Mostly Harmless…
Last week I started playing with Last.fm in an attempt to stave off the boredom associated with the statistics labs that were piling-up on my desk.
If you have a strange desire to know what I’ve been listening to recently, here’s a link to my profile.
I’d been told in advance that Surfer’s Paradise was somewhere that I would either like, or really hate. I really didn’t like Surfer’s Paradise. I didn’t hate it. I just didn’t want to spend more than a couple of days there! It reminded me of Niagara, but without the waterfalls, or anything really worth seeing. I suppose the word is “tacky”…
That sounds very negative, but it’s true. Having left Dave in Brisbane, the 6 of us arrived in Surfer’s on Friday afternoon. Perfect timing to see the Gold Coast at it’s best (or worst, depending on your point-of-view).
We did have a good night out. Good enough that I didn’t want to even think about doing it again for a while! And that was the problem; there wasn’t very much else to do! It would be a great place for a weekend with the rugby club, but not so great for someone who just wants a bit of peace.
I’d only planned staying for a couple of days anyway, but by this morning I was desperate to get on the bus to Byron Bay and spend a few quiet days on my own!
Since leaving Cairns almost 6 weeks ago, Brisbane is the largest population centre we had come across. After the relative peace on Fraser Island, it was a little strange to be back in a city!
Jaime and Stacey wanted to spend a few days in near-by Noosa first, so Martin and I travelled on to Brisbane ourselves. We were staying at Base Central (also known as The Palace), which has a great bar downstairs and is opposite the main city-centre railway station. Upon reaching our room we realised that the 3 people already there seemed a little familiar. We quickly discovered that these people were none-other than Gareth, John and Dave, whom we’d met on a night out in Cairns and had travelled to Kroombit on the same bus as Jaime and Stacey!
Picking up from where we’d left things in Cairns, obscene quantities of goon were produced and consumed, and a good time was had by all!
Once the girls caught up with us, our first excursion was to the Wet ‘n’ Wild water park. I’d never been to a water park before, and wasn’t too sure what to expect. It was a great experience, even with the drizzle that fell for most of the day. We were going to get wet anyway!
Martin, Jaime, Me, Steve Irwin, Dave, Gareth, Stacey
Next on the list was Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. I actually didn’t like this all that much. The zoo itself (animals, exhibits, shows, etc.) was really good, but I felt a bit uncomfortable with it all after seeing rows and rows of Bindi Irwin dolls, clothing and DVDs in the gift shop, and being encouraged to eat a “Bindi Burger” for lunch. Maybe I just underestimated how important Steve Irwin was to Australia, but all this seemed very exploitative to me.
Our last few nights in Brisbane were mostly spent checking out the music scene around Fortitude Valley. There are far too many bars to mention (and a really good Jazz place that I just can’t remember the name of!), but its definitely an area worth visiting to find good band or two!
