WANDER
"NOTHING EVER HAPPENS LIKE YOU IMAGINE IT WILL"
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Restless in Labrador
April 21, 2015
It was early evening time on a random Tuesday and we were both feeling quite restless in our stuffy room. We headed down to surfers since the weather was nice and we wanted to get out of the house. The cool breeze turned into a pretty chilly wind by the time we got down there. To our pleasant surprise, we found a couple extra visitors in the middle of the shops! Massive koala statues were scattered around the walkways and along the beach. They all had different themes; one was even painted as Santa! Naturally, pictures were taken with every single one of them. We managed to make it to the beach before sundown, taking a stroll along the water in the cold sand. We stopped and asked some passer-bys to snap a photo of us and the sweet horizon. As the sun slowly disappeared the shore became a little cold for our bare feet. Wandering back into the bustling streets of Surfer’s Paradise, we found ourselves outside of Max Brenner’s keen for some hot chocolate. So Max Brenner’s is basically a little cafe that only serves forms of chocolate. Hot chocolate, milkshakes, cakes, pastries, chocolate fondue, waffles, ice cream, anything your chocolate filled heart can think of, even chocolate pizzas!! Linds chose the American marshmallow hot chocolate and I went for the salted caramel one. They were served in a “hug mug” which you cup in both hands for that extra cozy feeling :) With our tummies full of warm chocolate, we hopped on the tram to head back home and snuggle up in our heat-less house for the night.
Best Day Ever
March 19, 2015
So this day started of bright and early with a trial at 6:30am. If you’re not familiar (which I wasn’t), a trial is basically when you are thrown straight into a shift with no type of training to see how you hold up. I’ve completed a few trails so far and they seem pretty ineffective to me. I have worked in the service industry for over five years. I know how to serve tables, clear plates, blah blah blah. I have no issues with that aspect, however every place I have been to asks me to do things as if I’ve been working there for years. Go grab some silverware and set the tables… Ok, where do you keep it? Run this food to table 12… Want to show me a floor map first?
Anyway, I had my first trial at Café Koncubine (a local coffee shop) which went quite well and I landed a second trial for the upcoming Sunday.
After the trial I headed to campus, skipping my first lecture to attend an informational session on VISAs (you know, in case I want to stay longer ;) ). The rest of the day was pretty normal until I was sitting in my second lecture and saw that Steve Cook would be in the area for a meet and greet. Instantly, I researched the address and bus schedules, sent a text to Lindsey, and left class. She met me on campus and we headed to Ashmore. After almost an hour in line, we were face to face with Steve Cook! I was honestly a little surprised at how down to earth he was and he was extremely easy to hold a conversation with. He recognized our American accents right and way and said it was comforting to meet his fellow people (we definitely agreed). The small chat and flexing was worth the wait. My day only got better when I got home to find my parents had sent me a care package! Full of goodies like peanut butters (5 to be exact), pop tarts, and pb M&M’s (my favorites). It was the perfect ending to the best day and I’m pretty sure I went to sleep smiling.
St. Patty's Down Under
March 17, 2015
This day kind of snuck up on us probably because Australians do not celebrate it as thoroughly as us Americans. In America, St. Patty’s day is basically a holiday; with green beers, parades, and non-green wearing pinches. Here, you’d have no idea it even existed which is a little strange as they seem to have an odd obsession with Irish bars (they are everywhere in Surfer’s). Obviously, as Americans, we decided to go out and celebrate. Well, that was the plan anyway. Arriving in Surfer’s Paradise there was not much green anywhere. As we got closer to the first bar, Fiddler’s, we saw that it was packed with people and all shades of green. We finally made it to the inside bar only to find out that they were only accepting cash (how stupid). Lindsey had enough coins on her to buy a Guiness, but I only had a card. We wandered to the stage and people watched for a little, surprised at how sloppy the majority of people were (it was only 9 at this point). Out of cash, we headed to our favorite, Waxy’s Pub. This place was also packed, but the live music was much better. After an aggravating experience at the bar (hospitality really does not exist here), we discovered that there was an upstairs with much more room to breathe. We spent the remainder of the night upstairs, leaving a few hours later in order to catch the last tram home. Not quite like any of the St. Patty’s I’ve experienced before.
Roxy/Quiksilver Pro
March 13, 2015
Being that Lindsey finally had a whole day off from her awful new job, we decided to go check out the Roxy/Quiksilver Pro. We took the tram all the way to the last stop, Broadbeach, and from there caught a bus out to Kirra beach. We headed straight to Snapper Rocks, the southern end of Rainbow Bay, which is famous amongst surfers for its surf breaks. It was pretty packed when we arrived so we found a spot up on the rocks along the back of the beach. It was intensely hot that day. We were surprised at how many school kids we saw running around being that it was a Friday afternoon. Heading down closer to the shore we found a spot right in front of where the pros enter. Neither of us were too familiar with the names of the surfers, but when they called out Mick Fanning the people around us got quite excited. He came out and ran right past us, if we stuck our hands out we could have touched him. Before entering the water he sat Indian style on the beach and closed his eyes, meditating. People crowded around him and were taking pictures. We ended up staying for a few hours. Although the waves were small and inconsistent, we were amazed at how easy they made it look. After we’d had enough sun for the day we decided to head back, strolling back to the bus and checking out all the cute little stores along the way. I was really impressed by the suburb of Kirra and Coolangatta. It’s exactly what you picture when you think of Australia; clear water, white beaches, friendly locals, and hardly any obnoxious tourists. I think it’s definitely somewhere I could see myself living.
