To get us in the holiday spirit, we went to the Brisbane Openair Cinema to use the complimentary tickets I had won, to see Frankenweenie, the new Tim Burton Movie, which in true Burton style was a warm hearted, quirky movie. Prior to the start of the movie, there was free Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream and lawn chair. After which, we made the journey home, to pack, quick skype call home and attempted an early night. The Following morning, Monday 26th we rised early, quickly checked t

We woke up Wednesday morning like children on Christmas morning, as we got ready to head to get the bus then the connecting train to Beerwah, the nearest station to Australia Zoo, where a courtesy bus picked up and dropped us off at the entrance of the zoo at 10 am. As we entered the zoo we were given a map and itinerary of show times. We first made our way to the tortoises enclosure where we observed giant Aldabran Tortoises feeding time. After which we made detour through A

Friday evening whilest out for coffee and muffin, we some how managed to win 2 set of tickets to the open air cinema in the south bank this weekend. So after some catching up on Youtube clips including one hilarious Irish parody of 50 Shades of Grey by the Irish comedian Conal Gallen which had us in stitches, must say we were getting some bizarre looks and stares in the media building, The Edge. When we finally managed to peel our selves off the ground, we went home and watch

Made our way into culture quarter and south bank which seems to be turning into a daily ritual. We made our way to the museum to get tickets to see The Mummy - secrets of the tomb but were sold out for that day - Saturday however lucky had some available for the next day -the final day. So we decided to go to the art galleries instead - GOMA And QAG. Some how ended up playing a Qscan based phone game called secret slq which involves following clues and hint around the library

One of my highlights this year has to be seeing some of the rugby world champions New Zealand All Blacks this morning in Queen street Mall stage. It was complete mayhem and chaos with the crowds going down the street and beyond. The weather couldn't have been nicer, it was so hot and warm, I'm glad I decided to wear shorts and top. The highlights for me had to finally get to see Dan Carter in the flesh and person.

The start to the day - Saturday 17th - didn't go quite according to plan, as we got off the bus and walked the the distance to the Park Road train station we got a tad lost, lucky thanks to GPS, we managed to make it to the the station to watch the train we planned to catch, depart the train. However thanks heavens there was train due in another 30 mins, due at 9.05 am. Which actually it seems ended up been more on an express than the prior one. When we arrived into Coomera S

Quick update: Now we are settled into Brisbane, its finally nice to be unpacked and not to be living out of a suitcase. We are living in a suburb called Kangaroo Point, its a nice and peaceful little spot, about 30/40 mins walk or 5 mins by bus to either South Bank and the Culture Quarter or over Story Bridge to The Valley. Niamh started doing agency work, so far worked in a few different hospitals and seems to enjoy the work to date. The Culture Quarter seems to be where we

As we arrived so early into Brisbane, we ended up watching Wanderlust on my laptop at the Roma Street Train Station. After which we made our way to Chill backpackers despite a good location we weren't overly impressed. After a quick bite to eat, we went off exploring, and happened to find the culture quarter on South Bank. It quite a lovely area containing the museums, state library (free WI-FI), a quaint cafe, man made beach outdoor swimming area. and the Wheel of Brisbane.

Flight landed into Sydney Int. Airport about 8 am, after collecting baggage and such, the most long and tedious wait through passport control and customs. We waited for the free shuttle to the hostel, which was slight wait due to the morning rush of flights into the airport. We left our suitcases in the luggage storage room, which was interesting trying to bring them done a windy staircase whilst there was a painter painting the walls. We then went off on the trek around the

Check out from Nomads was 10 am. Leaving time for the bottom bus tour was at 10.30. Nearly missed the bus due to a skype call from home, and trying to book flights to Sydney. Made our way from Queenstown to Dunedin, which is the home of Speight’s brewery and Cadbury World. Soon after leaving realised, we were missing few items, but after getting into contact with one of the girls from Manchester on the tour, Giulia, - our guardian angel :-) -crisis was averted, as she got the

Check out the next morning Monday 19 th was at half 9, and we started our journey south towards Franz Josef. We drove through a town called Ross, which is famous gold mining town. Shortly after a short drive of just under an hour, we stop in small town called Pukekura for morning coffee break. We head south to the Franz Josef Glacier village, nestled in the Westland National Park, passing numerous kettle lakes along the way. These lakes are created as glaciers retreat and le

Left Base Taupo at 9.15 am Monday 10th heading towards Tongariro National Park, where some of the background scenery for the Lord of the...

August 31 st we got the Intercity train from Ennis to Dublin via Limerick Junction, leaving at 10.15. We arrived into Heuston at 13.20. The Journey up was pleasant and mostly uneventful; we were surrounded by Americans, who were on the train up from Killarney for The Gathering American College Football game – Notre Dame vs. The Navy. Once we got off the train we got the Luas from the station into city centre getting off at the abbey street stop. From O’Connell Street got the