So the weekend has already come to an end, It's hard to believe that I've already been here in Australia for over a month, it's gone by really fast so far, and I think based on the next few weekends, it's gonna pick up, and go by even faster. So I just wanted to put in this first picture to make a note on how there are so many cultural things that are interchangeable between Australia and the US... for example, going to the DMV. (they dress up the name and call it the Queensland Customer Service Centre here), but for all practical purposes, it's the DMV. You walk in, you become disgusted by the length of the queue, you grab your number and take a seat , patiently waiting to be served like you are a little slip of paper with a number on it. It even has the typical person arguing about how many points they missed on their drivers test, and someone demanding to speak with a manger over some kind of traffic dispute. I forgot to mention why I was even at the DMV, I mean the QCSC. I was paying my $30 traffic infraction for "purposefully disobeying a traffic signal" the traffic signal of course was the little flashing man that shows up at crosswalks... ridicilious. But I paid my $30 and was on my way.
So moving onto the weekend! Weekends here are fantastic except for that for they go by way too fast. This weekend, we wanted to immerse ourselves in a little Brisbane Culture. By the way, we think we're nuts about sports in America, they're REALLY in love with their sports here. Whether it's aussie rules football or Rugby, everyone has an opinion, and everyone ha s a favorite team. They call rugby or AFL by the playful name of "footie", so we went to catch the footie game between the Brisbane Broncos, and the cross-region rival of the Gold Coast Titans. So by the looks of the pictures, you can tell that we didnt' exactly pay for the best seats in the house, but definately could get a good view of the rugby (league), and the 80 minutes of a bunch of guys beating the hell out of eachother, without pads. This sport is serously brutal, I don't know how these people have families that would allow them to have such a profession. A few of the players wear helmets that probably have the equivalent protection value of wrapping a t-shirt on your head. But nonetheless, the game was a blast to watch. I love the sport too because they are completely no-nonsense about it. They walk out onto the field and within 30 seconds, they start playing. No warm-up, no starting lineups, they just go out and start playing. If you ever have a chance to watch rugby, or AFL (which is a completely different ballgame), I would highly recommend it. It's also great because fans will heckle eachother to death, then after the game, exchange hugs and go on their separate ways. Maybe it was a super unique case of what I witnessed, but it was pretty cool regardless.
Our original plan for the following day was to head to the Sunshine Coast, which is north of Brisbane, but since that would entail an approximate 6 hour transit ride , we decided against it for a closer, easier trip to North Stradlebroke (Straddie) Island. I went with one of my housemates from the UK and hopped onto a train to a ferry to a bus. That all took about 1.5 hours , but at that point, we had made it to Straddie and started our venture around the island . Like most scenic places, photos cannot really capture how cool this place was. I've never seen such violent waves in my life, they probably were only 10-15 feet high, but they were probably moving in at about 15-20 miles an hour, every 3 seconds. We hiked around the coastal trail, doing some climbing and observing here and there. We spent about an hour of that time just watching these waves obliterate everything in their path (notice all of the whitewash in the pictures below). After grabbing a quick lunch, we continued on our walk around the island on the beach, seeing surfers, plenty of dolphins and even a few whales approximately 100m off the coast. So around 5pm, it started to get dark, so we made our way back home, and by 7pm, we were back in Indooroopilly Lodge.
Later that night, I went down to a bar that I've been hearing quite a bit about from locals, called Regatta (like a crew competition) The place is right along the river, and to be fair, it is quite a nice place. I went down to meet a buddy of mine from when I first moved to Brisbane, we were living in the same hostel and just got to know him from that. At any rate, had a good time, got to catch up with my friend, but I wanted to make note of the Regatta bathrooms... so men will know what I'm talking about, so the urinals here, they're typically not a little ceramic fixture on the wall, they usually have these big metal sheets with flowing water, and a little platform you stand on (think big sporting venue bathrooms)..., so the Regatta restrooms were the same, except of having a big metal plate, they had a glass back... they looked out onto the entrance to the bar.... So I'm sitting there doing my business, looking out and thinking to myself... this is kinda awkward., as a big group of girls walk by and are looking in at me relieving myself. So come to find out, it's a one-way mirror. What a brilliant way of designing a bathroom.So today was pretty relaxed and local, I got up around 830 and a group of peopel from the lodge were heading up to Mt. Coo-tha to take some photos (its a big overlook of the city), For an overlook, it's really not that high, I'd imagine maybe 600 feet or so, but its a Mount nonetheless, so I decided it was close enough that I'd try to run there. I made it up there in about 40 minutes of running, but it wasn't without its challenge. There was about a portion equivalent to running the (Berkeley Fire Trail, or the GT Freshman Hill) but at that grade for about 1/2 mile. But the view on top was definitely worthwhile, after my morning run, I went back to the lodge for a while to freshen up, and then head downtown to check out the Queensland Muesum and Library. Also to pick up a pair of cleats from a guy so I can use during my frisbee game tomorrow.
So that's been about it, no dinner served on weekends, so I filled myself up with a bowl of soup, some bread, and then my habitual bowl of cereal. This week should be a busy one, and we're leaving for Fraser Island on Thursday!
Until again,
Paul
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