Destination Satisfaction

After the 8 hour lay over in Singapore, we hopped on a plane and the flight attendant got us drunk! Well, he sure was trying to anyways. He was an older guy with a heavy brown accent. He would bring two beers at a time for each of us girls. I would be waiting for the bathroom and he would take me to the first class washroom. When I got out he had champagne waiting for me to take back to our seats! haha At the end, he gave us each his number and e mail and a whole bunch of airline memorabilia. I have two pairs of slippers and two decks of playing cards... etc...

The layover was not all bad at all. It was night time so not everything was open. We went and got free massages from some chairs in a place called the Oasis. ( keep in mind this is all in an airport... HUGE) We also went into a butterfly garden thing. It was really neat. I have seen it before but not in a tropical setting. The airport would be even more fun during the day. I heard they even do tours through the city during long layovers!

Upon arrival in Brisbane, we stopped at a duty free store and bought two bottles of Vodka! haha We then took a "Maxi Taxi" to a hotel. We were checking in and a guy walked by and freaked Rachel out because she was standing gaurd watching our baggage ( which is an insane amount!! 2 big bags plus two small ones each... not easy for us girls) The guy ended up being super nice and helped us with our baggage up three flights of stairs... He was quite sweaty and out of breath by the end of it. hha Thank you Nathan. :) Also, when picking up my jacket off the ground by my luggage, I realized it was in a huge pile of ants!!! MY FIRST AUSTRALIAN BUG SITING!!! When I say huge, I mean small tiny things, but many, like 40... lol I freaked out slightly and went on with it.

I then went to use the pay phone to call my sister Mandy collect before she had a stroke! I went to go use my newly purchased phone c0ard. No can do on this particular phone. Ok so now I need to dial the operator for a collect call.... "0" doesnt work.... hmmmm look in the phone book for operator assistance.... cant find it anywhere. Lady comes in and I ask her. She finally finds it and I dial and connect with an audimated voice and then I connect with a real person who gives me a number to call for international help. I try and phone makes weird unsuccessful noise. I call lady back and she gives me another number. I dial and phone goes dead. Not even a dial tone. I call lady back again after trying these numbers for a while. She gives me one last number to try. Dial..... No success! I walk up stairs frustrated as can be. Rachel comes down to help me. She takes one look at the phone and it says " to dial Canada pres..." WTF!!! Ilooked everywhere on the phone!! Ugh I ended up calling Mandy and had a good talk. This was not before I jammed my finger between the chair and the desk! Ouch!!

Friday the 13

The next morning we took a maxi taxi ( the only ones that will take us and our rediculous amount of baggage) We arrived at the train station. We had some help by two random ppl. They saw how silly we looked trying to take all the bags at once. A nice young lady and an older drunk named Tom. He told us where we could find him if ever we were in Brisbane again..... a local pub! lol He made sure we got to the right platform and then gave us hugs and kisses on the cheek. Thanks Tom....

We met alot of really nice ppl on the train. It was an hour and a half ride to Landbourough. We heard about spiders and snakes and all the things tourists aften talk about. We even were told about the "drop bears", a fictitious animial made up by the sly Aussie boys. Drop bears drop out of trees and snag cute tourists away, giving Aussie boys a reason to warn cute tourists and keep them "safe!!!" lol I am glad the nice man (Bob) on the train warned us! I am just gulible enough to believe such things!! Bob even gave us his card and said to call him for anything. He was even going to try and drive us from the train station but his wife had the car. He is a teacher at a college. Really nic guy and not a creepy one. It was really interesting to learn about the history of some of the places we seen on the way to our destination. Like the Glasshouse Mts.

