Week 29- Brisbane and Gold Coast

Having landed in Brisbane I was convinced to buy a three day pass to cover the train to the city and then to Gold Coast. I was pretty tired once I arrived so I went straight to a backpackers where they offered free rice and breakfast all for $20. I bought some food for lunch and dinner and then chilled out. I made some elaborate plans to go up Mount Coot Tha to watch the lunar eclipse but then when it was time to leave it was completely cloudy so I decided not to bother and went to bed.

I had a leisurely start to the morning, enjoyed breakfast, booked to stay another night and then caught the bus into town. I walked across the Story bridge, through china town and then into the town centre. After a quick lunch I decided it was too miserable to go up Mount Coot Tha so wandered through the botanical gardens for a while. I crossed a bridge back onto Southbank. It was probably the nicest part of the city, with quite a lot of vegetation. I swam in the man-made city beach-pool (the locals must have thought I was mad) before noticing that Mamma Mia the musical was showing. I had dinner back at the backpackers before deciding I would treat myself. The show was amazing! The cast did a 15/20min reprise of various songs at the end and the entire audience was up dancing along.

Friday was my last day to catch the train to Gold Coast but as it was raining I decided it’d be miserable and I’d hitchhike the next day. Instead I bought a child’s ticket to the Davis cup match between Germany and Australia. The first match was Zverev against 18 year old De Minaur. The crowd was insane and the match went to a fifth set breaker. I think the roof would literally have been blown off if De Minaur had won. Unfortunately, it was not to be but still fantastic. The second match was between Kyrgios and Lenard Struff. The bad boy of tennis won in three. Having thoroughly enjoyed myself I went back to the hostel.

Saturday morning, I tried to Hitchhike to Gold Coast. After about 35min I was picked up by Paulie, a crane driver originally from NZ. He had great fun pointing out all the buildings he had worked on. He brought me right to the middle of the city and even gave me a ticket to Warner Bros Movie World theme park that he had spare. I was amazed by his generosity! Once I checked into a hostel I went to Southport as they were celebrating the Kiwi Waitangi day. There was some music but the rain put a dampener on the whole thing. I saw the Surfer’s Paradise sign and then watched the doubles match in the Davis Cup in a bar. It went to five sets too and Germany won again. I ate dinner and talked to a few friends at home.

I made use of my theme park ticket on Sunday. I caught the tram and bus out, had my ticket replaced as it was so faded and then I was in. I loved every minute. Austin Powers was dancing down the main street first and then I went and did all the thrilling rollercoasters several times (I could go quickly as I was a single rider). My favourite was probably the superman one. I watched a few more shows and parades on the main street (and was made a fool of by a magician) and a 4D showing of the road runner which was very funny. After spending more time on the rides, I was kicked out at closing. Thankfully the weather was better so I walked along the beach when I got back. As I was going to have to leave at 03:30 the following morning I didn’t want to pay to stay at a hostel so I just chilled at the one from the previous night and then when everyone had gone to bed at about 01:30 I put up my hammock and slept for two hours.

You can see all the photos from Brisbane here and all the photos from Gold Coast here.