So my friend Iris decided it was time to take a vacation and it just so happened she knew someone (me) living in Australia, so she decided to fly out and see how things were down-under. I’ve been holding off doing some exploring because I knew I had friends visiting while I was over here and it’s a lot more fun sharing experiences.
For sanity’s sake, I am chopping this up into four separate posts:
- Welcome To The Gold Coast
- Climbing Sydney
- Swimming Through The Forest
- Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig
Warning, these are long posts, but I have included photos 🙂 click the “Read the rest of this entry” to venture forth…
Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig
From June 7th to June 10th
Day Sixteen:
It was time to wake up (god-awful-early) because we had a 7am flight back to Brisbane Airport. We were up and checked out by 5am. A quick ride to the airport, followed a long line of people checking in (seriously, who flys this early in the morning … on a Wednesday?!?). I then found my way to the cafe (oh caffeine how I worship thee) and a relatively quick flight back to Brisbane. We were picked up by Kristen and Sally (it was so good to see her out of the hospital) and then off to home in Southport (with one quick coffee stop for Kristen 🙂 ).
Once home, showers, laundry and internet, we were good for the rest of the day.
Day Seventeen:
I was up and out the door with Kristen to go pickup our car from the shop. Kristen’s dad (that wonderful man) had talked to the shop and got them to rebuild our transmission for a total of $750 (yay, I was worried we were going to end up paying $1300 from the initial quote we were given). On the way back Kristen and I passed a massive accident on the freeway, a truck had crossed over the the opposite lanes and was completely crossing our side of the road (and three cars were spread about in various stages of destruction). After we got home, we sat around, had lunch, watched some tv (which was a nice change from running around everyday) and then Iris and I decided to head back to the Zorbing and Go-Kart place. This time we each took one personal ride down the hill and then did a double wet ride, where they shove both of us into the same ball with lots of water and rolled us down the hill, it was fun. After our rides, I noticed the owner was setting up a crushing machine, I talked to him and he told me how he used to crush fresh sugar cane juice at market places and sell it. He was pulling out his machine to lend it to one of his workers for their birthday party. He was setting it up to make everything worked and invited Iris and I to stick around and they would crush some fresh juice for us. He mentioned that it went well with fresh ginger or lime, but he didn’t have any on hand at the time. He showed the coworker how to set it up, and then started crushing fresh cane. I was expecting something a bit thick, but it wasn’t, it was really sweet yet refreshing.
After that, we had another go at the Go-Karts and I was able to shave my top time down to 49.93 seconds (woot!). We then trolled around for a place to have dinner. Iris spotted an Irish pub/restaurant/motel called the “D’arcy Arms” where we had a wonderful meal of garlic loaf, potato/leek/bacon soup, steak in a stilton/port/fennel sauce, and an Irish stew pie (so good that we planned to drop by for lunch tomorrow).
Afterwards we headed home, and we all closed out the night chatting with Kristen, Sally, and Sergio (a friend from LA).
Day Eighteen:
After a slow late-morning wake up (finally), we dropped off our underwater photos to be developed, discovered the D’arcy Arms was not open for lunch :-(, so we grabbed some kebabs and headed out to the beach to watch the surf. After lunch, we wandered around Surfers, and visited Q1 “The worlds tallest residential tower.” where we rode the one of the fastest elevators (77 floors in 40 seconds) and then were treated to stunning 360 views of the Gold Coast at sunset. They had a bar/cafe so we both got drinks, some desert and relaxed for a while. Then it was off to some shopping for Iris (presents for friends at home), pickup our photos, and then back home where we grabbed both Kristen and Sally and were off to Karnak (the Lebanese restaurant on the wine trail we had visited when Iris first arrived). We had a good dinner of mezas, kebabs, lamb, and dessert. Then it was back home to pack.
Day Nineteen:
It was time for Iris to bid farewell to everyone. We did the final walkthroughs, check the bags, passports, tickets, etc. Then it was off the the airport. We made our way through checkin (note to self, when I leave, get there EARLY, that was one long line) then some final shopping for friends, a coffee & juice, a shared croissant, and our final goodbyes.
… and thus ended Iris’s whirlwind tour of Australia.