Get Loose!

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Hey guys! okay a brief Aussie/Canadian translation:

Canada: Loose = slutty
Australia: Loose = drunk

Aren't cultural differences fun?

So here is an update on our travels, specifically our time in Brisbane! We left surfers paradise... late. Our greyhound showed up an hour late, but luckily we arrived in brisbane and were able to meet up with our friend Jonno. We met Jonno in Greece on our 2008 eurotrip and have kept in touch, so we were lucky enough to have somewhere to stay when we came to Brisbane. He picked us up and took us to his amazing house in one of the suburbs, Newmarket. The house is unreal.... the entire back wall opens up onto a balcony, with surround sound speakers in the ceiling. I couldn't possibly describe it well enough, we'll show you pictures when we get home! Jonno took us on a brief tour around the city right after we arrived. We rode the City Cat, a ferry that moves passengers to stops along the river, and he drove us to the top of Mt. Coot-tha for a great view of the city in the evening. From there we headed back to his house to get loose (Australian version). We met his housemates and a lot of friends, and they took us downtown for a night out. We were denied from a club called X and Y because a guy's hair was too shaggy... picky picky! We successfully got into Empire, and fortunately got free cover thanks to the devious plan of Ratgirl (Jonno's housemate). The club was three storeys of booming techno music and flashing strobe lights, packed full of people dressed like hipsters. Ratgirl's free entry card also got us a bunch of free drinks so that was good times.

The next morning we learned it was Super Sunday around the house. This entailed drinking beer at 10am and continuing throughout the day. Not wanting to be rude, we joined in for a breakfast drink (or two) and then opted out of daylong debauchery in favour of sightseeing. We grabbed a ride into town with a friend and went to the botanical garden. We followed the walkway along the river, but didn't see any bullsharks swimming around. Probably for the best. We crossed the Story Bridge, Brisbane's version of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and ended up in South Bank, home of a man-made beach called Streets Beach. Along the way we passed Kangaroo Point, which is a big cliff lookout spot. Streets Beach was beautiful with lots of palm trees and a seemingly nice water spot, but we had been warned that the pool is full of pee so we avoided it. Reportedly hookers also bathe there. We stopped for an icecream cone and gawked at a huge barge in the river decorated like a tropical island. The Island was hosting a pirate themed party that day and there were hoardes of pirates and wenches walking around waiting to board. We dodged a brief rain storm by ducking into an art museum. Not our usual cup of tea, but this art museum was different. They had an exhibit that allowed patrons to build their own airplanes (or anything else) out of random recycled materials! I made a plane! TJ made something less appropriate. We returned to the house to witness the aftermath of Super Sunday. The housemates were headed out to a bar but TJ and i planned to have a quite night in and relax. This is the part where I drove a car across Brisbane. THey were looking for a sober driver and that was me..... So we jumped in the car and i drove on the "wrong" side of the road for the first time!!! Yes i'm quite proud of myself. We figured we were just going around the block but instead i was directed across all of Brisbane and given really questionable directions to get back. Luckily TJ is an ace with directions and we arrived back with no problem.

On our last day in Brisbane we awoke rested. Jonno decided to play tour guide again and we took the train into the Brisbane Museum. We checked out the animals exhibit (including dinosaurs) and stared with a mixture of confusion and fear at a bizarre whale exhibit that involved giant whales and LOUD whale sounds. Odd. We had a beverage at a great cafe by Streets Beach which was called the Plow Inn (hahah!). For dinner we ate at Hell Pizza, a restaurant owned by a few of the housemates. The pizza was excellent. Even more delicious were the deep fried camembert wedges. There are no words for how good those were. At the pizza place we were also lucky enough to meet up with Maddi and Rianna, two friends we also met in Greece! We were able to catch up for an hour or so and it was great to see them!!

The next morning we jumped back on the Greyhound and headed 3 hours north to Noosa Heads, a touristy little town on the beach. We're staying in Halse Lodge, a heritage building that was built in 1920! It's beautiful and airy and has an outdoor patio with tiki torches for ambience. YEsterday we hiked through Noosa National Park and saw a KOALA! our second one! we did the coastal trail out and an inland trail back (luckily didn't see any snakes). Today we hit the beach for the day. We had hoped to rent surfboards but they were all taken by the time we got there so we just relaxed, body surfed, got burned... the usual! Tonight we met up with the Beck family friends the Haywards for a nice dinner! And tomorrow we are back on the bus to Hervey Bay (pronounced HARVEY bay by locals) which is our jumping off point for our Fraser Island tour. More updates after Fraser!

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