This morning we got on our bus at 6.45am (a painfully early start) as planned but instead of getting off at Surfers Paradise, we went straight through to Brisbane. This is because after hearing lots of not great things about surfers paradise and stories of people who regret going, we decided that it might be a let down after Byron and we’d rather have that one extra night in Brisbane to explore the city a little bit more. And we’re so glad that we made that decision!
On arriving in Brisbane we found a cute little chocolatier (of course we did) and made a plan for the next few days. Despite people saying there’s not much to do in Brisbane, Julie and I had trouble squeezing everything in! However after googling and looking up info in the guide book we now have a plan.
This afternoon we decided to go shopping as Brisbane has been named the shopping central of Australia – it just had to be done! Considering Julie and I are the worlds two worst shoppers, her with a shopping problem (she buys everything) and me also with a shopping problem (I buy nothing) it actually turned into a very successful shop with us buying nearly everything on our lists!
We also found the cutest tea shop, filled with every tea imaginable, blends, herbals, vanillas, teapots, decanters and much much more!

After a couple of weeks of home cooking budget meals in hostel kitchens, Julie and I were in a luxurious mood after shopping and so decided to treat ourselves to dinner. We went back to the hostel and dressed as nice as we could, for the backpackers we are, and went to a restaurant called ‘Healthy Burgers’ and both had a very unhealthy burger with all the toppings, bacon, avo, salad, you name it!
Then in true Julie and Steph fashion, we came back to the hostel dorm, and watched a film in our bunks. We can say it’s because we want to get a good sleep ready for the bar crawl tomorrow, but actually we are extremely exhausted after a busy day travelling, shopping and exploring!