First 2 weeks

I'm here! Get ready for my pasty body, Australia! We landed at 7:30am, February 2nd, Brisbane time, around 3:30pm, February 1, Edmonton time, after about 26 hours traveling, 18 hours flying, but I felt great! I probably slept for about 2/3 of the 13 and a half hour flight from LAX to Brisbane.

The weather here is very warm, around 30 Celsius, and very humid. The cyclone in North Queensland is the cause of the humidity. Don't worry, I am in South Queensland! A lot of the Aussies I have talked to are actually complaining about the weather, but I'm soaking it all in (literally!) My skin feels great, and it's nice to see some sunshine.

Karen and I had a busy day Wednesday. We picked up some things that were too big to pack, set up a bank account, set up a cellphone plan, got me a cookbook of local Aussie cooking so I can feed myself with some of the food they eat here, and found where we will take the train to Gold Coast tomorrow, and its only 4pm!

I read my wonderful book that so many great people took the time to write in. Every entry was so much fun, and I love how creative everyone got! I haven't had a lot of time to pour over it, as I have found myself very busy, but I can't wait to read it again and again! Thank you so much, everyone, you have really made my day, week, maybe even year (I'll let you know!)

Karen is determined to find a koala and a kangaroo before I bid her adieu... This may be an interesting quest!

Things didn't really slow down once we got to Gold Coast. We caught the express train down, went straight to my dorm and dropped off most of the luggage. Then it was off to the hotel/apartment. We're staying at the Breakers, and we are right on the beach. Once we settled in, we headed south to 'The Oasis' at Broadbeach Mall for some lunch, it was around 2pm and we were dying. Then we did a little shopping, and went for a nice walk down the beach. We spent the evening exploring our local neighbourhood, which included the Italian restaurant, the bar in the lawn bowling club, and the BWS (Beer Wine and Spirits) before settling in for the night. On our way back to the hotel, however, I pointed out a bat to Karen, it was huge! She did not believe me, saying it was probably a crow. 2 minutes down the road, another HUGE bat flew low over our heads, and lets just say Karen was a little more than freaked out.

Friday was our big accomplishment day. Got all my bedding, crockery, and odds and ends for the dorm room, then spent about 2 and a half hours unpacking, futzing, and just generally getting everything set up. It was soooo hot in there, because it had pretty much been closed up since beginning of December. It was nice to get most of our work done, only groceries left to do there, so we probably won't be back in the dorm until Friday the 11th.

On Friday night we went for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Surfer's Paradise, and we were up on the 2nd floor patio. It was full of kids running around, hanging over the balcony ledge, and Karen started to get nervous, saying she doesn't want to see the kids fall. Once we ordered our food, we were told to move out of the smoking area (didn't even know we were in there!), to another air, right in the middle of the playing children. This made Karen even more nervous, until we looked over the edge and saw that about 3 feet down there was a plexi glass roof separating the balcony and the ground, which reassured Karen that no children would die on her watch. She must be oddly psychic, or just a super observant mom, because about 5 minutes later and kid ran straight into the balcony, a piece of glass in the rail popped out, and he fell straight onto the plexi glass! The whole restaurant exploded into chaos, as most people thought the kid had died. Karen and I just sat there in shock, and then once we all saw the kid was ok, we could not stop laughing. Not very nice, but hey, she called it!

Saturday was a day just for us. We spent the day in Surfers Paradise, checking out the shops, the food, eating TONS of gelati and just relaxing. Sunday was more of the same. We both were up early, so while Karen checked her e-mails, I went for a run. It was so humid I didn't need to bring a bottle of water. On the way into the hotel I ran into 2 massive iguanas sunning themselves on the patio. I WISH I had my camera. We spent the rest of the day checking out the outdoor mall to the south, Pacific Fair, and then spent the afternoon lounging on the beach. We found Stephanie's doppelganger, and Karen, being the creep she is, took a picture of the girl, so we could prove it to everyone. Sunday night was low key, tacos in the room while we did Laundry and packed our stuff to move further down the beach, closer to Surfers Paradise.

We decided to head to one of the 6 theme parks in Gold Coast on Monday, and hung around at Movie World. Karen was a trooper and rode all the roller coasters with me. Unfortunately, the Superman Roller Coaster (known as the best roller coaster in the southern hemisphere) was closed, so I guess that is for another time.

Got groceries on Tuesday for the dorm, all the non perishables so that was done, and I met my first roommate. Her name is Elisabeth, she is from Iceland, no she is not the trainer for the Iceland team from Mighty Ducks 2 (sorry Mike), and she is getting her Bachelors in Event Management. That night we saw a dinner show called 'The Australian Outback Spectacular," which Karen and I figured was our crash course in all things Australian.

Wednesday we took a tour through the hinterlands, and it was amazing. First we went to Tropical Fruit World, and I tried a custard apple for the very first time. It is AMAZING, and described as the closing thing to ice cream growing on a tree. Yum. Then, we went to the Natural Bridge, which was formed by a waterfall eroding away rocks, creating (duh) a Natural Bridge). Next we went to the Best of All Lookouts, where you can see the entire valley (created by a volcano 20 million years ago) and Mount Warring, which is the 'plug' for that Volcano. We stopped at a couple other lookouts and did a few short hikes through Springbrook Park, and then went to Springbrook Manor for a great lunch and a look around the grounds. We also saw a Pademelon (small kangaroo) on our way up the mountain, which was super exciting for Karen and I!

Thursday we took an Aquaduck tour through the Nerang River, and saw some celebrities fancy houses, including Jackie Chan's vacation spot, and Kylie Minouge old penthouse. Very exciting!

Mom and I spent our last weekend together back in Brisbane, we saw Wicked, visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, and just hung out for our last couple of days. On Sunday, I took the train back to Gold Coast, and now I'm here!

Here is a link to the pictures Karen and I took on our mini trek through Gold Coast and Brisbane! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=612141&id=570255133&l=61802d43e5

Sorry this post is so long, the Internet was iffy on the trek, but I'll keep them shorter from now on! Orientation Week starts next Monday, so hopefully I will have some fun tales for everyone!