Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

The east coast journey continues as I now find myself in Brisbane. After leaving Byron Bay we headed up to Surfer's Paradise where there were miles of beaches and thousands of tourists. I was completely stunned to see that Surfer's Paradise was as developed as it was. There were numerous towers including a 80 story building all located right on the ocean. I managed to get in some good beach time while also getting in a extremely long run along the coastline.

Kari and I also got away from the beach for one day and drove up to the mountains west of Gold Coast City. We took an amazing hike past, through, over, and under many many waterfalls. The hike would've been a total success if my foot would'n't have been randomly bleeding (later discovered to be a leech bite). Afther that we drove around to a few other national parks with great view points, natural bridges, etc. Our last stop was down an extremely twisted road and was supposed to include a natural water slide. We were disappointed to discover it did not exist, but were lucky to see that there was a nice cliff to jump off of into the river. Ignoring the warning signs claiming instant paralyzation, we went for it anyways, and it was awesome.

After concluding our time on the Gold Coast, we dropped off Candace at the airport and took to seeing as much of Brisbane as we could within a day (with an option for another day if there was lots to see). We were surprised to find that we had seen everything we wanted to by 4pm on the first day. As aa result, the journey up the coast continues again today.

I have finally caught up on my pictures and have picked a select few from my first days in Australia that I think you will really enjoy.

Sydney


Byron Bay


Surfer's Paradise



Brisbane