We then took yet another Maxi Taxi to our new home! Wow did it feel good to actually arrive! I have been homeless for two months and finally could unpack my suit case for good. We arrived around 2pm. We went into our rooms and un packed a bit. Realized we needed a bunch of things like linens and hangers before we could really move in. We got together and walked to a store about 15 min away. Heard about a "plaza" which is a mall. Hopped on a bus to get there. On our way there we stopped at the University and I noticed kangaroos in the feild! I pionted them out and the three of us girls feaked out with excitement and started laughing and pionting and made a lot of noise! How embarrassing! The whole bus was looking at us like we were crazy!! It was an amazing feeling seeing these animals! THEY ACTUALLY BOX!!! One guy grabbed his friends shoulders and kicked him in the tummy with both legs!! It was AWESOME!!! Another guy was standing tall and playing with his nipples.... reminds me of someone.... Justin?? hahahahaha They were sooo funny! I love them!! I then started talking to the girl next to me. It was now 5pm. I found out that stores all close at 5!! UGH!! So we went back home. Rachel ended up locking herself out of her suite. We didnt have any linens so my "flat mate" lent me his blanket and Amandas lent us her fitted sheet. We had an extra pillow in my unit. ( a unit is what we call a dorm. ) I met Mat my flat mate. He is a really nice guy. Good Christian boy. I found out that both flat mates are 18. Most ppl here are young. Im the old goat!! :( Im happy everyone is shocked when they hear how old I actually am. haha I remember when I was 18 and thought 24 was old... sigh!!

Went shopping the next day. Valentines Day. Bought a bunch of stuff and was excited to put all my stuff away! We met up with a bunch of ppl at the grocery store. Amanda Long who came by herself but worked in Edmonton at the Stollery with Amanda Roy ( Who I travelled with) was there and invited us over later for a good time. We went home and I met my second flat mate Shonleigh. She is a blonde girl. In fact so is Matt. We are all blondies here!! :D Shonleigh is fabulous. She let me use her blow dryer and straightner. I felt like a girl again! my hair just wasnt working. Mine wont work here until I get a converter for the plug ins. I fried my alarm clock and had to throw it away with the converter I bought. I wont dare try my lap top or straighner with it! We had some drinks and Rachel and Amanda came over. As well as Jessica, Amanda's flat mate who is equally as awesome. We had a good time drinking and headed over to the other units (dorms). Had a really good time and met alot of ppl. Had a bit to drink..... alot to drink. hahaha Felt it this morning!! On the way back, Shonleigh gave me a ride in a shopping cart. I went to wash up and looked out my bathroom window to see Rachel climbing in Amanda's place. In the morning Rachel got up early and left. I later found out that she was climbing in to open the door as Amanda had left her keys inside and Jessica had lost hers. I also found out the Rachel found Jessica's keys on my bedside table. hahahaha I dont know how they got there, but I had them some how!! lol oops!

Sunday the 15th

I was not feeling great this morning and almost had another vommitt story to tell, but soon felt great. Was up early to realize it was not raining!!! This is the first sunny day since we have arrived!! It was sunny and hot and beautiful!! We went to the beach. Mooloolaba beach. Mooloolaba is the closest town to us. We live in Sippy Downs. It was sooo amazing! I cant wait to surf. Matt says he will teach us how. He is in school to become a gym teacher after all! :) ( Shonleigh is in Journalism). Sunsreen, sun screen, sun screen!!! We played in the ocean and then sun bathed for a bit. The Aussies seemed to like my " in the land of Aus" song quite a bit and Jessica was singing it all day. It was just us Canada girls and Jess. After a while of heaven we went to the plaza again in Maroochydore. I got some more stuff I needed and we came home.

We sat by the pool and i brought snacks. We all went back to our suites and settled in finally! Everything is now in place. I just have to wait for internet and converters and all that good stuff. thank god Shonleigh is letting me use her computer. She also gave me her old Razor cell phone. I am going to see what I can do with that.

I didnt realize how many things I needed to buy right off the bat. Money will be tight and I will need a job soon. Amanda got a sunburn pretty bad even though she did wear sun screen. Rachel wasnt tanning at all and then all the sudden she has a small burn. I am happy to say I got a tan and no burn at all! Yay for me!!

Tomorrow is orientation! Wish me luck!