Day 229 (Sunday 26/06) - Last day in Australia ... sniff

Wake up at 8:30am.

Check-out from the hostel.

I go for a last walk in the city, in the centre, in the Botanic Gardens, and along the RIverside.

After that, I get back to the hostel to get my luggages, and head to the train station, to catch the train to the airport.

It takes around 20mins before getting to the airport.

As I get there, I see that most of the flights to N-Z have been cancelled ... (because of the ash cloud created by the Chillian volcano)

Luckily, mine isn't.

At 3:25pm we get in the plane, and soon afterwards, we leave Australia.

The flight takes approximately 3h.

During the flight, we have to pass close to the ash cloud.

We lower our altitude, and go underneath it.

We arrive at Auckland around 8:30pm local time.

I have almost 3h to wait for the flight to Hong-Kong.
(during the flight I watch the movie "Green Hornet", not too bad)

I take a bit of this time to update my notes on my computer.

At 11:15pm we get in the plane, and take off a bit later.

....

And this is the end ... Sniff :-(

I love Australia, and I will go back !

Day 228 (Saturday 25/06) - Brisbane - (no photos)

Wake up around 9:30am.

I go in a Cafe for a coffee ... (suprising ...)

I then walk around the centre, going in different shops.

I go to the Botanical Gardens to eat, and stay a bit in the sun (the last time I will enjoy the Ozzie sun ...).

I then go back to the centre, and as I'm in the Foot Locker, I start chatting with one of the employees, a Kiwi guy, Lui.

He asked me if I needed some help, than immediately started asking questions about my travelling, and other things around Belgium, etc.
We talk for a while, he then gave me his Facebook contact, so we can keep in touch if ever we want to.

After that I go to the Library to do some Internet.
But as I get to the Library, it's closing in front of me ... (I didn't pay attention on the fact that we were saturday, and thus the Library has different opening hours)

I then walk back to the hostel, and pack my bag (+shave).

I go out to eat, and go for a good steak, as it's the last meal I'll have in Oz ...

I stay a bit there, in Brunswick Street, the most animated part of Brissie.

I then go back to the hostel, and stay in the room.
I meet a new roommate, a German. He just arrived in Australia today ... (lucky guy ;-) )

I go to sleep quite early.

Day 227 (Friday 24/06) - Brisbane & Surfers Paradise ...

Wake up at 6:20am.

Pick up opposite the hostel at 7am, heading to Surfers Paradise (~1h drive).

Today I'm going for some whale watching, something I wanted to do 6 months ago, but the weather was too bad, and the migrating season was over ...

In the bus, there's only one girl, Adelaide, from Paris.
The driver is cool, we talk quite a lot, then he puts his music (Stradivarius, kind of gothic-metal Finnish band, lol).

The sky is cloudy today, but at least it's not raining.

Once in Surfers, we head to the river, where a boat is waiting for us.
There are also some other people, in the end we'll be around 20 on board.

We're going on the river, up to the ocean.

one of Jackie Chan's summer house ... oolala ...

We go for around 20min away from the land and already start spotting whales.
Legislations prohibit the boat from getting closer than 100m from the whales, but if they come to us, it's ok.
At the beginning we only see a bit of the whales (3 swimming next to each other).
It's hard to take some good pictures ...

After a while, we move to another place a bit further, where there's another whale spotting boat already there.

Once there, for we don't know what reason (probably to mark her territory), a whale really starts to show off by hitting the water with it's tail, and jumping out of the water. It's really cool and impressive (but again, so hard to take good pics !).

At some point she heads towards us, and gets really close to the boat, we have a really good view of it.
Nice.

We stay there for a while, and are quite lucky as we can really see the whale well.
Meanwhile, the guide (who's also the bus driver from Brisbane), explains us many things about whales.
Pretty interesting.

After a few hours, we get back to Surfers, where we have 2 hours to spend before heading back to Brissie.

