Long Weekend - Sunshine Coast

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Midterms are finally over and we had a long weekend to celebrate! On the four-day weekend (9/28/12-10/1/12) I spent two days in Brisbane and two days farther north at a campsite on Dicky Beach of the Sunshine Coast.

In Brisbane, we went out in the Valley (where all the clubs/bars are) and had a great start to the weekend! Saturday, Alexa and I went shopping on Queen St., an outdoor pedestrian strip with everything from Hungry Jacks (Australian Burger King) to Christian Dior. I’ve fallen in love with the store called Cotton On, which is basically an Australian Forever 21. Don’t worry Mom, I know I already have a ton of clothes so I’ve been limiting my shopping (sort of).

On Sunday, four of my best girl friends and I left early in the morning for the Sunshine Coast. Of course, Translink told us the wrong platform for the transfer train that we needed to catch. By the time we figured out where we were supposed to be, three of us made it onto the train at the last second while Leah and I were closed out. The next train wasn’t for almost two hours and we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so we had to get creative. We split a bottle of wine from the BWS and gossiped non-stop while we lounged in the nearby McDonalds. After we finally met up with the girls at the beach, I was ready for the best catnap of my life. I had so much fun that afternoon that if I could do it again, I’d still miss the train.

The beach was great, but then reality set in that we were sleeping in tents for the next couple nights. We met up with some more people from our school group and set up tents with them. One of their tents was big enough to accommodate just about everyone in the entire camping ground, so we had a blast hanging out before we went to explore the night life on Dicky Beach. It was pretty low key with just a couple bars, but a nice change from the typical club scene in Brisbane.

The downside of the Sunshine Coast: it wasn’t so sunny. This weekend fell on the worst weather that we’ve seen the entire time we’ve been in Australia. The only good part about it is that I only mean a couple overcast days with occasional light showers. Any other weekend this wouldn’t be a problem, except this one was scheduled to be the next two days on the beach and all night in a tent. Aside from the beautiful first day that we arrived, we spent the next day and night lazily lounging in our tent and packed up early on the last morning.

Overall, it was a great long weekend and I still had a lot of fun. I had to pack as soon as I got home because next week, our group will be on our third field trip. Destination: Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef!

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Photos

Camping
Our tents at Dicky Beach

Bus Stop
Everyone at the bus stop for a night out on the Sunshine Coast!