Alas, I’m afraid to say that my dreams of learning to surf from a gorgeous Aussie instructor, and then miraculously discovering that I’m some kind of surfing prodigy – something like my namesake Bethany Hamilton – were well and truly foiled in Surfer’s Paradise. And by that I mean that we never got to live the Australian dream and have a surfing lesson because the cyclone in Fiji meant that most of the beaches were closed for swimming and surfing, plus the weather was unexpectedly dull and rainy.

(I actually think it’s the British curse that rain just follows you around to all these tropical and paradise locations where it hasn’t rained for months and then, wait, you arrive and boom suddenly it’s raining.)

Despite the weather and the lack of surfing, however, our time in Brisbane for 1 night and Surfer’s Paradise on the Gold Coast for 4 was very fun. It included a whistle-stop tour of Brisbane city, a trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where I achieved my mission of seeing some cute koalas and taking a kangaroo selfie (kind of), a crazy bar crawl through the party town of Surfer’s Paradise ending in an unlucky dunk in the ocean for my beloved iPhone, and some beach time there and at the neighbouring Coolangatta. Not the most action-packed few days, but a great place to rest and regather some energy after Sydney and before our last stop in Oz: Cairns.

*Just imagine a photo of a koala here because it won’t upload :(*