The Spit
March 10, 2015
After venturing to Surfer’s Paradise beach a few weeks ago we wanted to find a beach that was less crowded. I came across a small beach a little further north called The Spit. We looked up how to reach the location through public transport and after a couple buses and the tram we found the beach which was tucked away behind the trees. The rocks that lined the left side of the beach had a sign that read “bait lines have been dropped to attract sharks.” We shared a glance and started to laugh, as that is just our luck. However, the beach was on the other side of the rocks (luckily) so we decided frolicking in the waves would be safe. We observed the local surfers catching some waves, encountered several dogs who ran from their owners up onto our blanket, and I enjoyed my peanut butter and jelly that I packed haha. We eventually went into the water and played in the ocean with our GoPros. The waves were little but super strong, knocking me over a couple times. After taking a beating from the waves and swallowing a little too much salt water, we laid out to dry off and bake a little. Quick stop at the ice cream shop and we headed back home to compare tan (and burn) lines.
Mount Warning... Round Two
March 4, 2015
It’s the night before my first day of Uni (that’s what they call college here) when Jamie, our in-home Australian, comes to our door and asks if we want to try to see the sunrise at Mount Warning for real this time. Lindsey wasn’t feeling too well and declined as she was going to attempt to sleep off an oncoming cold. I debated for a little bit about whether it was a good idea or not to hike a mountain at three in the morning when I had class all day starting at 10. “No one looks back on their life and remembers the nights they had plenty of sleep.” The second that quote ran through my mind I agreed to tag along. It was a great decision. After about an hour of climbing to the top, we made it to the summit just as the sun was coming up. There are really no words that could ever describe what I was looking at. As the sun was creeping up from behind the clouds, it painted pastels along the skyline. The clouds looked like white cotton candy and as the sun met them, turned every shade of orange. Eventually the sun rose to its high position in the sky, clearing the clouds, and revealing the landscape of mountains below. There is nothing you can do but stand in awe of the beauty that is nature. To think that something as breathtaking as this happens every single day, it gives new perspectives. Anyway, we eventually hustled our way down the mountain (surprisingly without falling this time). We had added a few more friends to our group and I enjoyed the light conversations as we walked. We got back to the car around 7 (New South Wales is an hour behind Queensland). The other two roommates who had tagged along passed out almost instantly. I stayed awake to make sure Jamie remained conscious. I noticed his eyes getting quite heavy so we pulled off to find some caffeine. He gave me a weird Australian fruit ice cream bar to try. I say weird, but it was quite delicious. He knocked out some pushups to get the blood flowing and we made it back just in time to catch the tram and I embarked on my first day of Uni :)
“O-week” is now over and to end the week of orientation, Griffith threw a beach-themed party at the Uni-Bar (which is the bar on campus…yeah you read that right). I convinced Lindsey to tag along and we made our way to campus. We were greeted with a lei and then headed straight to the bar. We wandered over to the function center attached and found a huge dance floor with another bar and a giant inflatable shark floating above our heads. We danced for a little bit then decided we needed another round. I grabbed some kind of watermelon flavored cocktail and Lindsey ordered a “shot” of Fireball. Now, I put that in quotations because the size of their pours here is quite comical (check out the pic). We ventured deep into the dance floor and danced until we could no longer handle the sweatiness. By that time it was 11:30 and the campus bar closes at midnight, however it offers free shuttle service to wherever the after party is located. Tonight it was a place in Surfer’s Paradise called Shooter’s. We ended up grabbing a ride over there with our roommate and met up with a few people we had made friends with earlier. We were really enjoying ourselves; dancing and laughing until a couple guys behind us kept getting a little too close. They bumped into us several times so naturally, as American girls, we gave them a nudge back in hopes they would get the hint. Next thing we know, it felt as though a drink was splashed onto us. Nope. One of the boys SPIT on us. Lindsey and I exchanged looks. We were flabbergasted. As we proceeded to ask if that’s how they treat girls in Australia he tried to convince us that he had sneezed. Which was a joke. After that moment of infuriating shock we eventually cooled down and went back to enjoying our night. As we walked to the car at the end of the night we took a stroll along the beach, flexed a little, and headed home to pass out.
