Brisbane

Although it has been ingrained in our heads that if we do not travel as much as possible we are wasting our lives away here, there is a small factor called money that somewhat deters that philosophy. Therefore, this past weekend we decided to make a day trip to Brisbane. Fortunately, the round trip on train cost us 8 bucks, which you can only imagine how many times throughout the day I brought up what a great deal that is (when you're as cheap as I am, you tend to fixate on those things).

It was not as if I had low expectations for Brisbane, but I was overly impressed that I could actually spend an entire enjoyable day in a city without feeling too claustrophobic or suffocating from exhaust fumes. The day began by visiting St. John's Cathedral (which is not the church pictured below; deal with it) which I absolutely loved because its beauty reminded me of Hope's chapel back at home.



After spending the morning walking around on one side of the river, we crossed the bridge and that was when Brisbane's awesomeness truly hit me. There is a long boardwalk along the river called South Bank that was filled with markets, cafes, and most importantly, pools/lagoons. The picture below is just one of the countless lagoons in which you could swim. Because we didn't have our swimmies, we people watched, which observing human behaviour/stupidity always provides ample forms of amusement.

After walking some more, we came across this huge concert/rave/something that was hearding drunk people like it was their job. Being the naive person I am, I initially thought it was some fundraising walk to raise money for the betterment of humanity, yet after watching an exciting episode of cocky males who think they have too much testosterone try to break down a fence to get in, I realized otherwise. Amusing, nevertheless.


By the end of the day, we were so exhuasted from walking that I was contemplating investing in either a wheelchair or stroller. We crawled into an Italian restaurant where we met up with some other friends who were also visiting Brisbane. The train ride back was pleasantly uneventful, besides being caught taking a picture of two guys who were sleeping on each others' shoulders.




Looking at this picture is painful because as I write I am eating what dad would call cardboard fritters (chicken nuggets). Believe it or not, I am still a typical college student who drinks instant coffee and waits until I wear my last pair of clean underwear to do the laundry. I just try to hide that part of my Australian existence.