Saturday Feb 16:
Today was a rainy day. The sunshine coast supposedly gets 350 days of sun a year so I guess we caught some bad luck. This morning me and Aaron hit the beach to grab some sun while it lasted. Eventually it started to rain and everyone who was tanning on the beach just grabbed all their stuff and ran for cover! Luckily we weren't far from our hotel so we didn't have to run far. After drying off and enjoying some beers we decided to lay by the pool for a while. We then drove ourselves to a nice golf course nearby to play some fancy mini golf. This was not your run of the mill clown-face and windmill mini-golf; it was swanky golfcourse minigolf. Each hole had 3 levels of difficulty so we were able to do the first 9 at the top 2 levels. Aaron will insist that he won the first round and tied the second, but a precariously placed ball on the last hole that prevented me from scoring a hole in 1 makes me believe that an overall tie was the real result. (Technically I won it all).... Before we left the course we heard some really loud skwaking sounds. We looked up to see a small flock of cockatoos flying overhead. these are the same guys that scratched our arms back in Melbourne. Man are they cute though. We went to Outback Jacks for some great burgers before heading back to the room.
Sunday Feb 17:
Today we got some more sun! The highlight of the day was the couple of hours we spent riding boogie boards. The waves were very strong and breaking quickly which made for great rides. We'd battle the waves as we waded out from shore and when a big wave came we'd kick for shore. With the right timing the wave would carry you all the way in to the beach!!! This was my first time boarding but Aaron was already a champ. I had one close call. We were going out quite far and the waves were getting pretty big. Usually I was able to jump into the waves as they crested but a huge one came that was too high (now I know that I should have dove straight into it) but at the time I tried my best to jump over it. The wave won and knocked right into me, sending me tossling backwards and getting all turned up in the churning water. I just held my breath and waited to stop rolling because there was no way of telling which way was up. Aaron saw me pop up but before he could do anything another huge wave came just as I was wiping my eyes. It sent me rolling around again and luckily my board didn't hit my head. This time there was a break in the waves so I was able to hurry to shore and collect myself. It was actually quite scary as I've never played in waves this big before. I now understand their power! After a bite to eat at Hungry Jacks (Aussie Burger King) we had some beers and cleaned up for dinner. We all went for an amazing lamb dinner at the RSL club. This is like the Legion in Canada, but better! We got a lamb dinner with drink for $15. It was amazing and I think we all had to stop ourselves from licking our plates. After dinner we went to a huge arcade called timezone. We played lots of fun games and Aaron was successful in the claw game, plucking up an ice cream drumstick:)
Monday Feb 18:
Today we left Surfers Paradise and said goodbye to Aaron's parents. We decided to go to Wet n' Wild waterpark. It was cloudy and a lil drizzly so it wasn't very busy. The best slide by far was one that we named drop zone. First they weigh you to make sure you'll make it up a loop portion of the slide, then you put on a sort of hard shell backpack that helps you slide faster. After a march up a bunch of steps we reached the top launch area. There were 4 capsules with glass casings. The attendant opens the front of the pod and you step in and lean back against the back wall, cross your feet, and grab ahold of the backpack straps. They close the pod door and you wait for the bottom of the pod to pop open, sending you dropping almost completely vertically, down the tube. I think it goes from 0 to 45km in 2 seconds. It was the coolest ride ever!!! We had lots of fun at the park before driving up to Brisbane. We're staying at an adorable bed and breakfast which is in one of the oldest buildings in Brisbane. We walked around a bit and then met up with my friend Jessica and her roommate Sarah. We went to a cool outdoor bar called the Pig n' Skillet for some drinks and then had an amazing dinner at an Italian place called Vapiano. They had small pots of fresh herbs on every table. Super cool. All the pasta was made fresh to order. Jess and Sarah were great and we all chatted about Australia and Canada, wombats and koalas. We went for another drink after dinner at O'Malleys. It was a really fun night:) oh, Jess gave us a couple language lessons and confirmed that there really isn't an R in Melbourne. It should be pronounced as Mel-bun, not Mel-born or Mel-burn. Lesson learned mate!