With Adelaide we go for a walk, and meet a friend of her who just got in Surfers today (Amanda from Germany).
We go to eat something, and then for a walk on the beach (good to be on a beach again, I missed them already :-) ).

The sky is still covered, but the weather is ok (not too cold, not too windy).
A bit later, a friend from Amanda joins us, another German girl.
We stay a bit on the beach.

After that, with Adelaide we go to our rendez-vous point, where the bus is waiting for us to go back to Bris.
Once there, we're dropped at our hostels.

I then go for a walk in the centre.

Later on I go to eat something out, then go to the Riverside part of the city to meet with Margot, the French girl I met in Adelaide almost 3 months ago.

She finished her exams yesterday, and we arranged to go out for a drink.

We first go to the Bavarian Cafe for a beer, but as it's too crowded, we decide to move somewhere else.

We head to South Bank, the "beach" side of the city, to a nice bar with live music (blues/rock).
The atmosphere is really good, we stay there for a while.

We then leave as Margot has to catch her bus to get home (as we leave it starts raining ... Pfff).

I walk back to my hostel and go to sleep.

Day 226 (Thursday 23/06) - Brisbane

Wkae up around 9:30am.

After a shower, I go to the centre to have a small breakfast in a Cafe.

I like chilling in this city, I had forgotten how much it's pleasant in here ...
It's winter, but it's pretty warm (cold in the shade), but the sun is really hot.

After breakfast, I spend a lot of time in different shops, looking for some shoes I really want, but can't find them ...
(and I can't find the RipCurl, QuickSilver and Billabong shops, that are in every Ozzie city ... Weird)

I then go a bit to the Botanic Gardens to eat a sandwich and relax in the sun.

After that I go back to the shops, continuing to look around.

I end the afternoon at the Library for some more Internet (mostly updating the blog).
I spend a bit of time at South Bank, on the sand ... (I already miss the beach)

In the evening, when going back to the hostel, I stop at a Mexican snack to have a burrito.

I then go to my room, take a shower, and chill a bit on my computer.

I go to bed early.

Day 225 (Wednesday 22/06) - To Brisbane ... The end is coming ... sniff

Wake up at 8:30am, quick brekkie.

Shuttle to bus staton.

While waiting the OzEx bus, I meet some people I already met on the way to here (the 2 US guys that were also on Fraser, the Scottish couple, etc.)
The bus driver is Sneaky once again.

The trip to Brissie should take around 1.5h.
There's not much to see on the way, we're on the Sunshine Motorway (along the Sunshine Coast of the Sunshine State ...).

Sneaky tells us to watch if we can spot whales in the sea, it's the migrating season (but we won't see any).

Once in Brissie, some of us are drop at the Bunk, the hostel where we'll stay.

As we're too early to get to our room, we have to wait for an hour.

While waiting I meet a French guy, Thomas. He's from Montpellier, cool guy. We talk for a while.
I can then check-in and get to my room.

It's a 20 beds dorm (wow ...), but it's not too bad as there are some separations in the room.
(with so many people it's not easy to get to know each other - and even more, I don't see many of the roommates)

I then go for a walk in the city.
I almost feel lke home, as I've been here six months ago, and know it quite well.

there's the winter festival ... (it's around 30° though ... crazy Ozzies)

I go to the centre, in the main commercial street, then to South Bank, and finally to the Library for some Internet (lot of things to do, as I've been disconnected for a while !).

It's impressive to see how the city has been cleaned and renovated after the floodings.

In the evening, I go to eat in a Vietnamese restaurant.

I then go to my room, a bit on my computer, and to bed quite early.

Day 224 (Tuesday 21/06) - Noosa - Last beach in Australia ...

Wake up around 9:30am, quick brekkie (did with what I had : bread with peanuts and dried cranberries, not bad :-) ).
Jogging up the hill, to the Laguna Lookout, and down to the village.

Later on I go for a coffee at a terrasse.
It feels weird, I only have 5 days left in Oz ... I feel a bit sad, but well, it has to end someday.

