Surfers Paradise & Brisbane

Kaitlin, you would love it here. 

Moving on: Surfers Paradise was our next stop as it was basically halfway between Byron Bay and Fraser Island. It was a neat place though. We arrived before we could check in at that night’s accommodation - so we went straight to the beach. Finally - the beach - and warmer weather now that we’re way north of Sydney!

Matt didn’t burn himself too bad and Kristen worked on her tan. The waves were large too - the bigger ones were 2-3 meters. So Matt dove in with the other lunatics and swam around for several hours playing in the big waves.

Kristen also got a bit of Aussie shopping in - between tanning of course. She picked up the boomerang that we’ll put somewhere in our apt/house when we’re back home. It’s neat looking. You’ll have to wait until you come over to visit us in the future when we’re back to see what it looks like. One housewarming gift gets you one look at it. Just kidding - but gifts are always accepted :-).

That night we went out for a group dinner. The next morning we were back on the bus towards Brisbane, our tour guide Adam’s home city.

Arriving in Brisbane we got to see some neat views overlooking the city and river from Kangaroo Point. Then we headed down into the city where Adam took us on a walking tour through the city to show us all that Brisbane has to offer. Along the way we found a fig tree and Frank. Let me explain: the fig tree was just neat looking so we took a group photo there, and Frank was a man who joined our walking tour and stayed with us almost all day long. He did not talk, just followed. Kind of weird.

Departing from Brisbane and lunch, we kept on trudging towards Fraser Island. Aside from the stops we always take to get off for toilets and leg stretching, we made one other neat stop - a place called the Wild Horse Mountain Lookout. This had some really great views, but also came with the prerequisite that we climb a 700m steeply pitched path to the top. Kristen just chimed in as I type this bit that she thinks it was about a 65 degree slope - I’m just glad she doesn’t teach angles to her fourth graders. Wait, she just said she did...they’re in trouble.

One lovely look and I now move on: after our scenic stop and a bit more driving (which included the women on the bus choosing our movie for the ride to be Sex and the City - the men were not happy) we got to Fraser Island - or, rather, the mainland port side.

More to come about Fraser Island...