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So I'm pretty sure everyone who will read this will know that the entire Manchester Bioinformatics BSc class of '09 (me and Pete) are going on a long glorified holiday. Just in case anyone cares what we are up to I will try and write a diary (bear in mind I am a scientist and so not blessed with the ability to write in an entertaining fashion). Pete has his photo blog (peterbenphotography.blogspot.com) so this will probably be more wordy and less arty.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Campervan Leg 3 - Byron Bay to Brisbane

Next stop after the blur of Byron Bay was Surfers Paradise, just up the coast. The drive there was largely uneventful with the only noteworthy thing being me finally getting a picture of our favourite Aussie road sign (albeit a terribly blurry photo). Instead of no entry signs most one way streets seem to have these "wrong way go back" signs.



Once we had found a campsite in Surfers we headed into the city to have a look around. It is quite a strange place with miles of beautiful white sand beach fringed by miles of high rise accommodation. On our way back to the van we were suckered into getting tickets for a club crawl for the next night. This meant I would have to buy some new jeans as I had been wearing a pair ripped right across both ass cheeks since Sydney. 


The club crawl wasn't as great as the sales women had made out. We had to be out in town far too early meaning there wasn't time for pre-drinking and the first few places we went to were completely dead. The clubs were all ridiculously expensive for drinks so in the end we gave up and called it a night. Our arrival in Brisbane didn't go all that smoothly as the nearest campsite to the centre was on the far side of the city somewhere out in the suburbs. Obviously this meant that we got lost on our way there. Eventually we figured it out and relaxed for the rest of the day. The next morning our trick of avoiding the extra person fee was nearly foiled when a worker came to the van to check if we were planning to stay another night, luckily I was holed up in the roof of the van and managed to hide from him!


We didn't feel too bad for the deception at this park as the owner had recommended that we visit the south bank of Brisbane to go swimming in an artificial lagoon. Whilst there was a free museum that we had fun looking around the lagoon was a pretty big let down. The whole South bank was being renovated after the flooding earlier in the year (the only signs of the flooding that we witnessed). This meant there was only a tiny area open and this was filled with young children and so most likely young children's urine. We went for a swim anyway and then headed back to our van, ready to head onwards to Noosa the next day.

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