She's moves her body like a cyclone...

In reference to our previous blog, we were planning on hitting the sack early and having a mellow night. Apparently, there's no such thing as a "mellow" night in Oz! After lugging our luggage up a couple flights of stairs (the Beast was particularly cumbersome), we attempted to nap in our crib like bunks. We awoke to the pulsating rhythms of the techno DJ spinning just outside our window. Who knew there were clubs INSIDE hostels! Surrendering to the beats...and Alicia falling out of her bunk...as we dressed we invented new dance moves: The "blue jean dance" and the "make up smear"...we decided to head down to Club Birdee num num in the Bunk Hostel. At first, we were sticking to being "mellow"...after a few beers and some apps, we decided to teach these Aussies to dance. Let us tell you...the vending machine was a big hit. Thanks Skip! We were definitely the most popular group in the joint...maybe we just looked like idiots. Around 2a, we finally made it back to our room...stumbling through the dark trying not to awake our fellow bunk mates.

Extreme Bushwalking:

We greeted the sunrise, grabbed some grub, hopped in our backwards car and were on our way to see what kind of trouble we could get into. Since it was a cyclonic down pour we wanted to play in the rain...who doesn't? Heading to the Glass Mountains we pulled over, grabbed our gear and headed into the bush, it was just like heading into Jurassic Park (doo-do-doo-do-do, doo-do-doo-do-do...). We pushed through the thick foliage and came upon a lizard...keep in mind everything is BIGGER in Australia. Melissa pulled out her field guide and Alicia thought kissing it would turn him into her own Aussie Prince..."silly Americans". The lizard didn't like Alicia much and ran away, she screamed. We came upon a babbling brook, where we found a GIANT monitor lizard sunning on the rocks...no kissing this lizard Alicia. As we stumbled over logs and other bush like debris, we heard the not so distance echos of laughter. We peered to through the trees to see a small feathered creature peering back at us...a laughing Kookaburra! We were wondering why they were laughing at us...we quickly turned around to find a pack of Dingos up on the rocks! Yikes, a Dingo got my baby! We took off running, every "silly American" for themselves. Whew, that was close. We stopped to photo some beautiful native flowers. Rustling in the gum trees above there were Koalas having a nap and munching some leaves. Erin climbed the tree to pull one from the branches to take home, are those legal? Her mind quickly changed when she got a whiff of the herbal stench radiating off the cuddly Koala. Suddenly, a Cassowary sprinted by! Whoa, what was that? A Cassowary is a flightless Ostrich-like bird. On the move again through the bush, we came upon a group of Echidnas rooting around in the soil...not wanting to disturb them too, we moved on. As we broke through the trees into an open field (doo-do-doo-do-do, doo-do-doo-do-do...) filled with Kangaroos and Wallabies. At first, we were reluctant to approach them...but soon mustered the courage to kick it with the roos. We stretched out on the grass among them...they welcomed us with open paws. I think they've been wanting a good scratch on their backs for awhile!
After lunch and chillin with the Kangaroos we decided to head back to the car. On our way back, we came across a watering hole...it looked pretty clean, so we took a quick a drink. All of a sudden, a "Freshy" (crocodile) launched out of the water at us! CRIKEY! Out of no where, Bindi Irwin appeared to save us from the bloody croc, wrestling it just like her dad. She rocks! Bindi took a quick photo of us on the croc (we'll post pics soon, we promise). Whew, what a day.



Gold Coast:

We returned the car to the airport in Brisbane and caught the next train to the Gold Coast. Over an hour on the train, we arrived at the Rubina stop. We were scheduled to be picked up by Erin's client's assistant's friend, Dave. Hmmm, we had no idea what to expect. Stepped out of the station and were pleasantly surprised by our 3 new Aussie friends, Dave, Adam and Damo. Our first night on the "Goldie", we just had a couple beers and went to bed. The next morning we awoke to a beautiful sunny day...nope, it was still raining! Dave the lifeguard drove us up to Surfer's Paradise, where we shopped and complained about the rain all day. Oh, we FINALLY found our pizza we were looking for. We waited in line for a taxi in the rain to head to the North Burleigh Surf Club to meet up with Adam. 4p...the beginning of a long night! Adam promised a barbie, that never happened. Starving, we made our way to a Casino back up in Surfer's. Boo, they closed at midnight. Just before closing, Jeni and Erin snuck off to find food. Sshh...don't tell. Because of the early close, we had to find an alternative location to party. The boys took us to Melbas in Surfer's, a dance hall and bar. There, we had a few more than a few drinks and danced the night away. Somehow Alicia and Erin ended up with graffiti all over them, Melissa was covered from head to toe in someone's drink, and Jeni took pictures of it all. The bar cleared out and we piled into a taxi to head back and catch some zzzz's at sunrise. We heart Australia.