Brisbane

  
Will upload pics separately as its not letting me again 😡
Arrived in Brisbane about 2.30pm on Monday, luckily I met a German girl on the coach who was staying at the same hostel as me, so we asked for directions at the bus stop and a 10 minute walk later we arrived at X base hostel central Brisbane. 
The hostel looked more like a massive hotel, 5 floors with nearly 400 rooms, some ranging from 1bed doors to 10! 
A few weeks ago in Sydney I nipped into the greyhound bus company shop and booked this hostel through them as the guy mentioned that he could get it cheaper for me, and he was right he managed to book me in this hostel for 3 nights for $19 a night, so about £8.50… Cheap as chips!! 
After checking in and receiving my room key, I now noticed why it was so cheap… They had placed me in a 10 bed mixed room… So from going from a 4 bed female dorm to a 4 bed mixed to a 6 bed mixed and now a 10… This was a bit of a shock to the system. The only bed left in the dorm was the bed right next to the door… And yes it was a top bunk… The bunk that everyone hates…. Urgh. No one in the room hardly spoke to me and didn’t seem friendly at all, unlike my other hostels where everyone has been welcoming. Luckily one guy Morgan introduced himself, as he was a new arrival too and had only just checked in. After chatting for a while, we headed to the bar downstairs for a welcome talk and a free drink, as to which a guy told us about Brisbane and things to do etc, which was very helpful. Later that evening me and Morgan grabbed a burrito in the bar and a drink for $9.. (£4.50) Bargin then headed round the city for a walk and to see it at night. Managed to get some awesome pictures! I nearly fell asleep in the tv room later on, to then find out that it was only 9pm, so I headed to bed! Haha. 
I hardly had any sleep all night as people were coming and going in and out of the room and leaving the door open… I nearly had a pop… Considering my bags in there open to the passers by, luckily my valuables are locked away in a cupboard I bought a lock for… About 11pm we had a crowd load of people come into our room for a drink, who then started to talk loudly, ready for a night out on the town. So I layed in bed wide eyed until they went out about midnight… I tried to keep my cool as I needed to remember I’m in a larger room. My bed squeaked with every movement I made which woke me up. Then at 3.30/4am some people came back to the room pissed out of their faces… Which woke me up again. Then began talking very loudly and laughing waking everyone up, Morgan piped up and told them to take it outside, thankfully they did as I had nearly had enough. So at 8.30am when I woke up, I made as much noise as possible getting my things out of my bag and locker.. See how they bloody liked it. Pricks…. Note to self… NEVER stay in a 10 bed dorm again 😡
The showers at the hostel were absolutely revolting, water leaking everywhere on the floor that I had to tip toe over, hairs in the drain of my shower, also half way through after looking up towards the shelf in my shower cubicle, I noticed a used tampon…. Fucking disgusting. I have never showered so fast in my life, what sick human being would leave it there?!?! I headed out about 10am, and went for a walk, I needed to get out of that hostel for the day! I didn’t want to slate Brisbane as its such a beautiful city, just that bloody hostel. Not long after leaving I stumbled across the botanic gardens, I could have stayed there for hours, so many species of birds, water lizards in the ponds, I even spotted a mouse floating on a piece of wood in the water haha… Wish I had bought my book with me. 
I headed back to the hostel about midday and about 1pm the guy we had the day before that gave us the welcome talk took us around the city for an hour and a half walk, showing us the sites etc, he showed us the lagoon, a place where people can swim, more like a swimming pool to me! But it looked beautiful! Then across the river and to the botanic gardens.. Where I had walked to earlier. 
Morgan managed to get his hands on a pizza voucher for the bar down stairs ‘spend $5 on a drink and get a free pizza’… That was dinner sorted. So I headed down about 6pm after reading some of my book on the roof terrace. After pizza and 2 ciders, I headed back to the rooftop and read some more and headed to bed about 9pm… Early start in the morning, have to get up at 5.15am to shower/have breakfast and get to the bus station for 6.45 am to go to Australia Zoo 😛
…yet again, another eventful evening with hardly any sleep, people were drinking and talking loudly in the room again, I even made conversation before I went to bed to let them know that I had to be up at 5.15am…. Didn’t even make the slightest difference, in the end I remember last checking the time at 11.45 😳😔 
Thankfully the night before Morgan offered to swap beds with me… Probably because I was moaning too much, he gave me the bottom bunk and he took the top, I tried to hang my towels around it to make it more like a cave and to try and get to sleep easier, but that didn’t help at all. 
I got up at 5.15 and walked along the corridor to have a shower, I noticed that Morgan wasn’t in his bed… But I knew he had booked to go to the zoo also. I then found him sitting in the corridor…. Tad strange, I asked him what he was doing and he said he didn’t really know… What the hell lol. As much as I like to make new friends, after getting to know him a little more, kinda thought he was a little strange. Luckily after I had showered he was no where to be seen, so I walked to the bus stop to get the bus for 7am, if I’m honest I didn’t mind sitting next to him on the bus on the way to the zoo, but I wanted to walk around the zoo by myself, I can take my own time then and go and see what I want etc, plus with his strangeness, don’t think I wanted to be around him all day lol. I remember texting mum on the bus to tell her that I could try and loose him ‘accidentally’ haha. I tried, and an hour later he found me, then for the next 2-3 hours he followed me round like a sheep dog… So bloody annoying. I managed to get rid of him later in the afternoon. I know I sound like a right bitch, and your either laughing reading this, but if you were in my situation, you would have done the same. I just like my own space! Hence why I came travelling by myself lol! 
Anyway…. Haha Australia zoo was bloody amazing… Minus it raining alllll day long 😞 I went and watched a bird show at midday, and it was so amazing I had a tear in my eye… Sad I know, they had trained birds to fly all around the arena, right over our heads in sequence. I know mum would have loved it as they had parrots, even flying into the crowd and sitting right next to people, not long after that they had the crocodile show, which was awesome. They had a massive tribute to Steve Irwin, what a legend. A part of the zoo was filled with memories of his time working at the zoo with his family, I nearly cried looking at the the paintings kids had drawn for him and all of the nice things people wrote. 
After pretty much being soaked through to my pants. I managed to pretty much walk around the zoo twice and watch about 4 shows, the tiger show was amazing, one was blind and the trainers had raised him to respond to sound. They were in the enclosure with them, playing with them, making them swim, I’ve never seen that at a zoo in England before… Well not that I can remember anyway! 
I had half an hour to spare before he bus came and picked us up from the zoo at 5pm, so I walked across the road to the animal hospital, I walked into the viewing area, you can watch nurses and veterinarians at work, it was so fascinating. 
I got back to the hostel about 6.30, headed to the bar downstairs for a burrito and corona for $7…(£3.50)……. Yes it’s cheap, but I really need to start cooking haha! 
Managed to pack my bag, do all of my laundry, have a shower and watch castaway, and headed to bed about 11pm, where the room was silent and the lights were out. Couldn’t have asked for a better last night. Now hopefully I get a good nights sleep ready to leave in the morning. I’m catching the 10.30am bus to Noosa, about 2.5-3 hours on the bus. Going to stay in a hostel overnight then it’s time for my first trip, Gagaju Bush Camp… Now this should be fun! 
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