"Sunny Brisbane" Willndebs's photos around Brisbane, Australia (sunny banks brisbane au police)

Preview of Willndebs's blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/willndebs/1/1217100600/tpod.html This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Brisbane, Australia Entry Title: "Sunny Brisbane" Entry: "Typical - the day we leave Byron Bay and it's a glorious sunny day! Bumblebee was raring to get back on the road with a new clutch so we set off - destination: Brisbane. We headed up the Highway to the Gold Coast and stopped just before lunch at the famous Surfers Paradise. We walked along the beach and within seconds were caught out by a massive wave which soaked us (and our clean clothes we had just washed!) Nightmare! We rinsed off under the showers and wandered round the town - I think visitors of Surfers Paradise have 3 options: surf, sunbathe or shop! The shops were awesome and it seemed like there's a good nightlife there - shame we were just passing through but we made up for it with a Cold Rock ice cream, headed back to the van to make sandwiches and had a picnic on the beach, watching others being caught out by freakishly big waves like we did! We carried on up the highway to Cleveland just South of Brisbane, where Anna's Uncle Ray lives. He was kindly going to put us up for a couple of nights. Despite the fact that he hadn't been there for over 4 years, Will managed to navigate us straight to Ray's house which was pretty impressive. After we'd settled in and had dinner Ray took us to his local for Karaoke night (to my delight, not so much Will's!). After a few drinks I got up and sang, Ray was a natural (and even brought his own cd!) while Will watched from a safe distance! After a few hours of catching up with Ray and chatting to the crazy locals, Sharon joined us and taught Will and I how to play Pokies. She couldn't believe we don't have them in the UK (for those of you who don't know they are like fruit machines only far less complex!). It must have been beginners luck as we won $25! We just about caught the end of the evening's entertainment outside in the pub car park (the police obviously turning up 10 minutes after the fight had ended!) then headed back to crash. On Sunday morning Ray cooked us a yummy breakfast then we drove into Brisbane. Wandered round the city for a while, through China Town into Fortitude Valley - a cool suburb of bars, live music venues, funky cafes and boutique shops. It was a fairly quiet Sunday afternoon but we decided to come back here later in the week to check out the nightlife. We headed back to Ray's and went out with him, Sharon and her youngest, Mitchell, to the local RSL Club. We had dinner and tried our luck on the pokies again but lost $5 - beginners luck run out already! Monday we drove to Dreamworld, Australia's biggest theme park. We had an awesome day going on all the rides and almost had the place to ourselves - a weekday in winter definitely wasn't busy! The scariest ride had to be the Giant Drop which is just that, you are hoisted up a tower, sat there for 20 seconds then dropped 39 storeys at the speed of gravity - oooooof! We couldn't even scream it was too terrifying! Needless to say we only did that one once! They also had an animal park there and after we'd watched the tiger show we went off to see the little baby tiger cubs. The other amusing highlight of the day was when Will decided that we should go on the Log Ride, despite the fact that it was quiet chilly and he was in a t shirt. He was determined that we wouldn't get wet - the photos speak for themselves!! That night we had a quiet one in at Rays, exhausted from our day out! On Tuesday we spent the morning catching up on emails and uploading photos onto Travelpod, then after lunch drove to a couple of local lookouts, Wellington Point and Cleveland Point. We spent our last evening at Rays watching movies with Mitchell. In the morning we said our goodbyes and drove into Brisbane to a guesthouse in The Valley. They didn't actually have any room for us so we ended up sleeping in the van just ..." Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/willndebs/1/1217100600/tpod.html Photos from this trip: 1. "Bumblebee poses" 2. "Story Bridge" 3. "Brisbane City" 4. "Brisbane by night" 5. "Wet'n'Wild adventures!" 6. "The Tornado - AWESOME!" 7. "Deb finally is a size 8!" 8. "Screaming perhaps?!" 9. "Surfers Paradise on The Gold Coast" 10. "Big skies over Brisbane city" 11. "Tiger cub at Dreamworld" 12. "That's the spot!" 13. "Pick on someone your own size" 14. "Look at the size of those paws!" 15. "One giant leap" 16. "Gorgeous georgeous little baby tiger cubs" 17. "I wonder what this trouble maker did?" 18. "In the Big Brother House" See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0149-b1e2-756e?ytv4=1