Early in the week I went on a few exploratory run/jog/walks with some of the girls that have been living in Emmanuel College. We made it around about half the city without public transportation and found a few cool new spots. There is a neat fruit stand about halfway between our school and the downtown section, and an awesome memorial park that overlooks the whole city near another ferry stop. But mostly we just settled in and went shopping in some of the main business districts.
On Tuesday we tried one of the local bars called the Royal Exchange (RE for short). It was a Tuesday and not many people were back to school so we sort of quadrupled the attendance by walking in. But it was a nice laid back place with a few travelers hanging around. We made friends with some New Zealanders and they told us the hot ski spots to hit up for spring break.
Wednesday we went to the second "college spot" we were told about. The Regatta is an old hotel right on the river and the place itself is pretty cool but NOT my scene at all. Way too many people, way too loud, way too disgusting really. Plus I am completely sure that its a total rip off. A friend bought a single drink for $16.
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Thursday I went to bed early. I was sooo tired that there was no way I was doing anything. During the day had been one of our exploratory walk sessions and I was beat. Im pretty sure I was out by 6PM
Friday was a pretty lazy day too. I met a few more of my college-mates. (one was from NZ another from New South Wales AU) Mostly I just read my book on a blanket in the quad because the sun was absolutely perfect. Then in the evening a few of us went over to the kids at the Sir Fred apartment and watched some aussie footie before we went out for the night. A few Australian kids took us to a club downtown but not everyone could get in. It was also ridiculously cold out that night so Jess Marissa and I stopped for pizza and then took a cab home!
Saturday everyone that went to Cairns (plus Jess) went to an AFL (australian rules football) match between the Brisbane Lions and the North Melbourne Kangaroos. The stadium is called the Wallongabba "Gabba" for short. It was an awesome time even if we didnt know all the rules! Brisbane won by quite alot and their star player, Brown (Brownie as they call him affectionately) kicked his 400th career goal. Im pretty sure Ill be able to follow AFL if for nothing more than "Brownie". But I got a really cool Lions scarf that looks like the Gryfindor (sp?) scarf in Harry Potter. Add that with my robes and all I need is a wand!
THEN this morning we woke up at 6:30 to catch a cab to a pickup point for our shuttle to our whale watching tour. Yes it was that convoluted. But we drove up to Redcliffe just north of Brisbane for this tour on the "Eye Spy" with "Capt Kerry". Really nice boat, really nice crew, really nice scenery. I had an incredible time. We saw three different pods of Humpbacks that were very interested in why we were floating on their ocean. They hung out with us for most of the day. They would play around and breach and put on a show, and as we would turn to leave they would do something spectacular to make us stay around longer! It was pretty amusing. Plus we saw a mommy whale and her newborn calf! Dolphins came and played in the mix too. All in all a pretty awesome day. But as we were leaving the boat to go back to the shuttle to Brisbane the crew invited me and the three girls I was with to the local pub. So we went. It was a good time and we got to have dinner and talk to the crew a bit. It was cool to hang out with an authentic aussie gathering.
Anyhow Im going to upload a few picture and go to bed. Im sick and I have class in the morning so I need all the sleep I can get!
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