World's longest post: Brisbane and Manly
On Sunday the 16th we had a relaxing beach day with boogie boards and surf boards borrowed from the hostel. The waves hardly had any rest between them, so it was kind of exhausting trying to catch one on either board before the next one would try to drown you. I got around to kneeling on the surf board and riding a wave in, but standing was definitely not on the agenda, especially since I've had no instruction. I suntanned for awhile after that and then went for a walk around town to get some food and see what there was for internet cafes. The one I found was just as expensive as the hostel, so I just went on there later. I thought I put sunscreen everywhere, but I obviously missed my chest, because I got a wicked burn there... minus the part where my necklace was, so I look pretty dumb now. Did you know that Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world?
There were lots of parasailers out.
In the evening I started feeling a little down... a combination of not going to bed til 4am and then getting up at 8am, being out in the sun too much, and being a little homesick for the first time. I borrowed a rusty bike from the hostel that clicked every time I pedaled, and took it down the river, only a couple blocks away. I sat on the edge and watched a young man fishing on the other side, with a pelican waiting for scraps nearby. He waddled awkwardly near the man, tipping his great weight from side to side as he watched him out of the corner of his eye and feigned a nonchalant demeanor. He eventually made his way nearer and nearer to him, before becoming startled when the man cast his line again and waddling quickly into the water, where he was obviously most comfortable. He paddled only a few times before returning to shore to continue his begging. I amused myself with this display for awhile before moving down the river a little to watch a storm moving in, complete with lightning. I returned to the hostel soon after to beat the rain, and good thing I did because it POURED and there were HUGE cracks of thunder and lightning, one of which took the power out momentarily.
Monday morning (the 17th), I decided to change up my Brisbane plan a little bit. I went to Manly (a different one from the one near Sydney... I guess they ran out of names in Australia, heh), about 20 minutes east of Brisbane. It sounded like a nice place in my guide book, and I had four days until the concert, so I took the opportunity to see as much of the area as possible. Besides, it was raining, so I thought I might as well spend the day travelling. So David and Danielle dropped me off at the Translink centre, which is a bus/train combo, and left to continue driving north. I waited an hour and a half for the bus, then took it to the train station half an hour later, only to find out that a train had derailed down the line and I would have to take another bus to another point beyond that. I waited half an hour for it to come, then spent another half hour on the bus, then one hour on the train to Brisbane and yet another half hour to Manly. Phew! I gave the hostel a call and a guy came to pick me up (most hostels will do this, which is very helpful). The hostel wasn't as nice as I was expecting (for one, I er, found a bed bug), but I'll save the rant for myself and anyone specifically interested.
On Tuesday it was still raining, so I took the free hostel shuttle bus into Brisbane to use the free internet at the State Library and check out the free art gallery and museum. I spent most of the afternoon researching hostels in Brisbane for the next day. It's hard to choose one when they all have bad reviews! But I ended up talking to a guy who had just come from the one I was considering, so I took his word that it was good and booked that. I wish I had brought my laptop, because they had free wireless as well, and I couldn't access the USB ports on the library's computers to update my blog. Anyhoo, then, realizing it was past 4, I packed up to have a quick look at the free art gallery and museum next door, as they closed at 5. If I had known they would be so interesting, I would have gone much earlier.
The museum had a lot of natural history in it, including these lifesize humpback whales in the entry.
A tri-SARAH-tops skull. ;)
All the spiders in Australia are this big.
As it was getting dark and starting to pour rain again, I walked the couple blocks to the train station.
I passed the new viewpoint wheel thing-ma-jig, similar to the London Eye.
I arrived back in Manly cold, wet, tired, and hungry. I got some groceries, and then went to socialize a bit so I wouldn't have to be in the cluttered dorm room. These half-drunk Kiwi girls sat down next to the fellow I was talking to and invited us to have some of their chocolate cheesecake. The girls were saying they had always wanted to put a pie in someone's face; I said that would be delicious, and of course they took that as me volunteering to let them do it to me. I didn't actually say they could do it, but thanks to the lack of inhibitions that alcohol tends to lend its consumers, they took the liberty of assuming permission and soon I had chocolate all over me. I played along and was a good sport, but resisted the urge to start a food fight in a place already struggling to keep bugs in check. I still hadn't eaten by that point and didn't want to try to cook in the messy kitchen, so treated myself to an $8 steak sandwich at the Irish pub around the corner.