I then go to the beach and eat lunch there (sandwich in the sand).
I stay there for a few hours, enjoying the last beach I'll see for a while ... (feels really weird, after having been on so many different ones in the last months !)

I then go for a short walk in the centre, in different shops, then back again to the beach.
Last time I will feel the Australian sand ...

As the sun is setting, around 5:30pm, and it starts to get cold (it's winter here after all, lol), I go back to the hostel.

I stay a bit in the room with Kate, before she goes to eat (she has something to cook, and it's too early for me, it's not yet 6pm).

She comes back quickly, did as fast as she could, as the kitchen is apparently really disgusting and doesn't make you want to stay there.

A bit later, I go to eat (in the hostel's bar restaurant, for a cheap meal.

There I see Linda, and sit at her table.
We eat together.

We don't stay very long, as we have to pack our bags (both leaving tomorrow), and have to wake up early.
(we'll maybe catch up in Brisbane, she's also going there)

Back in the room, I talk a bit with Kate.

We then go on our computers, and go to sleep quite early.

Day 223 (Monday 20/06) - Noosa

Wake up at 7am.
Free pancakes for brekkie, with Marion, Fanny and Tobias.

Bus pick up at 8am (didn't see it was waiting up the street (not an "official" OzEx bus), so was starting to think I had missed it ...
But, no worries.

In the bus, as usual there's almost nobody : we're only 4 : a girl, and the 2 American guys I met several times before (in different buses, and on Fraser).
The driver is Sneaky, the same as the other day.

Today there's not much to drive, we're going to Noosa, 2 hours away from Rainbow Beach

Not much to see along the way, the only city we pass through is Gympie.
(it's not a beautiful city, and it seems extremely polluted ... Not nice)

We arrive in Noosa around 10am.
The bus drops us at the Transit Centre, where straight away the hostels shuttles arrive.

I'm the only one to go to the Nomads, so alone in the shuttle.
I talk a bit with the driver (a Dutch guy), he gives me some info about the city.

Noosa is apparently the favourite city of many Ozzies, and is considered as the Monaco of Australia (quite expensive in the central area - but not everywhere).
(it's divided in 4 parts : Noosa Heads, Noosa Junction, Noosa Spit and Noosaville)
And I can understand why, the city is really beautiful and in a superb area (superb beaches, laguna, hills and forest).

As I get to the hostel, it's too early to check-in, I have to come back at 12pm.
I leave my luggages there, and go for a walk.

I first go to the main beach, then to the main street (Hasting St), where most of the restaurants, bars and shops are.

Back to the hostel I check-in, and get to my room.
The hostel seems really good, and the room is quite big.
There's nobody in it, but 2 beds are occupied of the 8 the room has.
There's an ensuite bathroom, it's always good (2 showers and a toilet).

I then go out to get something to eat.

As I walk along the road where the commercial centre is (close to my hostel, and cheaper than the centre), I bump on Delphine (French girl that was in my room the first night in Rainbow Beach). We talk for a bit.

I then go for the walk to the Laguna Lookout, I stay there to eat.

After that, I take one of the walking trails and go down the hill, to another beach, and go for the Coast walk (a 2-3 hours return walk along the beaches).
It's really beautiful, some views are superb.

I then go back to the hostel, shave and take a shower, and make a few phone calls.
(didn't have any network for the last 5 days ...)

There's a Canadian girl from Toronto in the room (friendly and easy going), and an English couple (but we won't talk to each other, they act as if I wasn't there ... Wha'ever).

For dinner I go to the hostel's restaurant, for a cheap meal (a good lasagna).

While waiting for my plate, a girl asks if she can sit at my table, I of course accept (almost all the tables are free, but she chose to sit with me ... Nice).

She was actually on Fraser Island in the same tour as I was, in a different group.
It's Shaley (?) from Ireland, really cool girl.

A bit later, another girl comes to sit at the table, she's a roommate of Shaley, Linda from Germany.

We stay there for a while, talking.

We then leave to our rooms quite early, as we're all pretty tired from our previous days.