First of all: Here is my number: 0061414380913. Call me whenever you like, as there is no such thing as sleep in Australia!!! Jk. but who has time to sleep when you are in the most exciting time of your life? :) Ok, today I am in Brisbane CBD debating staying in a hostel another night or staying with Jellaine. I am going to start planning my trip north this weekend, yay. :) Here’s the post I wrote the other day, about my time in Surfer’s:
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I am sitting on another bus, this time finally heading north. Its just one of the first bus rides I’ll take out of…many. I went ahead and bought the Premeir Bus Pass. I have three months to ride north, get off wherever I please, all the way up to Cairns. I think the last time I updated I was leaving Byron bay and heading on up to Surfer’s Paradise, which was on a Sunday. Today is Thursday and I’ve had a good time here in Surfer’s. Very low key and ultra chill which was nice after the hectic nights at Byron bay.
I caught a taxi ride to Michael’s house, (the cute blonde guy in the blue shirt in the Surfer’s pics) Anyways, he invited me to stay with him when I came back through, so I did. He’s a true Aussie guy, to the core. Let me explain. There are a few key characteristics of Aussie men, and he had them all. First, most obviously, looks. He’s built solid, blonde, a diehard fan of Steve Irwin and beer, and athletically built for rugby, footy, surfing, and any other sport that Aussie’s characteristically obsess over, and of course, mumbles his words out and makes his slang driven speech almost impossible to interpret at times, ay? That’s another thing about the ‘stralian (don’t pronounce the aus) language as utilized by the young. You want people to know you have finished your sentence, and being ‘stralian, you make your sentences sound like a question, so…just finish every sentence with, “ay” That’s ozzie speech 101 for ya, ay. Another word: heaps. Anything that means a lot, a little bit/a lot/ tons = heaps. You can even have heaps of friends, heaps of luggage, heaps of anything. Try it sometime, its heaps of fun. Maybe because I’ve been hanging out with so many ozzies lately, but I wanna add an “ay” at the end of everything I say, ay. It doesn’t even have to logically fit, you can just throw it in there anytime, ay. But this is all meant in a very lighthearted way. I love it. Just wish the men here didn’t mumble so much, because then its hard to understand. Or, if you’re a lady, instead of saying the truly Aussie (pronounced ozzie) “no worries”, you may fall into the hip habit of stating, “its all right”. You can even use it to say that you find something agreeable or likeable. It’s all English but so different…at least its not as indecipherable as those northern Irish, that’s a lost cause, ay. back to the point….
(Side note: found the best juice combo in the world, apple, banana, mango, so good, I urge everyone to get a fresh juice today!) So Michael works an hour north in Brisbane doing construction, tearing down buildings and stuff. Hard labor. But he got a few days off while I was here. He and his roommate are so chill. Oh, and about the Steve Irwin thing, they have a bronze statue figurine of Steve holding a gator on top of their TV. And they cherish it. They even have over a dozen episodes of the Croc Hunter recorded and they have favorites. Classic. So the whole week with these guys was really relaxes as they were just happy to have some down time. We did a lot of lounging..watching cheesy surf movies, lots of animal planet, and just hanging. Michael is a sweet person though, a gentleman surprisingly. But let’s see…the first day he woke me up at 7:30, which was surprisingly easy considering I hadn’t been up that early in ages. He’s used to being on the road to work by five so I guess he’s been waiting a while to wake me. He took me to breakfast at this little café on this fancy street, Tedder Ave. I had an Aussie breakfast, eggs with baked beans, veggie mite on toast with butter. (Which, by the way mom, if you want to try the veggie mite I sent you, put heaps of butter on the toast with a bit of the veggiemite, its not too bad, ay?) We started talking about what to do with his days off and he wanted to take me to Noosa to learn to surf. I thought that was pretty sweet of him. We already missed the bus by the time we got back so it didn’t happen, but that’s some points for the thought. But he’s a good guy, and he’s rich. lol ;) So I cooked he and Daniel, his roomie, dinner that night, a stir fry. The next day we went to run errands and have breakfast and decided to have a real Aussie BBQ. He got steaks and then made tofu skewers for me with mushrooms, capsicum (peppers), onion and the works, and then had a fresh salad too, oh and heaps of beer. It was the best meal I’ve had while here and it was the best authentic aussie bbq I could have had. It took place at his house, which happens to be located on a canal overlooking the city. We set up the hammock in the palm trees and went for a swim in his pool, which is in the middle of his courtyard/house place. We even climbed the roof to watch the sunset, but there was “heaps of clouds” so jumped from the roof to the pool instead, well, he did. He was like a little kid, “watch this mom!” Let’s see… we also went to the beach where he surfed (its too cold for me to get in yet). This was pretty funny, these guys are so typically…Jax beach. I rode his roommate’s bike, one of those low riders with the high handle bas, while he skateboarded to get to the beach. lol. But even when things are so chill, I always get worried about staying too long. So I decided to meet up with these kids I met in Byron who are traveling the same route as me. Brian is from Georgia and is a true bull dogs fan ( I like to taunt him with gator chants, and Alabama ones too, Roll Tide!) and Andrew from Ireland. And that’s where I am now, meeting them in Brisbane to go out for the night. Tomorrow I will go and meet Jellaine. She broke up with her boyfriend (YESSS!!) so I am going to see if I can’t help her move her stuff out. She’s very happy with her decision and is actually going to England to meet up with Panda/Hickey (CS in Melbourne, where we met!!) They actually hit if off last weekend, they were both in Syndey by chance and got to hang out for the afternoon J And that’s as much planning as I have, which is enough for me but this whole tour package is making me set in dates and usually that’s very comforting for me, but I am finding that it is restricting now! I just want to keep living moment by moment and if I feel like taking a bus that afternoon to go somewhere new, then I’ll do it. But now I have to live with planning a few days advance. It’s funny how relaxed I’ve become in planning. How great! Well, more to come later. <3