The Manly Hotel, across from the hostel, the next morning.
On Wednesday afternoon I finally got to have some fun in Manly. I found out that, as my guidebook had mentioned, there were sailboat races on Wednesdays, and if you went down to the yacht club, you could tag along!
Manly's marina is the second largest in the southern hemisphere, with over 1000 boats.
Two other girls from the hostel (who were from Toronto and had just arrived in Australia that morning) were also there, and we all went on a boat with about ten guys from the club. I had no idea so many people could fit on a sailboat! I also didn't know that sailboats go at a 45 degree angle when sailing, or at least ours did... ? It was super-fun, though, because once we got going, we all sat on the side of the boat with our legs hanging over the edge. It would have made a great picture! We sailed past St. Helena island, which "from 1867 to 1933, was Australia's Alcatraz, with over 300 of the most dangerous criminals on an island where any escape attempt likely meant a feast in the shark-infested waters." (from my guidebook, Let's Go Australia) We sailed within view of another, larger island, and then turned around a marker and headed back. When we turned around, we all had to clamor to the other side of the boat because the boat shifted to the opposite 45 degree angle. I had enough to think about with trying to make it up there without getting clocked in the head with the boom, let alone doing whatever the guys were doing to modify the sails!
Drinking and sailing is a national pasttime.
It's like the Canadian pasttime of drinking and watching hockey,
except you actually get to do something and go somewhere.
One of our competing boats.
When things need to be done to the sails, it all happens very fast.
I didn't hear two peeps out of this kid the whole time.
I got to steer the boat... for 30 seconds, anyway.
The crew (a few missing, but we worked with what we had)
When we got back, one of the guys said he and his dad were going into the city anyway and could drop me at my new hostel if I liked -- lucky! That hostel did free pick-ups from the train station as well, but a direct route is always better!
This hostel, in a section of the city called New Farm, was in an old Queenslander house and much cleaner, I am pleased to say. After the 8-bed situation at the last hostel, I opted for a 4-bed dorm this time, though it was mixed gender... and I was the only girl. That was OK, though, because guys have a heck of a lot less beauty products and luggage than girls I've found, although they can be messier with what they do have.
The next morning, one of my bunkmates (Tim from the Toronto area) said he also wanted to go on the Citysights bus tour I was planning to do, so we walked to the nearest stop in Chinatown (15 minutes away), and got on the hop-on-hop-off bus ($20 for the day). I snapped pictures as we drove quickly past places and I'm foggy on what everything is now, so I'll just list some of the notable places on the tour map and then spam you with pictures of unidentified things...
-Anzac Square (the Shrine of Rememberance houses the eternal flame and memorial sculptures)
-Post office square (Brisbane's General Post Office was established in 1872)
-Brisbane City Hall
-Commissariat (convict period building used to distribute food and tools)
-Riverside Centre (houses Brisbane's STock Exchange and Sunday Markets)
-Windmill (built by convicts in 1828; the first industrial building in Brisbane)
-Spring Hill (once the source of the settlement's water supply)
Ooh, I know this one. This is the post office.
Next was the Roma Street Gardens, where we hopped off for about an hour.
This little bird wasn't shy at all.
There were lizards and water dragons EVERYWHERE here.
Very interesting designs within the gardens, like these concrete lilypads among real ones.
Next we were off to Mount Coot-Tha, a lookout above the city.
The lovely "JC Slaughter Falls" is the other way, according to this sign.
Click here to see a panorama of the city
Your interesting Australian sign of the day (if you don't count the JC Slaughter Falls).
We got off the bus at a ferry drop-off point, since our ticket included transit on that as well.
The walkway to the ferry pick-up had some stunning architecture.
On the ferry, we passed the Maritime Museum, which is on an old boat.
