Goodnight LA + A Month of Sundays

I'm home. After 32 hours of travel- planes, trains, and automobiles. I'm at home, already 1 whataburger down.

I'm so tired. So tired. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll just load some of those photos I've been promising.

This is what I saw out of my window.

Kind of a blurry skyline of where we stayed at the Gold Coast

Proof that I was at the beach (or at least my feet were)

Yeah, this is about a block from the hotel.

Most easterly point of the Australian mainland

A very long walk to this lighthouse

But look at the scenery!

Photos from the zoo are to come later. There are a lot, and I'm just too tired now. I know, you're on the edge of your seat, but really the zoo was pretty cool.

Last Day

Well, today was the last day of Australia.

We started this morning with a trip to the animal sanctuary, aka the zoo. It was very cool. Damnit. I just realized I forgot to bring my camera with me to McDonalds. I guess I'll just have to add to my collection of pictures to post later. It was really cool though, saw lots of interesting animals. I got to pet a kangaroo, I've got a picture of it that does me no good now. Saw two kangaroos fighting, and dingoes, and tasmanian devils, and koalas, and lots of birds, and koalas, and wombats, and more koalas. So many koalas.

Then we went to the beach and did our Aussie Ironman Challenge, which consisted of playing "authentic Australian beach games". Although, I have a sneaking suspicion that no Australian has ever done any of these things. The only game in which my team excelled, was the Tim Tam Solo Slam. This involves eating a Tim Tam (a candy not dissimilar to Kit Kat) and chugging a Solo (carbonated lemonade) as fast as you can. We crushed this competition, but didn't do so well in the others.

Then we went out as a big group for our farewell dinner. This is when we found out that we didn't win the Ironman Challenge. Big surprise. We also each got "personalized awards" from the coach and the guide. I won the Yobo award, which George explained to be something like a redneck. . . This prestigious award was bestowed upon me because of my tendency to show a little too much Texas pride. My nick name for the trip was, in fact, Tex.

It was a Chinese restaurant, and the food was pretty good, there was some sweet and sour fish that was amazing.

Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day. We're leaving for the airport at 3:00am, then I fly from Brisbane to Sydney, then from Sydney to LA, then from LA to Dallas. Hopefully, that's what I do. There were some issues with flights earlier in the trip and things got messed up. Long story short, it looks like I'm going to have a tight connection to make in LA. With any luck, it'll all work out and I'll be home right on schedule. But I probably won't be able to make another post until I'm all the way home. Which seems like forever from now, but I'm sure will sneak up on me soon enough.

I can't believe I forgot my camera, I was going to post pictures form the last three days. Ugh.

Byron Bay

Today, we woke up somewhat early and headed down to Byron Bay. We spent all day walking around the town; Byron Bay is both a bay, and a town on that bay. Sprawled out on the beach for a while, walked through the shops, ate some expensive pancakes… Then we had a little barbeque, which was nice. We played with some nearby birds and turkeys. The magpies, one of the native birds, are pretty scary looking, but they would fly off and catch food in the air if you threw it up. So that was pretty neat. It was mostly a low key day, Byron Bay is a couple hours from where we’re staying, so we got naps on the bus going to and from.

Now I’m off doing food and free wifi. I should have done the food first, because the wifi here at McDonald’s is struggling, and I’m getting hungry. But I don’t really want to do McDonald’s, so we’ll see if I can stick it out.

We were supposed to have our “Aussie Ironman Challenge” thing today, but inclement weather was headed our way, so we’re postponing it until tomorrow. I have no idea what this challenge consists of, so I guess I’ll find out tomorrow, and you’ll find out shortly after.

I’m not entirely sure what the plan is for the rest of the night. A nap or an early bed time might be in order, I’m awfully tired, despite the bus napping.

Oh yes, the kangaroo burger: it was pretty good. Not amazing, but definitely good. That’s my official ruling.

Tomorrow looks like another full plate for us. I think we’re going to a zoo and then the “Aussie Ironman Challenge” so I expect I’ll be exhausted again during my next post.

Sorry, this internet apparently can't handle uploading my awesome pictures, so I'll have to post them another time.

Surfing!

