I met up with the group, enjoyed day 1 of corn flakes (which prompted me to start recording my breakfast consumption. After 4 days of Corn Flakes, just in Brisbane then 2 consecutive days of Rice Crispies, or their version of that anyways, I decided to start counting. For not enjoying cereal, I'm curious to see how many days I enjoy the same exact stuff). Not long after the Vegemite challenge became a hit. Although I wasn't daring enough to try it, the expressions on their faces explained plenty for me.
The Culture and Information session was next on the agenda. Although they were quite lengthy, I really enjoyed the first couple days of them. It is much easier to have them tell you about the slang vs you looking like a silly American trying to guess... Or worse, inserting the wrong Aussie word into a sentence. Ummm... Tourist?!?!!! They explained things like how to speak, how restaurants are different, how Australians view Americans, and to not say they drive on the "wrong" side of the road... always the "other" side of the road. They explained that in this culture it is better for you to try and fail than to not even try at all because you think you won't be good at it (the American way).
I liked hearing about the culture, and soon I would come to find out that I love living in it, too. They say "Cheers" for 'thank you' and "No worries" for 'you're welcome'. Life is slower here. For the most part, the only people blowing past you on the streets are moms or fellow Americans (this is a significant generalization, of course). Tour Guide Todd explained that he works in an office and when he would get up and walk quickly to the printer, his fellow Aussies would laugh and ask him why he was in such a hurry to get there. And I like that. :o)
At the end of the session, we got our international cell phones. This caused somewhat of a commotion, just for the people that brought them from home, then you add in some technical difficulties, then lightly sprinkle a few panicked uptight people because they paid for phones and have parents expecting to call at that VERY SECOND (ugh... obviously they haven't adjusted to the chill Aussie culture yet). I got my phone and it stayed in the box for almost 48 hours. I had every intention of pulling it out and activating it... But I was finally content. These faces around me were starting to become familiar, we started relating to one another, and we started sharing some good laughs (don't let me fool you, I was still on Skype for a significant part of my day, I just didn't feel the need to carry around a phone).
Day 2 meant that it was Zoo Day. For those of you that know me, you understand that I don't fancy zoos (sorry Aunt Staci). But it was time to experience the culture for all that it was. And that meant getting a little dirty, smelling some interesting smells, and not screaming too loud when I encountered snakes/spiders. On the upside, we had a fabulous barbeque for lunch and almost (literally) stepped on a peacock on our way in. At 12:30 we were told to go explore and had until 4pm to enjoy the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and all it had to offer. So we kind of looked around at each other... and pulled out the maps. Some didn't even have to think - they wanted to see everything, twice. The rest of us planned out what looked good, fun, and interesting. First up, KOALAS!!! Cute little buggers. I wanted to cuddle one and I wanted to see a baby! Great success:
Dinner that night was up to us. Downside - we had to pay for it. Upside - we were set free in the city of Brisbane to do as we pleased. Looking back at this night... it makes me laugh. We're such silly tourists. Because, as a group, we had been growing closer and bonding like good little kiddies, so we decided to meet in the lobby and attempt to do an "independent" group dinner. That was the idea anyways. We ended up being the most indecisive, confused, hungry people in the entire country. The plan was to head to a nearby strip of shops and restaurants.
Super cute. Super classy. They had pizza (no, not American), they had sushi (no, too expensive), they had Che Bistro (no, too snobbish). We walked and we walked and we walked... many of us in circles. Long story short, after a solid 45 mintues we ended up at: Hog's Breath Cafe.
I know... super classy, we are. Ha! It was a mix between Texas Roadhouse and an Applebees. There were things on the menu that sounded amazing, not too pricy, and let's face it... It was time for a large glass of wine for this girl!!!!! We ended up having a blast with a small group of 6. I indulged in pasta for the second night in a row and even splurged on some bread with Sarah. It was perfect.