Neat rocks cliffs along the way.
In the evening, I took a cab to that concert I had originally come into the city for. Actually, my cab didn't show up, but another one pulled into the driveway next door to drop someone off, so I stole that one. 15 minutes before I left, it was pouring buckets of rain again... I'm not sure that I've ever seen it rain that hard before! And there was constant sheet lightning the whole time. The rain cleared up when I was waiting for the cab, and so I watched the lightning show. I saw a bird fly by, but when it flew by again, I realized it was actually a huge Flying Fox bat! If there had been an organ playing, I could have made a Halloween movie.
The concert was really really good. There were two opening acts, a woman who sounded like Norah Jones, by the name of Madeline Paige, and a rock band I can't remember the name of. Kate Miller-Heidke was fantastic and was totally worth interrupting the trip up the coast a little. Security took my camera away, so I didn't get any pictures (meanwhile, people with smaller prosumer cameras were getting great pictures still... I should have brought my point and shoot camera, although for once I just sat back and enjoyed a whole concert without being obsessed with getting photos of everything, haha).
I did snap this shot of her signing stuff after the show
(yes, I got a CD and had it signed)
It was only about 10:30pm when I got back, so I rounded up my bunkmates again (Tim and a Brit, Chris) and we went for a walk to the river to take pictures of the city lights.
Click here to see a panorama of the Story Bridge
View while walking on the story bridge.
Long exposure of cars coming through the bridge.
When we got back, our Aussie roommate, who had been drinking all day, was being loud in our room, so Tim and I went out for another walk around the block to wait until he went to sleep, while Chris braved the belligerence and just went to bed. Tim and I had a good walk though, and went to a 24 hour convenience store three separate times (food, more food, and to get a drink, I think). And we heard lots of night animals making weird noises. When we were back at the hostel and up on the verandah, I heard something that I thought was in the adjacent palm tree, so I stuck my head out, but couldn't see anything. Then something long hung over the low roof for a second and disappeared. "What was that?!" I asked Tim. He said, "It was either a tail or a BIG claw." He walked out and peered onto the roof, and came back, reporting that it was either a possum or a REALLY big rat. Haha.
We didn't go to bed until 4am and then I got up at 9am to check out at 10am and get down to the train station to take the Tilt Train to meet David and Danielle up north in Rockhampton, a 7.5 hour journey. I think that's enough updating for now, though, so I'll leave it at that!
There were lots of parasailers out.
In the evening I started feeling a little down... a combination of not going to bed til 4am and then getting up at 8am, being out in the sun too much, and being a little homesick for the first time. I borrowed a rusty bike from the hostel that clicked every time I pedaled, and took it down the river, only a couple blocks away. I sat on the edge and watched a young man fishing on the other side, with a pelican waiting for scraps nearby. He waddled awkwardly near the man, tipping his great weight from side to side as he watched him out of the corner of his eye and feigned a nonchalant demeanor. He eventually made his way nearer and nearer to him, before becoming startled when the man cast his line again and waddling quickly into the water, where he was obviously most comfortable. He paddled only a few times before returning to shore to continue his begging. I amused myself with this display for awhile before moving down the river a little to watch a storm moving in, complete with lightning. I returned to the hostel soon after to beat the rain, and good thing I did because it POURED and there were HUGE cracks of thunder and lightning, one of which took the power out momentarily.
Monday morning (the 17th), I decided to change up my Brisbane plan a little bit. I went to Manly (a different one from the one near Sydney... I guess they ran out of names in Australia, heh), about 20 minutes east of Brisbane. It sounded like a nice place in my guide book, and I had four days until the concert, so I took the opportunity to see as much of the area as possible. Besides, it was raining, so I thought I might as well spend the day travelling. So David and Danielle dropped me off at the Translink centre, which is a bus/train combo, and left to continue driving north. I waited an hour and a half for the bus, then took it to the train station half an hour later, only to find out that a train had derailed down the line and I would have to take another bus to another point beyond that. I waited half an hour for it to come, then spent another half hour on the bus, then one hour on the train to Brisbane and yet another half hour to Manly. Phew! I gave the hostel a call and a guy came to pick me up (most hostels will do this, which is very helpful). The hostel wasn't as nice as I was expecting (for one, I er, found a bed bug), but I'll save the rant for myself and anyone specifically interested.