February 27, 2015
A Night Down Under
Stay left... Stay left... STAY LEFT
February 18, 2015
“Your adventure starts here” is what the sign outside the front door of Jucy Rentals read. Little did we know just how much of an adventure we were about to embark on. We navigated our way to Brisbane, adjusted our insurance to “stress free” (because let’s face it – we need it), signed the papers and hopped into our camper! We were so excited to spend the next five days exploring the North coast of Queensland. We had plans to stop at the Australia zoo (Steve Irwin’s zoo), play in a field of giant sunflowers, and spend a day or so exploring a beach called 1770. I was the first to hop behind the steering wheel and it was a little disorientating to say the least. Everything is opposite, even the windshield wipers and indicators. I got the hang of it pretty quickly and soon enough we were singing and dancing to the radio. At one point we made a detour in hopes of finding a winery, but the road never ended and instead we got out, taking some pictures and stretching. But then we heard the weather reports. There were two cyclones heading to the coast of Queensland. When we heard it was only a category two, the Floridians in us just shrugged it off. However as only hours passed, the storm increased to a category 5 and was predicted to hit the exact city we were traveling to (of course...). It was about 10 at night by this time and we had pulled over to discuss our options. As we listened to the weather reports and spoke to locals, we decided to head back as flash floods were extreme in the area. With our coffees and a giant bag of Doritos, we started the drive back… only to find that our campervan was now violently shaking the faster it went. Just our luck. Lindsey was on the phone with the Jucy helpline and with a little bit of sass and quite a bit of embarrassment we discovered the emergency brake had somehow been pulled when we were converting the back seat into a bed. Whoops. After we caught our breath from laughing so hard we drove the 5 hours back and made it home around 3 a.m. Luckily when we dropped off the camper the next day, Jucy gave us a credit for the days we were not able to use. The whole thing was quite an ordeal, but next time we will definitely check the weather beforehand!
Mastering public transport
February 17, 2015
You never truly realize how much you rely on your car until the day you no longer have one. I’ve never had to use public transportation as my main way of getting around. Being here for a little over a week now, I’d say that has probably been the hardest part. G:link (the city’s tram) was not too hard to navigate as it only goes back and forth all day and it comes every 10 minutes or so no matter which stop you’re at. The bus routes are a whole other story. Just looking at the map of buses will give you a headache. I don’t think we’ve had a completely successful ride yet. And for some reason not many people have answers to our many questions, not even the bus drivers. Sometimes, though, catching the wrong bus or getting off at the wrong stop can make for quite an adventure. Exploring the nearby streets can reveal awesome surprises such as this wall covered in impressive art. Other times it can be just downright frustrating. However, from each missed stop and wrong bus we take, we are slowly learning how to get around here. Slowly, but for damn surely.
3 AM adventures
February 14, 2015
As we were sitting at the living room table discussing American/Australian sweets with our new roommate, he pitched the idea we go to “Mount Warning” (a dormant volcano) and watch the sun rise from the peak. Apparently it’s the highest point in New South Wales and you can see the sun rise before anyone else in the country at this point. So we headed to bed to get a few hours sleep before waking up at three and driving over to the national park. We started the climb around 4:30, it was pitch black and not a soul in sight. The hike up was around 3 miles and was constant climbing. We used the light from our iPhones to somewhat light the way and eventually made it to the peak. Our roommate was little disappointed because it was pretty cloudy so the sunrise wasn’t that spectacular, but I thought it was the coolest thing. We were literally sitting in a cloud. On the way down, when we could actually see what was around us, the forest had woken up and was chirping with all sorts of funny-sounding birds. There were small streams of water running down the mountain from the rain and every so often there was a break in the trees and we would stop to admire the skyline of mountains. Ever seen the movie Ferngully? It was just like that. The hike down was much quicker and included a few more activities such as learning some Aussie lingo, stopping to be tourists, removing some leeches(no worries, mate), and a couple of falls every now and then. We struggled to keep our eyes open on the way home, but we managed to make it back to the beach house safe and sound. And straight back to bed zzzzz
Surfer's
After locking in our new place we were left with quite a lot of free time. The next few days before moving in we spent most of the days exploring Surfer’s Paradise. It has a “downtown” feel with lots of little shops, restaurants, bars, and retail stores. There was a shop called “Dracula’s” that had all sorts of creepy things to buy and even an in-store haunted house to walk through. We found a little arts and crafts fair that ran all the way down the beach with locals selling everything from essential oils to homemade macaroons to dream catchers and carvings. There were plenty of places that interested me for work in this area. Particularly a small chocolate bar called Max Brenner, because let’s be real, when you’re working with chocolate…is that even really work? :)
Pursuit of paradise
February 9, 2015
Well, here it is! Our little piece of paradise (although this whole place has been paradise thus far). It’s located in a small neighborhood with the beach just a block up the street and Griffith only a couple miles down the road. The hustle and bustle of Surfer’s Paradise city streets is only a short bus ride away (but we have yet to fully conquer public transportation here). The windows stay open so we are constantly greeted by the steady ocean breeze and it has rained quite a few nights while we’ve been here which has been the most peaceful sound to fall asleep to. Coffee on the front porch in the mornings, our guitar-playing roommate singing quietly during the day, and a glass of red wine as the night ends…
It’s not a bad life :)