next to the most calm, panoramic and beautiful scenery there. After this, we will head east up to St George which is where we will be for a few days visiting Zion National Park. (SIDE NOTE: I've got goosebumps, it doesn't seem real!!!!!).



Las Vegas (A), to Hoover Dam (B), staying at Grand Canyon (C), to Monument Valley (D) then St George (E)

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE.   

 

You might be thinking ''oh my, aren't they practising driving on the WRONG side of the road'' ...well we are driving to Area 51, visiting A 'le Inn in Rachel which is near Las Vegas. One reason is because it's near Area 51 and a tiny proportion is because it's my name (spelt wrong of course!). So this will be a big chance for us to practice our USA driving!

So as the countdown approaches days rather than weeks, the excitement is rising, the nervousness (good nerves) are increasing and the stress of packing is starting to arrive!

But we can't wait and updates will be on here whenever you fancy taking a look :)

Thanks,

Rachael :D