Today was surfing lessons, so that kind of dominated the late morning/early afternoon. It was a whole lot of fun. I managed to stand up quite a few times, but I couldn’t go more than a few feet before biting the dust. It was a lot of fun, and I definitely want to do it again. They had us in this little cove type area, and we were able to stand in the water, instead of sitting on the boards, which I guess makes it easier. But the waves seemed to die out before you could get much of a ride. I think it would take a lot of practice to surf some real waves.

Fish and chips again for lunch. Super greasy. And dim sims, which are pretty much egg rolls. I’m a huge fan of dim sims.

Headed back to the hotel, and I went straight to the beach for a little lie down. Now I’m back, just finished showering and starting some laundry. I’m typing this in the hotel room and I’ll swing by McDonald’s later and post it (I guess by the time you see this, I’ll already have done that...).

I’m headed out in a few minutes to see if I can find some kangaroo burgers. So maybe I’ll include my critique of the roo meat when I get to McDonalds.

Tonight looks like a club night. I’ve heard some rumors about $1 beers, so we’ll see what happens.

Oh yeah, before I forget, last night: On my way back from dinner/making my last post, I ran into an outdoor market right on the beach. People were out selling a whole bunch of homemade stuff. Really cool. So I looked through that for a while, then wandered some more around the city, which by the way is called Surfer’s Paradise. I stopped by an Irish pub that had some live music. Overall, a pretty fun time.

Well, I’m off to hunt some kangaroo meat.

Gold Coast!

Well, with some difficulty, we made it to the Gold Coast. We had to leave for the airport at 3:30am. Then, our group was split onto 3 different flights. Someone dropped the ball. I was lucky enough to be on the first one. After the flight into Brisbane, we drove to the coast. It seemed to take about 43 hours, but it was closer to 2.5. Now that we're here, it's amazing. Our hotel is right next to the beach, and the downtown area. So, it looks like it's going to be a fun end to the trip. We spent most of the day in transit, to/from the airport, to lunch, etc. But once we got settled, I had some time to check out the beach. It is SO cool. I'll snap a few pictures tomorrow, I'm sure, and then you'll see what I mean. I wish it was a little bit hotter, but it's still nice. Tomorrow might be surf day. It all depends on the weather, so fingers crossed.

Tonight, I've decided to lay low, and venture around myself. The group is considering going to a club, and I think I'd rather check out the city on my own. So, I've begun by coming here to McDonalds, to use the wifi, because our hotel, while it is great, values its internet at $8 an hour. So instead, for my $8, I get a happy meal with a side of computer time.

Like I said, today was mostly uneventful so far. Just lots of travelling. The rest of the trip is going to be composed mostly of relaxing. So I'll try my best to drum up some interesting things for y'all to read about. Although, I can really see myself spending all my time napping on the beach. I just know I'm going to come home looking like a lobster.

Great Ocean Road

Today, we woke up early and drove down the Great Ocean Road, a long road along the coast commemorating WWI soldiers. It was a good time, lots of sitting on the bus though. Most of the day was spend taking pictures. We had a quick stop in Torquay (pronounced Taw-kee) which is apparently the birthplace of surfing. All the surf companies that exist in America were started in garages in Torquay. That dominates the city. All the stores were basically surf shops, and 1 Mcdonald's. That was a good time, then back in the bus. We stopped at a place by the beach called Andrew's Chicken Joint, thought most of us got fish. The food was pretty good, even if the service was subpar. The rest of the time was taking pictures, and seeing animals.

We got pretty close to the ocean today. I may have gotten a little too close. I was down taking pictures, and a big tide came in while I wasn't paying attention. It washed up almost to my knees. I felt like the biggest idiot in the hemisphere. In my defense, nobody explained to me how the ocean works. So I had the distinction of having wet shoes all day. Awesome. It wasn't too bad though, I experienced the ocean in more ways than anyone else did. George told me that the water we saw today comes directly off of Antarctica, so that was pretty cool. I washed in Antarctic waters, I suppose.

Here are some of the better pictures from the trip today.

A volcano near Melbourne, the name escapes me now

Just a couple blurry views from the bus

Roos!

We got fairly close

Some views of the merciless sea.

Birds everywhere outside Andrew's Chicken Joint

Lazy Koalas

More birds Everywhere!

Waterfall