Brizzy With The Fam Damily!

Hello All!

I realize that the main people that actually read this blog are here with me currently, but those of you who are not, I am sure you will find it pretty entertaining. This post is all about Clark and Carol's visit down under. Even though I have only seen them for approximately 3 days of their trip, they seem to like it all the way over here on the other side of the Earth.

The weather has cooled down quite a bit since the last time I blogged. New Zealand is obviously colder than here still, but winter has approached us. The days are still scorching if the sun is out in full force, but the nights are nice and cool with low humidity. Carol and Dad claim it's even colder than Kentucky currently...it's still prettier though. Anyway, I was able to go and visit them when they first arrived in Brisbane! I thought it would be a great opportunity to see a new city while I was at it. Brizzy, as the locals call it, was actually a lot different than I thought it was going to be. It is very built up and there are cranes everywhere, but the city has its perks. It's what you would call a city that revolved around the river. The Brisbane River runs right through downtown and all the action occurs on the bordering streets. Ferries run about every 10 minutes to all different stops along the water way. Since it was Mother's Day weekend, there were all kinds of activities going on.

I arrived Friday night, of course, along with the arrival of my first cold. I felt miserable on Saturday, but that did NOT stop me from adventuring around. Dad, Carol, and I decided it would be best if we did a little bit of a road trip on Saturday, so we went and saw Byron Bay and Gold Coast (approx. 1.5 hrs. South). Byron Bay is what you would call a surfer town. Winter is here so that brings the surfin' waves. It's a quaint little place where we grabbed a bite to eat and shopped a little in the hippy/craft shops. I loved the atmosphere there, very laid back and everyone was outside enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. There is a lighthouse that overlooks the entire bay and that was by far the best part. The water is a beautiful turquoise and it was crashing against the rocks, which made for awesome pictures. After we had our fill of the scenery, we jumped in the car and headed to Gold Coast!

Gold Coast consists of a lot of shopping and a lot of beaches. It is actually the entire area up the coast on the way to Brisbane. We decided to stop at Surfer's Paradise so we could stop at the Hard Rock Cafe and get me a shirt since I collect them from everywhere I go! It wouldn't be right if I didn't get one from Australia. We walked around for a bit until the parking meter was out of minutes aka we had 30 minutes to make it back to the car. We were pooped from traveling so we headed back to the city for a relaxing night. The Cowboys footy game was on so I decided to curl up on the coach and watch that. WE WON!! Cowboys beat the odds and won a game that they were projected to lose. What do those people know anyway.


Sunday, Mother's Day :). The fam decided to tour the city since I hadn't really seen that much of it yet. We walked across the bridge to the other side of the river and happened upon the Queen St. Beach. Sounds weird, eh? Yeah, it is a beach in the middle of the city and you can see the river from it. It is actually a really cool set up and a lot of people were out sunning themselves. There were lots of markets since it was Sunday so I found a sterling silver ring I liked, and we shared a peice of "tutty fruitty" licorice. After a nice lunch, we hopped on the ferry and toured the entire river side. We stopped off in a few places and decided to keep going until we had seen everything. The ferries go about a hundred miles an hour, and one time when the three of us weren't prepared, we went tumbling to the ground in a domino effect. Of course, laughter was inevitable and I couldn't help but laughing at us. I guess my dad isn't as sturdy as I thought. Oh well, the day was pleasant and we ended it with some Asian cuisine and a good night's rest. We all headed to Townsville the next morning and I was welcomed back to uni with an assignment that was due at 5 pm that night...bummer. Life goes on, I guess.


My parents headed off to Cairns and I was left here to finish off the week. Now it's Friday and they are back again for more fun! We plan to head to Maggie Island, and off to the Strand for a BBQ on Sunday after a rought hike up Castle Hill. We shall see how they do. Until next time, G'Day.