The Goldcoast

Much of our time in the Goldcoast was spent mostly hanging around, since Matt's friends lived meters from the beach. Unfortunately, we happened to be there at the worst time for the beach. First of all there were jellyfish washed up all over the actual beach. Secondly, there were blue bottles in the water, visible by eye. Lastly, there was sea lice. Yuck! So yes, I finally got into the Pacific ocean (first time ever!) but I only got in fully once, and after that it was feet only.

Surfers Paradise

Jellyfish

Our first day on the Goldcoast was New Years Eve, so as you can imagine it was spent sitting around and drinking beer as I got introduced to more and more people. We did go to a party where I drank lots of delicious IPA, and chatted to some of Matt's friends, and after a struggle to catch the train home, getting separated (and some of us...ahem not me...getting questioned by the cops) we watch the fireworks on the roof in the freezing cold rain. New Years day involved a trip to the liquor store and grocery store, and some sitting around playing Peggle.

New Years Breakfast

The day after New Years we headed out to a suburb called Nerang to visit Matt's high school friend. We went out to the bars, met some older men to drink with and talk to, ate pizza, and passed out. After having breakfast we headed to Springbrook National Park, which is deserving of it's own blog post. Post hiking we ate a Mexican dinner with Matt's uncle and headed back to Surfer's Paradise.

Sunny The Koala

The following day we went to the zoo so that I could hold a Koala! I have to say, we were highly impressed with Kurumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, as a zoo. We went online and managed to get our tickets for a discount, and then promptly used the discount to purchase a photo with the Koala named Sunny! They zoo keeper said I was probably one of the most excited people he had ever seen. This zoo felt almost purely Australian to me. They hadn't imported animals from around the world to show off to kids. They were truly interested in the protected of Australian endangered species. The other interesting thing I got to do was spoon a Kangaroo!

Add it to the list of life accomplishments

The next day Matt's friend had the day off work, so we decided to chill near Surfers. We started the day with some breakfast and then headed out for mini-golfing. This is something Matt and I tried to find in Indonesia for a long time, but with no luck, so it was nice to get to do something fun for a double date. I managed to cook up a delicious feast of tacos as a thank you on our last day there and we had burgers on the grill for dinner. I was lucky enough to get in a good game of French cricket on the beach. Many people in Australia enjoy watching cricket and I was starting to catch on a bit to the scoring and general strategy to the game towards the end of my time there. French cricket is just a basic version easily played by a group of people. I guess it's be similar to playing touch football.

The following morning we started heading toward Brisbane again, stopping for some hiking and exploring in Tamborine National Park. If you are and avid hiker I would say that Springbrook is a much better way to spend a day. The trails at Tamborine are not as long and the sights are not as beautiful. However if you are looking for a full weekend getaway go with Tamborine. There are many places to stay, and lots of little shops and cafes to explore. Probably my favourite part was Fortitude Brewery. The F-100 was delicious and after I had one I couldn't help but indulge in a flight to try them all. After the brewery we tried to find another trail to hike, but the map/ our phones had different opinions and we ended up lost, so we just headed on our merry way to Brisbane.

The only really good picture I got of Tamborine