On Tuesday it was still raining, so I took the free hostel shuttle bus into Brisbane to use the free internet at the State Library and check out the free art gallery and museum. I spent most of the afternoon researching hostels in Brisbane for the next day. It's hard to choose one when they all have bad reviews! But I ended up talking to a guy who had just come from the one I was considering, so I took his word that it was good and booked that. I wish I had brought my laptop, because they had free wireless as well, and I couldn't access the USB ports on the library's computers to update my blog. Anyhoo, then, realizing it was past 4, I packed up to have a quick look at the free art gallery and museum next door, as they closed at 5. If I had known they would be so interesting, I would have gone much earlier.
The museum had a lot of natural history in it, including these lifesize humpback whales in the entry.
A tri-SARAH-tops skull. ;)
All the spiders in Australia are this big.
As it was getting dark and starting to pour rain again, I walked the couple blocks to the train station.
I passed the new viewpoint wheel thing-ma-jig, similar to the London Eye.
I arrived back in Manly cold, wet, tired, and hungry. I got some groceries, and then went to socialize a bit so I wouldn't have to be in the cluttered dorm room. These half-drunk Kiwi girls sat down next to the fellow I was talking to and invited us to have some of their chocolate cheesecake. The girls were saying they had always wanted to put a pie in someone's face; I said that would be delicious, and of course they took that as me volunteering to let them do it to me. I didn't actually say they could do it, but thanks to the lack of inhibitions that alcohol tends to lend its consumers, they took the liberty of assuming permission and soon I had chocolate all over me. I played along and was a good sport, but resisted the urge to start a food fight in a place already struggling to keep bugs in check. I still hadn't eaten by that point and didn't want to try to cook in the messy kitchen, so treated myself to an $8 steak sandwich at the Irish pub around the corner.
The Manly Hotel, across from the hostel, the next morning.
On Wednesday afternoon I finally got to have some fun in Manly. I found out that, as my guidebook had mentioned, there were sailboat races on Wednesdays, and if you went down to the yacht club, you could tag along!
Manly's marina is the second largest in the southern hemisphere, with over 1000 boats.
Two other girls from the hostel (who were from Toronto and had just arrived in Australia that morning) were also there, and we all went on a boat with about ten guys from the club. I had no idea so many people could fit on a sailboat! I also didn't know that sailboats go at a 45 degree angle when sailing, or at least ours did... ? It was super-fun, though, because once we got going, we all sat on the side of the boat with our legs hanging over the edge. It would have made a great picture! We sailed past St. Helena island, which "from 1867 to 1933, was Australia's Alcatraz, with over 300 of the most dangerous criminals on an island where any escape attempt likely meant a feast in the shark-infested waters." (from my guidebook, Let's Go Australia) We sailed within view of another, larger island, and then turned around a marker and headed back. When we turned around, we all had to clamor to the other side of the boat because the boat shifted to the opposite 45 degree angle. I had enough to think about with trying to make it up there without getting clocked in the head with the boom, let alone doing whatever the guys were doing to modify the sails!
Drinking and sailing is a national pasttime.
It's like the Canadian pasttime of drinking and watching hockey,
except you actually get to do something and go somewhere.
One of our competing boats.
When things need to be done to the sails, it all happens very fast.
I didn't hear two peeps out of this kid the whole time.
I got to steer the boat... for 30 seconds, anyway.
The crew (a few missing, but we worked with what we had)
When we got back, one of the guys said he and his dad were going into the city anyway and could drop me at my new hostel if I liked -- lucky! That hostel did free pick-ups from the train station as well, but a direct route is always better!
This hostel, in a section of the city called New Farm, was in an old Queenslander house and much cleaner, I am pleased to say. After the 8-bed situation at the last hostel, I opted for a 4-bed dorm this time, though it was mixed gender... and I was the only girl. That was OK, though, because guys have a heck of a lot less beauty products and luggage than girls I've found, although they can be messier with what they do have.
