Aussie Aussie Aussie!: Brisbane, Beer, Buses, and Bindi

This weekend we decided to head down to Brisbane to celebrate Rebecca's 21st birthday. We left early Saturday morning, in the rain. This was quite the accomplishment, because we had to get everyone up and moving (a challenge in itself) and make it to the bus and then the train without missing any connections or anything. We were very surprised to find out that the train ride was only $3.50, given that everything is so expensive here. That's over ten dollars cheaper than Metronorth-for the same distance! Riding the train was definitely a very humanizing experience. Bond is pretty much in the middle of the most affluent part of Queensland, so everything we experience around town reflects this lifestyle. This was definitely not the case on the train ride. Looking out the windows, I saw some of the...not so gold parts of the Gold Coast. There were old cemetaries, shells of factory buildings, graffiti along every wall and fence, burned out apartment buildings, and broken-down houses. I saw fields with scattered livestock and trailers in the middle of them, little shantytowns with ancient, rusty cars lining the streets, and stores and restaurants that appeared to be closed for ages. It was a totally different view of Australia, one that really made me think. All this time, we had been seeing the perfect parts of this country, without even stopping to think that there were bad parts, just like anywhere else in the world. It was definitely an eye-opener.
We pulled into Central Station (which coincidentally shares its name with my favorite security company that calls 3-4 times a day to ensure that we are aware that our kitchen walk-in perpetually has a high temperature reading, a fact that made me giggle) in the heart of Brisbane's central business district around 10:30am. This was right across the street from our hostel, Base X. We decided to see if we could check in early considering we had multiple bags and were repidly getting drenched by rain. We were told we could drop our bags off in the luggage room and come back at 2 to check in. After leaving them with a very shady Spanish guy, we set out to explore all the shops nearby. Despite the rain, it was a very friendly, happy atmosphere. There were many tourists walking around, and balloon artists and children's activities filled the market plaza. We shopped for awhile before heading back to the hostel to take a much-needed nap.

our hostel, at night!

Sarah, proudly displaying our beautiful room.

Our room was...exciting. Luckily, we opted for the 6-person room: although it was a bit more expensive than the 10-person one, at least we had our privacy. I can't imagine being with strangers after what we encountered at this place. It was eye-opening experience #2 of this trip. There were two separate rooms with people who clearly lived there. The rooms were extremely messy (and smelly) and all of their possessions were set up, permanently, around the rooms. I did a quick prayer of thanks after seeing this - I can't even imagine living in a hostel. Anyway. Everything there had kind of a stale odor, the fixtures and furniture were old, and the view, frankly, was awful, but at least everything seemed remotely clean.
We had all intentions of finding a dance club or something to celebrate Rebecca's birthday, but first we needed some food. We took the manually-operated elevator that looked like it came straight out of a haunted house down to the basement level, where there were two connected bars. We ended up each getting a steak dinner with a pint of beer for only $10. It was yummy! We didn't get too far that night - the rain kind of deterred us from wandering around Brisbane, so we stayed and danced downstairs. There were a few sketchy characters, but for the most part it was a really great time!

the really creepy elevator!

what $10 gets you in Brisbane!

All of us - celebrating Rebecca's 21st!

The next morning we woke up super-early to check out and catch the shuttle to the Croc Express - the bus that would take us to the Australia Zoo - home of the Crocodile Hunter! After a quick Starbucks trip (so relieved to get my caramel frappaccino fix), we were on our way. The bus driver narrated the entire trip, which was pretty cool.

The zoo was awesome! Our tickets included a show in the Crocoseum - the huge open-air arena that Steve Irwin himself developed in order to do shows with the crocs. We got to see a very corny, almost painful song and dance routine starring Bindi, and then it was on to the real action. Terri, Bindi, and little Robert Irwin (with the help of some of the zoo staff) put on an entire animal show with birds, snakes, and, of course, crocodiles. It was awesome to see them being fed! We walked around and saw the kangaroos, koalas, dingos, tigers, and echidnas, among others. We also got to feed the elephants - I think this was what everybody was the most excited for. Their trunks are huge!! One of the highlights of the day for me was to eat a hamburger with KETCHUP and not "tomato sauce." They called it the American Burger - haha.
When we got back on the bus, the driver asked us where we were headed. When we told him Bond Uni, he offered to drive us all the way there, as long as we bought him a coffee. This definitely seemed like a fair tradeoff, especially seeing as it started pouring again almost immediately after we got on the bus. We stopped at this little farmer's market on our way to Brisbane and I bought the best-tasting pineapple ever! When we got back to Bond, the driver gave us all discount tickets in case we wanted to take another tour with that company, and he wished us all a good night. After my experience so far with Australian males, it was so nice to encounter such a friendly, generous guy who would go out of his way to save us some money and drive us home. All in all, this was a very excellent trip!