Hello from sunny Airlie Beach!
By sunny, I mean vaguely hazy from remnants of the wicked dust storm that hit Sydney two days back (definitely worth taking the two minutes to search google for pictures of Sydney turned red from blown-in outback dust) but also warm and beautiful. Lots has happened since I left Sydney and I'll update accordingly (though still on YHA internet, so it will again be brief due to 15-minute blocks of time being charged to my account).
On Tuesday morning (fairly early), I left Sydney for Brisbane. The flight took about 90 minutes (60 in the air) and I arrived with plenty of the day left. After checking in at the hostel, I spent most of the afternoon wandering down to the CBD and beyond. There's a great pedestrian street in the middle of the CBD lined with shops and restaurants, which I quite enjoyed checking out. Afterwards, I walked down to the botanical gardens and took the path through the gardens along the river. (Like most major Australian cities, Brisbane is centered around a body of water - in this case a nice river much like the Yarra in Melbourne.) In the evening, I joined many fellow hostellers for pizza night (cheap pizza and meeting new people) on the roof of the hostel. Brisbane's hostel is 5 floors and the top floor has outdoor sections where you can sit by the pool or catch great views of the city at night. I made friends with a girl from Germany and three guys from Ireland, Canada, and England whom I sat with for dinner. I went to bed early as a result of having had to get up early for the flight.
Wednesday was my one full day in Brisbane so there was lots to do. In the morning, I rode a CityCat ferry up the river from the botanic gardens all the way to the University of Queensland and back to the CBD, about an hour ride. I love the Brisbane ferry, which operates much like the Melbourne tram system with single ride or daily passes, all the way up to monthly and such for commuters. When I hopped off the ferry at the CBD, again at the bustling pedestrian street, my plan was to get lunch at a cafe along the street before heading across the river to South Bank (creatively named, as in Melbourne). Instead, I found a big weekly farmers' market taking place right at the entrance to the street, so I got to wander through that. A nice unexpected surprise. I ended up with, among other things, some absolutely delicious Greek yogurt.
After the market, I did cross the bridge to South Bank just after the dust storm that had hit Sydney was sweeping into town. It was windy and visibility was reduced to the point that you could barely see the buildings on the other side of the not-too-wide river. Fortunately, my next planned activity was an indoors one. I checked out the hands on ScienceCentre at the Museum of Queensland. There were lots of fun exhibits, including a table and chairs 75% larger than normal ones so adults sitting in them could get the size perspective of a 3-year-old sitting at a table. I also played myself in a very intense game of 4x4x4 3D tic-tac-toe. Blue won. After the ScienceCentre, I decided to stay indoors because the dust was still everywhere outside so I went and watched Funny People at the cinema. I had another early night due to a plane the next morning.
Yesterday (Thursday), I flew from Brisbane to Mackay then took a Greyhound bus up to Airlie Beach. The bus broke down on the side of the road for about an hour due to a blown hose, but my newly-made Canadian friend and I enjoyed sitting on the grass playing with an energetic local puppy named, according to his tag, Minus, so it was all good. During the rest of the bus ride, they showed the movie Hairspray. In the evening, I hung out with Lara, my travel buddy for the rest of break, at the hostel. We made a delicious dinner of veggies, chicken, and rice; it was fun to cook as well as to eat.
Today (Friday) was our big day in Airlie. Airlie Beach is a big tourist destination as a starting point for sailing trips into the Whitsunday Islands (of which there are 74). I went out sailing on a boat called Camira (an aboriginal word meaning 'of the wind'), which fit about 60 people on its roomy outdoor deck. Lara was on a different sailing trip, so I thought I wouldn't know anyone on the boat. As it turned out, six friends from Melbourne, including 3 from my original Melbourne-Welcome orientation group, were on the same boat. I also made a new English friend who joined our group for the day. It was great to have lots of friends on the boat (especially as a fun surprise like that) and we had a fabulous time.
In the morning, we sailed a couple of hours out to the famous Whitehaven Beach, which is 7 kilometers long and comprised of fine white pure silica sand. (I think the actual silica content is about 97%, which is ridiculously high.) We played an intense game of catch in the water, then much of our group played English v. Americans cricket on the beach. (I stuck in the water with a friend since the air now felt cold compared to the lovely amazingness of the water.) Though the English prevailed, I think, the Americans did have a very solid showing. After a delicious lunch on the boat (they also provided both morning and afternoon tea), we sailed a bit further to go snorkelling over coral. I got to see all colors of coral - pink, yellow, white, purple - and all sorts of fish. My favorite was a bluish-purplish-green fish with little blue fins with red centers and a bright yellow tail. I also loved the tiny bright blue fish that were about 1 1/2 inches long. Once we had snorkelled for a solid hour, we returned to the boat for our sail back to Airlie Beach. This evening, Lara and I went to a bar with my new English friend, where we watched the rugby league semi-finals. For anyone interested (and you should be), the finals will be broadcast in the US on Spike TV at 11 AM next Sunday. Definitely worth checking out. The team I was going for won and it was lots of fun to finally get to see a full rugby league game.
Synopsis: Lots and lots of fun and sun and amazingness. Many nice new fellow hosteller friends. Everything is wonderful and happy, which is good.
What's up next? Tomorrow, we board a bus for Townsville, about 5 hours up the coast, where we'll be able to take a ferry out to our hostel on Magnetic Island. The next afternoon, we head to Cairns for what's apparently the best snorkelling ever. So I've been told.
Have fun!
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