When I arrived in Brisbane I had no idea where my hostel resided as my google map directions said head northeast. Being a man’s man, I looked to the sky, found the sun, realized I had no idea how I could derive directions from that, decided I couldn't ask anyone for help because it’s not manly, and then turned left, because it had more skyscrapers than the right. Luckily I chose correctly, man logic FTW! I kept crossing paths with a girl that looked super lost, and I was even able to help her find her hostel! That’s right, I can officially read maps, it only took me 25 years and 3 months of travelling. By the time I arrived to the hostel, my back was was the sweatiest, most disgusting mess you have ever seen. 15 minutes of walking in the sun with 23kg (that’s 50lbs for you dumb Americans) of gear will do that to you. The hostel facilities were amazing though, they had two private bathrooms with giant showers on each floor, so you weren't cramped into a tiny stall sized shower. After the much needed cleaning, I made plans to meet up with one of my travel friends from New Zealand, Christina, and a group of her Irish friends at the cinema.
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| Brissy |
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| There were a bunch of people gathered in the square selling stuff out of suitcases...so weird! |
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| Brisbane: We hope you have a ball...or two (I have three) |
Once again, my google map directions said to turn a certain direction instead of left or right. Did I guess correctly. Absolutely not, proving I was just lucky the first time. And thus my level of manliness descended back to it’s rightful place, which is the place of non-existence. Nonetheless, I made it to the theater and met up with Christina, where we would watch Gravity. Sandra Bullock in 3D, yes, I can live with that. The special effects were amazing, but we agreed the story was a little too over the top. It’s also not like the states where there is a giant bin to put back the 3D glasses, so I was forced tpkeep them. I officially now have the ability to see the everything in 3D; My life is amazing.
I got really lucky on my hostel room, because everyone was fun and always up for a laugh. We all ended up staying up until about 4 in the morning joking around with each other. For my next few days in Brisbane, I was on a quest to find an extra external hard drive so I have multiple backups of all my photos. It would have been a grand idea, but everything is so expensive here. The same hard drive I paid $55 for in the states costs $140 in Australia. I don’t understand why everything is so expensive, it’s not like it costs $85 more to ship a hard drive to aus than the states. Such a strange world economy we have; Money exchanges at defined rates for standardization, but prices of other commodities vary drastically by region.
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| Badass looking tree |
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| Botanical Gardens |
I mostly just bummed around the city for a few days, grabbed some $5 pizzas with my dorm mates, and found some cool places to walk around. Brisbane is a nice city, but it didn't have the scale or prominent locations like Sydney, so for the casual traveler a few days there is enough.
My next stop was Noosa, which is close to the Australia Zoo and is also the home of the Noosa Everglades. My hostel had free kayak rentals, so I ended up taking a kayak out for a little fun and ended up finding a little island out in the river that I pulled up onto. It would have been amazing for a time lapse, but I didn't bring my big camera in the canoe with me and there were no clouds the following day, so I missed out on my chance. I guess I’ll have to find some more islands elsewhere :D.
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| There are gigantic pelicans everywhere in Noosa |
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| Lizards roam around the hostels at will, they are so cool! |
The main reason I went to Noosa though was to get to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. It was about an hour ride on the bus and it was only $5 for a round ticket. The Zoo itself was $59, which some travellers consider expensive, but I thought was a pretty fair price for how cool it was. I think everyone knows that I’m obsessed with animals, mythical creatures, aliens, sasquatches, etc., so I effing love zoos. Plus who doesn’t love Steve Irwin, he was one of the coolest dudes ever. Crikey!
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| The Crocodile Hunter! |
The zoo is really interactive as there are people walking around with birds, snakes, and lizards that you can take pictures of and even touch. There’s two paths that house kangaroos, which you can walk up to, feed, and get pictures with. They do various shows throughout the day, with the coolest being the main show in the world’s only Crocoseum. There were birds flying all around the arena, giant snakes on display, an audience member feeding an alligator, a bird flying into the crowd to steal $5 from someone’s hand...and of course the Crocodile show to cap things off.
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| Comfy Koala |
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| So cool, you could walk up to the kangaroos and interact with them, no supervision needed! |
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| Snakes scare the shit out of me, but they are pretty damn cool |
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| There are gated sections you pass through and the birds fly all around you...very cool! |
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| For my life coach: Red Pandas |
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| Tigers are my favorite (proven to be real) creature in the world. They're so amazing!!! |
The shows were my favorite part of the zoo trip. To see an actual croc swimming out into the water and hover, slither, and burst onto land was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. The men and women working at the zoo are out of their fucking minds to dangle chickens and fish over these dinosaurs, I have so much respect for them...so ballsy. You also get to see the crocs jump out of the water to get some fish while one of their handlers is up on a platform. It’s insane because they propel themselves upward using only their tail. So cool!
Australia Zoo Hospital
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| They have an on-site hospital for the animals |
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| Koala surgery |
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| Not a bad little hospital |
After my time at the zoo came to an end, I had to head back to Noosa where my Everglade trip awaited me the following morning. Would I survive camping in the wilderness with crocodiles, snakes, spiders, and everything else that wants to kill me. Would I follow my life coach's advice and bring pop tarts, the most essential survival item in the universe? Well that my friends, is a story for another blog...
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| You just gotta accept it |
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| Such a beautiful view, would have been an amazing time lapse! |
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| Free kayaking! |
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| Totally looks like a baby dragon from Game of Thrones... |
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| Ben Stiller told me not too, but I went full retard in this photo |
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