Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, and Gold Coast

Yes, it isn't much longer until we get on a plane and head on our journey home that will cover six locations and a little over two weeks. But last weekend I had one trip to make first to a location that I really wanted to see- the Brisbane area.

Friday night after my final I packed and headed to the airport for the redeye flight across the continent to Brisbane. The flight left around 11pm and took about five hours. I sat in the middle, and this old guy next to me wanted to talk the entire flight. He did not understand that when my eyes were closed and head to the side asleep meant that I wanted to rest, so don't nudge me awake and talk. I did not get much rest on that flight. I landed around 5:40 in the morning and headed to the train station at the airport. It took some layovers and a couple of changes, but I got the train up to the Sunshine Coast. There I briefly saw the city, as well as the Glass House Mountain National Park, before heading to the Australia Zoo. The Australia Zoo is the place that the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin started and built up. His family still owns and runs it. Steve's image is on everything and they continue to play to that strongly. It is sorta amusement parky, but with the animals as the focus. It was very good, but not quite as good as I expected with the exception of the crocodiles and alligators. Most of them were caught by Steve Irwin himself from around the country, and there are tons of them, most with their own enclosures. These areas dominate the area of the zoo. The big Croc Show in the stadium that is on the grounds is pretty good, and there were a lot of foriegners there - including many Americans.

Following the zoo, I headed back to the train station and headed into Brisbane. After checking into my hostel at around 5pm, I figured that despite how tired I was, it was way too early to call it a night. I walked around a little bit including South Bank, where there are tons of parks and open community areas, even a man made beach with salt water where people come and swim. It was a Saturday night so a lot of people were out and having a great time. I decided to go on the touristy ferris wheel similar to the London Eye, and saw some great views of the city at night. After hanging out for awhile and observing the noise and excitement of Brissie on a Saturday night, I headed back to the hostel.

The next day was a blitz-krieg of Brisbane. I walked and saw pretty much that entire city and everything of note to see. I wore my Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sweatshirt in the morning because it was a little cooler early on and at least four different times someone asked me why the French "Notre Dame" was above the IRISH? I had to explain to them the situation, although most still didn't understand why those two names would be chosen for the same institution. Brisbane has great parks and gardens throughout. There are boats lazily on the river that runs around the city. On that Sunday there were many open air markets and craft booths set up all over the city. I really liked Brisbane. It didn't have the grit to it that Melbourne did. It certainly is a little smaller than Melbs (although Brissie is the 3rd largest city in the country and capitol of Queensland) but I liked it better - doesn't hurt that the weather is a lot better being so much farther north.

Late that afternoon I headed to the train station and caught the train to the Gold Coast. I arrived in time to check into my hostel and walk around as the sun set. The Gold Coast, like the Sunshine Coast, is both a region and a technical government area like a city. I stayed in the Surfer's Paradise portion of the city. The best way to describe Gold Coast is a slightly smaller Orlando combined with a hint of Vegas right on the ocean. This is where Australians go to vacation and where celebrities come to rest if they are in the country. It is that same delightful mix of the highest end shops in every category, to tacky tourist shops selling junk. There are lean to places to stay, and the highest quality five star resorts - the Mariott is really nice and they have a really deep swimming pool that actually has fish in it that guests can scuba in. Many celebrities own homes in the area as well -- I saw Jackie Chan's house. They also stay up much later than most of Australia. Even on Sunday night, shops and eateries were open well past midnight.

The area is called BrisVegas and the lights are always on at night and different things to do. There is a Hard Rock Cafe, and casinos. I relate it to Orlando for the reasons I mentioned earlier, as well as the fact that there are many theme parks here as well. It truly is a unique place- and a long stay there could be a lot of fun with all of those plus world class beaches. There are many high rises -- most of which are condos or hotels and they are right on the water. This is unlike many of the other places in the country where the beach side property is not allowed to be built like that. On Monday I went up to the observation deck of the Q1, the tallest residential building in the world. I also took a Duck tour to go in the river that runs on the other side of the city and see the theme parks, the ocean, the multi million dollar homes, and much more. I explored for the rest of the day before catching a two hour train ride back to Brisbane and the airport. I flew home that night, about a 5.5 hour flight, and got back to Port Lodge around 2AM.

I really enjoyed the trip and liked everything I saw. I really had wanted to see the famous Australia Zoo and the surrounding Sunshine Coast. I had heard good things about Brisbane, and to date I think that it is my favourite city I have been to in Australia. Gold Coast is insane. I think if we studied at a university there we would never get anything done. I loved each place and I am so glad that I got to see them. It is ironic that Queensland has the nickname the Sunshine State on their liscence plates. In so many ways it was like being back in Florida that I couldn't help but laugh. It was a great time. My legs are tired from the incredible amount of walking done during the trip, and I am a little sick of airports. but those will both soon recover.

In case your wondering, that final the day I got back went well, so no negative side effects of taking a trip between finals. Two finals remain. We had a giant five course feast of a dinner to say goodbye last night, and it was amazing. I have not eaten that much food in a very long time. It was delicious with chicken, steak, fish, shrimp salad, multiple deserts, etc. It was a nice way to go out in terms of meals.

I have begun to pack, and I am about half way there. It does not seem like over four months since the last time that I packed this suitcase. It will be very hard to say goodbye to the many friends that I have made during this trip. I look forward to the trip that we will take for 2.5 weeks coming home, but am sad that this experience is winding to a close. As I write this, I will be home in about 20 days. That number may seem small to you, but is a lot smaller than the 21 weeks that we started with. Finally, I was asked to calculate the total amount of miles traveled from the time I left Okemos until the time that I get back to Okemos. After doing all the calculations of all the trips, it comes to just under 54,000 miles and 26 plane rides. Now a lot of those miles are chewed up with the long journeys to Asia for spring break and back, as well as the journey from LA and back to LA. However, thats about how far my body has traveled which I find funny, because the 1990 truck that I drive only has like 60,000 miles on it!