The next morning, one of my bunkmates (Tim from the Toronto area) said he also wanted to go on the Citysights bus tour I was planning to do, so we walked to the nearest stop in Chinatown (15 minutes away), and got on the hop-on-hop-off bus ($20 for the day). I snapped pictures as we drove quickly past places and I'm foggy on what everything is now, so I'll just list some of the notable places on the tour map and then spam you with pictures of unidentified things...
-Anzac Square (the Shrine of Rememberance houses the eternal flame and memorial sculptures)
-Post office square (Brisbane's General Post Office was established in 1872)
-Brisbane City Hall
-Commissariat (convict period building used to distribute food and tools)
-Riverside Centre (houses Brisbane's STock Exchange and Sunday Markets)
-Windmill (built by convicts in 1828; the first industrial building in Brisbane)
-Spring Hill (once the source of the settlement's water supply)
Ooh, I know this one. This is the post office.
Next was the Roma Street Gardens, where we hopped off for about an hour.
This little bird wasn't shy at all.
There were lizards and water dragons EVERYWHERE here.
Very interesting designs within the gardens, like these concrete lilypads among real ones.
Next we were off to Mount Coot-Tha, a lookout above the city.
The lovely "JC Slaughter Falls" is the other way, according to this sign.
Click here to see a panorama of the city
Your interesting Australian sign of the day (if you don't count the JC Slaughter Falls).
We got off the bus at a ferry drop-off point, since our ticket included transit on that as well.
The walkway to the ferry pick-up had some stunning architecture.
On the ferry, we passed the Maritime Museum, which is on an old boat.
Neat rocks cliffs along the way.
In the evening, I took a cab to that concert I had originally come into the city for. Actually, my cab didn't show up, but another one pulled into the driveway next door to drop someone off, so I stole that one. 15 minutes before I left, it was pouring buckets of rain again... I'm not sure that I've ever seen it rain that hard before! And there was constant sheet lightning the whole time. The rain cleared up when I was waiting for the cab, and so I watched the lightning show. I saw a bird fly by, but when it flew by again, I realized it was actually a huge Flying Fox bat! If there had been an organ playing, I could have made a Halloween movie.
The concert was really really good. There were two opening acts, a woman who sounded like Norah Jones, by the name of Madeline Paige, and a rock band I can't remember the name of. Kate Miller-Heidke was fantastic and was totally worth interrupting the trip up the coast a little. Security took my camera away, so I didn't get any pictures (meanwhile, people with smaller prosumer cameras were getting great pictures still... I should have brought my point and shoot camera, although for once I just sat back and enjoyed a whole concert without being obsessed with getting photos of everything, haha).
I did snap this shot of her signing stuff after the show
(yes, I got a CD and had it signed)
It was only about 10:30pm when I got back, so I rounded up my bunkmates again (Tim and a Brit, Chris) and we went for a walk to the river to take pictures of the city lights.
Click here to see a panorama of the Story Bridge
View while walking on the story bridge.
Long exposure of cars coming through the bridge.
When we got back, our Aussie roommate, who had been drinking all day, was being loud in our room, so Tim and I went out for another walk around the block to wait until he went to sleep, while Chris braved the belligerence and just went to bed. Tim and I had a good walk though, and went to a 24 hour convenience store three separate times (food, more food, and to get a drink, I think). And we heard lots of night animals making weird noises. When we were back at the hostel and up on the verandah, I heard something that I thought was in the adjacent palm tree, so I stuck my head out, but couldn't see anything. Then something long hung over the low roof for a second and disappeared. "What was that?!" I asked Tim. He said, "It was either a tail or a BIG claw." He walked out and peered onto the roof, and came back, reporting that it was either a possum or a REALLY big rat. Haha.
We didn't go to bed until 4am and then I got up at 9am to check out at 10am and get down to the train station to take the Tilt Train to meet David and Danielle up north in Rockhampton, a 7.5 hour journey. I think that's enough updating for now, though, so I'll leave it at that!