It's amazing how much you can fit into 6 weeks and we reached Brisvegas feeling like we'd dutifully bent over and taken everything that the east coast could throw at us. However, with the spectacular beaches of new south wales beckoning, it was time to loosen up and brace ourselves for the final leg of this aussie adventure.
We gave brisbane all of 18 hours before deciding that there was bugger all to do and so we jumped in our souped up hyundai getz to burn on down to surfers paradise.
This gold coast resort comes across as something resembling the illegitimate love child of a steamy affair between magaluf and ayia napa. It's pretty much ibiza in oz and there's not much more to say.
There was a brief jaunt up to Springbrook National Park, only 40km inland from surfers and boasting some stunning views and wildlife. Unfortunately for us, nature designed this national park on top of a plateau meaning the panoramic vistas were replace with a whole load of clouds and plenty of rain. Always wondered why they call nature a mother...
Slacking that off pretty quickly we headed down to the gem of new south wales' coastline, Byron Bay. We had high expectations and we weren't disappointed. It's like surfer's cooler, slicker and better looking older brother. There are more bars, restaurants and bars than you can shake a stick at, not to mention a huge stretch of beach that served up some nice big waves for me to hurt myself in the whole five days we were there. I even had time to fit in one of the worst hangovers I've had since freshers week. Lying on the pavement outside the supermarket, groaning something about not feeling to well, didn't leave Erica hugely impressed. Sympathy was in short supply.
We left ourselves a few days between Byron and Sydney to see what else we could stumble across. We could have easily stayed longer but sometimes you've just got to move on (sob). We stopped into a few national parks which, whilst they were as senic and peaceful as anywhere else we'd been, all started looking a bit familiar.
We decided to shake off this mild sense of monotony with a frantic day of wine, cheese and beer tasting in the Hunter Valley. Six wineries and many more glasses of vino later we were seeing the countryside with a rose tinted glow again and feeling pretty good about life in general.
There was a brief stop in sydney say farewell and impose on sam and hannah's couch again - and even a rare opportunity for me to godrinking with some accountants!
That action packed piece of fun out the way we jumped on a plane bound for New Zealand and all that awaited us there.
We arrived in oz not sure how it could live up to Asia, and itching to get to the scenery and adrenaline of NZ. It's fair to say though that it was better than we could have imagined. Sweet as bro...