Once again, the group dressed up and hit the town and I could have cared less. It was time for bed. My body still wasn't adjusted to a 16-hour time difference yet.
The next morning started out quite similar to the one previous. At 6am I was awake and ready for the day, hopped on the internet and checked to see how the afternoon was going back at home. Turns out, things were going just fine without me. ;o) The plan for the day was to have a Culture Info session then head out on the day's adventure. For various reasons, the session was cancelled so it was time to peel away from the laptop and take a good ol' fashioned walk. And I'm SO glad I did!! 5 of us girls grabbed our cameras and our flip flops and took off looking for anything worthy of a picture. We walked over incredible bridges, checked out the ancient city buildings (some from the 1800s), and stood in awe of their modern architecture.
It was Kayaking Day. Any person in their right mind would be excited for this. I, on the other hand, am athletically challenged (that's why I play pageants) and wasn't so hot on the idea. We loaded onto a bus at 11am and headed for Riverlife. Here, we had lunch and had the opportunity to see one of the coolest things yet: An aboriginal show. Wow. Cool stuff right there! They had some of our group members get up there and learn their "Happy Dance" (perfect photo opp for the rest of the group!). Afterwards, we all painted up and got a group picture with them.
An hour and a half of kayaking?!?! Oh. My. Goodness. I really didn't want to do this. But we stripped down to our suits, took off our sunglasses, laid on the sunscreen, and gathered around for some instructions. Not long after they were lowering boats into the water. Even up to the point of me climbing down the ladder to my kayak, I just remember thinking, "Gosh, I don't want to do this". I got in. And didn't tip it over. Found my balance. And started rowing. Not so bad at ALL! We rowed nearly a quarter mile down the river and gosh, what a workout!!!!! At one point, Tour Guide Todd looked at me and said, "You look like you were born for that boat." BOOM! Go figure, I do have an athletic bone in my body!!
Once we made it to our "destination" (fighting the tide the whole way) we all linked boats and made a large circle. What came next may shock you... it shocked me! The guide counted all of us off. I was #6. Directly across the circle from me, there was another #6. When he called my number, I had to get up and RUN to the other side of the circle on the back of the kayaks, with the objective of beating the other person to the empty boat. With not much choice, I did it. And had fun doing that, too. This day was truly a day of personal victories. (I apologize to all of you that would have died to do what I did and I was complaining and resisting it... but at least I got something out of it, eh?!).
We floated back to Riverlife. Climbed the cliff. And headed back to the hostel for a couple hours down time before our group dinner.
The people in Austraila love their Thai food! Tour Guide Todd told us it was better here because they are closer to Thailand. I dunno... just go with it. It was Thursday, and finally my night to dress up and go out. I was rested and adjusted. After dinner, the plan was to have some fun! We sat down for dinner at 7pm, in a very small, authentic Thai place. We took up almost the whole restaurant! And gosh, we are loud Americans! At 8pm, we still had no food and had worked up quite the appetite after kayaking for hours prior! So, a few girls and myself decided we were going to take advantage of the restaurant being a BYO [definition - In Australia, it is common for restaurants to be BYO's. And it is exactly that. You are invited to bring your own beer or wine into their place of business and enjoy it with your dinner]. We ran across the street and bought a delicious bottle of Reisling... which made the next HOUR of waiting for food much more enjoyable. At 9pm there was a parade of Thai food that came rolling from the kitchen. I cannot even begin to explain how much food we ended up having. After waiting 2 hours for food, then being stuffed to the brim, even the mere thought of going out on the town disgusted me. So back to a comfy bed Molly and I walked. Except I had just enjoyed half a bottle of wine and thought that Dustin would enjoy talking to me. That poor guy was woken up at 5am to find a chatterbox on the other end. He didn't even shut me up... 56 minutes later we said goodnight and I called it a day.
We were only halfway done with our time in Brisbane. And little did I know... the best was yet to come.
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