I want to start out saying that Kacey and I stayed up super late last night watching Cast Away in the TV lounge area of the Cooly YHA.... we went to bed at 11:00 pm!!! GASP!!! Its crazy, but that literally is the latest we have stayed up except for the salsa dancing night, and it was rough getting to that point- I was exhausted!
This morning we had free breakfast, a huge deal for us, and then got Matt/Brian to shuttle us to town for our next greyhound ride. The bus ride was only 2 1/2 hours but it seemed to take forever, no matter how much time I tried to kill by sleeping or writing in my journal, we just kept on driving. That happens all the time when on a car ride, so I didn't think too much of it. We had quite the aerobic exercise goin on when we walked from the bus station to our hostel, and we finally arrived at the newest YHA in Australia around 11:15 am. We stored our luggage (our room wouldn't be ready until 2) and headed out on our normal wander.
At this point, I was still in my lounge clothes from the night before, because I got ready for a quick exit from Cooly the night before and planned on changing once we got to Brisbane. This was not an option, so walking around the city in bright yellow sweat capris commenced :P We stopped in a souveneir shop, where I finished my gift shopping and then continued to explore the city. We found a little market area with some free samples and then an outdoor/indoor mall square with hundreds of stores and a high school jazz band performing. We searched for an electronics store for what seemed like forever, following two different sets of directions but never getting to where we were supposed to get. Finally, we found one on the top level of the mall, and I then had to debate on buying a "cheap" camera that would probably suck and cost me loads of money in batteries and a memory card, or a camera for about $100 more that was an upgrade from my old camera (no extra costs necessary). I went ahead and bit the bullet- I bought a spankin' new, shiny, fancy, expensive, Fuji digital camera. I knew I should have looked on the bright side- a new camera is so exciting!- but like my horoscope said today, "even in sunny skies, a storm cloud will hang over your head", I couldn't help but think about the more important things I needed that money for...
To make myself feel better, it was time to eat. The cheapest food possible. Enter the always amazing sushi stands that are everywhere in Oz cities- even in the mall food court! $2.00 for any roll, even the really hilarious ones like Fried Chicken and Tuna salad. I made fun of what I call the "fake sushi" until today when tuna salad just sounded really comforting. After $4.00 I was stuffed and a tiny bit happier. That's when we realized the time. I'd like you all to take a moment and look back over all of our activities, keeping in mind that the center of town is at least 5-10 minutes away from our hostel. It was 1:00 pm. Literally an hour and 45 minutes from when we arrived in Brisbane. "Impossible," you say!?! It is apparently very possible here in Australia. I don't know how to prove it, but time is definitely slower here.
Anyway, to sum up our day, we wandered into a Museum, checked into seeing a play (too much $), and then walked through two Art Galleries- I love how the arts are mainly free in cities here, its really too cool. I was pretty grumpy all day, my backpack was heavy, I was wearing the wrong shoes, and my legs are sore. Plus, I'm just missing some of the comforts of home- a car, a bed, no luggage, no endless bus rides.... Enough of that though- I'm on the most amazing vacation!!! The rest of the evening, Kacey and I hung out at the hostel, ate some Ramen, played Wii and then debated on going out (we didn't lol). Tomorrow should be a really great day- we're going to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary!!! I can't wait! And I'm thinkin that storm cloud will definitely blow over by then :) Love yas!
Aussie Facts of the day: Kacey just informed me that the government encourages euthanasia for anybody over 80, McDonalds is called Mackers, and everything here is shortened into something cutesy, ex: Facebook=Facey
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