Brisvegas

To start the day we thought a nice run on the beach would be a good idea (actually I thought this and forced Matt to come with me). We didn't have much time so it only ended up being 20 minutes but it woke me up. After a quick shower and a bowl of muesli we rushed to get in the free shuttle into town so we could get our bus to Brisbane. We ended up being perfectly on time (because of the rushing) and five minutes later were waiting for our bus to Brisbane. We only had to wait around ten minutes before our bus arrived. We'd gone cheap so instead of the luxurious greyhound buses we'd been using we climbed on a Premier bus. I had a little giggle to myself when I noticed that they had PMS written on the side of the bus. How unfortunate. Despite this the driver was very friendly and jolly. This bus was slower though so four hours later we rocked up to Brisbane (often called Brisvegas by the bus drivers for some unknown reason). 

It was gone midday when we made it into the transit centre and asked at the information desk about available accommodation. He directed us to a cheap hostel up the road. It took us just over five minutes to walk up a hill to this orange building where we checked in and left our bags. By this point it was well into lunch time so we set off into town to find some grub. Luckily, we came across a weekly farmers market in the city centre so bought a spinach and feta bread and shared a grilled Brazilian chicken pepper baguette. The bread was pretty tasteless but the Brazilian baguette was delicious. I was disappointed I had to share it but it was a little pricey. There were some other lovely stalls, one selling mushrooms cooked different ways but that was very expensive. 

With our bellies fuller and our pockets emptier we headed over the road and walked down the main shopping street, looking for some kind of book shop, preferably second hand. The centre was pretty lively with lots of people but there weren't any book shops to be seen. We asked in a travel agent and they directed us to West End which was over the river, half an hours walk away. We did have the rest of the afternoon free so we went in search of this area. It wasn't the most interesting of walks after we got over the river but when we reached the West End we realised this was obviously the trendy area. It was full of cute cafes, cool bars and second hand shops, including a second hand book shop! We went in and immediately found a New Zealand guide book that was used but from this year so bought it for $15 (brand new they are $40). We tried to sell our Australia book to the lady who owned the shop but she had a few copies already so wasn't interested. 

When we came out of the book shop it was gone 5pm so we walked back to the hostel along the river. This was a lovely walk and gave me ideas for a running route for the morning. It took us nearly an hour to get back but we went to the supermarket opposite the hostel to buy our food first. We decided to have a full English breakfast for tea so bought sausages and bacon from the meat counter (so much cheaper than getting packets), eggs, English muffins, mushrooms, tomatoes and, as they were on offer, some 'English recipe' Heinz baked beans. I thought we'd be those people who everyone in the hostel kitchen were jealous of but someone else was making the same meal. It was good and yummy but a tad greasy and made me feel a little bloated afterwards. Maybe next time I won't fry everything. 

After tea we chatted to the two guys in our room who both had working visas for Australia and were about to leave Brisbane after staying here a month. One of them had been to New Zealand before Australia and he actually wished he'd had a work visa for there because he loved it so much. He gave us some tips on where to go which just made us even more excited. Only two days away!