Byron Bay

Luckily for us the Greyhound stops at the Zoo, so we left around 4:30pm and got into Byron at around midnight. Along our travels we had met quite a few people raving about a hostel called 'The Arts Factory', I can honestly say I have no idea why, because it's utter crap. It's quite run down, and in desperate need of renovation. I can see the hippy look they were going for, but they charge an obscene amount of money (even more then the newer, cleaner hostels in the centre of town and near to the beach). The staff were particularly rude and we've been quite unlucky with the people in our room. Last night at about 4am, two of them fell out and had a fist fight, and the night before they spilt wine all over another girl's bag.

The town itself is awesome, similar to Noosa in its chilled out atmosphere but with a bit more happening. The beach is perfect too, the water is crystal clear, but because there is no Great Barrier Reef in the way, it gets huge waves. We've been hanging out with James, Luke and Nicola (some people we met on our Fraser Island trip) on the beach for the last couple of days because we've been lucky enough to have clear blue skies.

Australia Zoo

On the 14th me, Izzy and Pete got up early to check out of Flashpackers Hostel in Noosa and got the 8am bus to Australia Zoo. We all agreed we could have spent a lot longer in Noosa as the hostel was amazing and the town is so clean and has a great vibe. Anyway, only a couple of weeks left in Australia now so got to get a move on!

Turns out Australia Zoo is quite far away... it took an hour and a half on the bus, but it only cost $5 as it is run by the Zoo themselves. Shortly after getting on the bus they put on a DVD for us to watch, a documentary about how the Zoo was started by Steve's parents and how Steve became a famous TV personality. The Zoo was created by the Irwins from scratch and has developed from a 4 acre reptile park into the 72 acre attraction that it is today. The focus of the park was very different to the other zoos we've visited on this trip, it was more about educating people about the animals and conservation.

The Zoo gives a lot of freedom to get very close to the animals, particularly the koalas and kangaroos (and the sheep as Peter found out...). For $2, you can buy kangaroo food from a vending machine, and walk freely around the enlcosure feeding them by hand. The koalas were not quite as hands on, they were sat in trees and could be stroked under the supervision of the staff.