Happy Anniversary Mike and Jolene! It was a very early morning since I didn't get to bed till midnight because I needed to do some laundry to pack and was talking to Alissa and her friends. It's entertaining to listen to the talk about all of their experiences of just getting here and adjusting. I remember thinking some of the same things but it seems so long ago now that I have forgotten it. We had to meet at 6:45am to catch the 7am bus to Landsborough and get a train from there to the Gold Coast. By the time we got a caught the bus to Surfers Paradise it was 10:30-11am. We first went to the beach to check it out. Joanna and Kate have been here already but it was my first time. The beach was long and pretty but I like the feel of the Sunshine Coast much better. It was overcast skies so that probably didn't help with the feel of it much. The Gold Coast is home to high-rise buildings, shopping, pubs, restaurants and heaps of souvenir shops. We walked around for a bit and then stopped at KFC for a twister and did some more shopping. We all had Baskin Robins on our mind while shopping. I spotted a Cold Rock and Joanna and I almost got something there instead but I couldn't decide what I wanted for mixers and decided Baskin Robins would be much easier. After enjoying our ice cream we walked down to the beach and sat there for awhile enjoying the semi-decent weather and watching the kite surfers in action. Once we got chilled and a bit bored we did some more walking/shopping. I found a Gold Coast guide and we looked through it for ideas of stuff to do. We quickly decided on mini golf because it was under cover and it was starting to drizzle. It didn't take long until it was pouring but lucking mini golf was only about 4 blocks away. We got a student discount so it was 18-holes of Jurassic Park dinosaur fun for $10. Every hole was a par 2 but we made it as exciting as ever while it poured outside. We didn't want to wait for the rain so we walked back to the shops as the rain lightened up a little. We planned to take the 6pm bus back to the train station, which gave us enough time to stop by Starbucks and then call the tour company for tomorrow to see if the tour is still going. It's still on and we are still willing to go as long as it's not pouring. From the bus, we got on a train to Brisbane. We arrived in Brisbane just after 8pm. We were supposed to get off at the Transit Centre but we weren't sure if that was Central station or Roma street. We guessed it was Central at first but we were wrong and had to get back on the train to Roma street, which wasn't far away. We called the City Backpacker hostel to see which station we were supposed to be at and asked for directions to it as well. Kate got confused and couldn't remember for certain which way to turn. We started going in the right direction but didn't see anything promising so we turned around and headed the other way. We walked for a long time and finally had to call the hostel again. He didn't give us directions at all just George Street (what we were on) turned into Roma Street, which is what we wanted and that we should keep walking because we would arrive in a few minutes. Not exactly. We kept walking in the direction we were which was obviously wrong. We finally turned around and headed back towards the Transit Centre. When we got to the transit centre we followed Roma Street which in the direction where Roma and George run parallel, not where they are one. We soon ended up at some sort of function with people everywhere so we found the information desk and asked the lady. She was very helpful and gave us directions right to the hostel. Too bad it was the wrong hostel. We ended up by Central Station. Not knowing where to go next we asked in the hostel for directions, we finally got a map and he explained how to get there. We made it right to the hostel with only slight confusion along the way. The fun didn't stop there. We arrived at the hostel about 9:15pm, an hour after we got off the train, and the front desk closes at 9. I wouldn't have minded the hour walk in the city but I had gotten a blister from my shoes again like in Sydney which made it hard to walk. We were going to go look for the night manager in the bar but he found us first. The first thing he said was that he had bad news for us, which was not what we needed to hear at this point. Someone got sick today and so they couldn't check out. Therefore they only had one bed available for us. Two of us could share that bed for the single price and they found a bed at another hostel for the other person. I was waiting for him to say the other hostel was 20 minutes from here but luckily it was just behind us. I volunteered to go to the other hostel since I had the alarm clock and get up and ready early enough to wake them so we could get to the transit centre by 6:45am tomorrow. Joanna and Kate got checked in at City Backpackers and dropped their stuff off in the room. The Yellow Submarine backpackers was next. It was hiding behind some trees so it took us a few minutes to find it and once we got there the door to the front desk was locked. Of course. We knocked but didn't have any luck so Joanna and Kate went back to theirs to have the guy call. In the mean time, some people walked out and I got in the door. I pushed the call button on the phone and someone came. I got checked in and we headed for the pizza place. It was only a few minutes away and we were starving. We ordered quick and finally got to eat a delicious BBQ chicken pizza for dinner at 10:30pm. It didn't take us long to finish as we were exhausted and needed to be up super early. I stopped by Joanna and Kate's room because I needed their key to get into the building in the morning. There key wasn't working so we had to go find the night manager again. He couldn't even get the key to work but one of their roommates was there and showed us how to open the crappy door. I went back to my place to have a shower and went to bed. Some of my stuff was wet in my bag so I laid it out in hopes that it would be dry in the morning. My room was fairly large with 3 bunk beds and 2 singles. Everyone was gone because it was England vs Argentina (I think) in the start of the World Cup Soccer. The only person in the room obviously had to be the person under me. I set my alarm for 5:15am and was paranoid that I wouldn't wake up in the morning and we would miss the tour.