Brisbane – The City That Never Sleeps Stops Raining

Happy Days. This is the expression used by Australian surfer dudes whenever anything is pretty cool. My experience thus far has been pretty happy days.

The first night in Brisbane was dinner at a great hotel restaurant and a tour of the city with some girls I met going to La Trobe (my school). It’s a great city, clean streets, cool architecture, and their crossing indicators sound like little toy guns.

Day Two—Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

I held a koala. It cuddled me. And I’m pretty sure it pooped on the person who held it after me. But that’s neither here nor there.

I sunbathed with a kangaroo. He was pretty chill about it, thankfully.

I got to see a sheepdog show, wherein an Australian shepherd whistled at some adorable dogs and they corralled a herd (flock? Yes. Flock.) of sheep into a gate, over a bridge, and into a pin. Then they sheared a sheep. The shepherds. Not the dogs.

Next activity of Day Two—Kayaking!

I am bad at kayaking. End of story. The Brisbane River is pretty though.

Night Two—Dinner at The Caxton, adventure to “The Down Under”—a horrible bar that played loud, bad music, had far too many neon lights, and was mocked by locals. Why did we go? It was Courtney’s birthday. Thankfully we got to leave and she got to stay and get drunk enough not to realize how horrible it was (she was closely monitored.)

Day Three—Free Day.

Ah morning. So full of promise. I got to skype with Tyler since I woke up early. And then… it started raining. A lot. The girls in my room had been planning a day trip to Gold Coast, Surfer’s Paradise beach, so we trudged through the rain into town to get necessary items. By eleven we were on a train, and an hour later at the beach. MIRACULOUSLY it stopped raining for an hour’s time and I got to touch, swim in, taste, get pushed around by the ocean for the very first time in my life. It was a tremendous experience, truly.

I got out, it started raining again. We came back to Brisbane and went for sushi and popsicles (my idea, as the meal cost $3 total. I am a genius.)

Australia so far has been a mélange of way too many activities, lots of rain and sweat, confusion, and general dumbfounded goodness. I miss home, I miss Tyler, and I miss cats. But being here is already teaching me so much, and I can’t wait to see what happens when I get to university. In conclusion, happy days.