Update #2 - Mostly about Brisbane

Hooo, boy!  A lot has happened in 10 days, that's for sure.  I'm writing this from an AirBnB in Gold Coast, a beautiful city about an hour south of Brisbane.  I'm here for the next few days as I try to re-orient myself and plan for what is next.  Spoiler:  I don't know what's next.  But at least I have time to get down everything that's been going on for the last week and a half or so.

After Sydney, I did indeed buy a bus ticket up the coast.  That worked out pretty well at first.  I stopped in Newcastle, where I stayed with a nice couple (supposably - I never actually saw the guy, and like ten reviews about that place also mentioned that the guy was MIA).  I only met Jayde, the female, on my way to catch a taxi back to the bus stop on my last day (I stayed for two nights).  She saw that I was eating cadbury chocolate for breakfast and wouldn't stand for that, so she ran out literally seconds before I jumped in the cab and gave me a bag of grapes and a banana.  So that was nice.  During my stay in Newcastle, I decided to try hitch hiking to Nelson Bay.  Actually, I was just wanting to head back to the house I was staying at, but these girls who picked me up said they were headed to Nelson Bay and I said "That sounds more interesting than home.  Can I come?"  And they obliged.

So I spent a couple hours wandering around Nelson Bay.  Had a delicious cheeseburger.  I don't know where Aussies got the idea that beetroot belonged in cheeseburgers but I can't say that I minded it too much.  Even the McDonald's hamburgers here have beetroot in them.  A few hours later, my new friends picked me up and took me back to Newcastle.  Emma and Ruth were their names - Ruth from Tasmania, Emma from... Sydney?  I don't remember.  Those are boring details anyway.

Then I decided to catch the bus to Byron Bay, which is supposed to be one of the greatest surfing locations around.  I don't know if that's true for a couple of reasons.  First, I never made it to the beach.  Secondly, the weather kind of sucked so I probably couldn't have gone anyway.  I also inadvertently wandered into the city in the middle of a gigantic festival, which sounds like it might be fun, but in reality was not fun at all, because every form of accommodation was booked for miles around.  I ended up staying in the bridal suite of a historic mansion-turned-hotel 20 miles from Byron Bay.  And the bed wasn't even that soft.  Terrible place for a honeymoon.

So I guess I just didn't want to deal with that place anymore, so the next morning I just continued my bus trip into Brisbane.  Brisbane is a beautiful city which is clustered all along the banks of the Brisbane River, which apparently is full of sharks.  It's also completely brown and you can't see a thing, so there you go - a recipe for a nightmare.  But only if you fall in.  If you stay on land, it's quite lovely.

No one told me how gigantic Australia is, and since I, for some reason, refused to look at a map of the world until now, I just assumed I could get where I wanted in a matter of hours.  Not the case!  It's a full day from Sydney to Brisbane.  It's taken me three trips to get here, two legs of which were over ten hours long.  So it's going to take about that long again to get to Cairns - my last stop for the east coast.  That's also where I was planning on doing most of my diving, but the guy whose house I'm in right now told me that Byron Bay is actually the best place to go, so tomorrow I think we'll take a trip and see some creatures.

Oh, and I bought a car!  That's actually why I started the previous paragraph; Australia is so huge that I decided to get a car and get places on my own timetable and at my own speed.  I got a killer deal.  It's a 2001 Holden Astra (yeah, I had no idea what that meant and still don't really).  I met the owners who gave me all kinds of receipts for replacements and maintenance work that had been done fairly recently, and even called a guy to come inspect it while I was looking at it with them so they could give me what is called a "Road worthy certificate", which essentially is the same as a safety certificate.  It has 3 months of registration left, a new timing belt, new tires, and a bunch of other stuff.  It's also a hatchback, so it has plenty of room for my packs.  I paid 1,600 AUD, which is like $1,200.  And my tax refund covered it!  So that's nice.

I forgot what building this is, but it's in Sydney and it's cool.

My first AirBnB experience.  Greeted with chocolate and candle light, which was a confusing mood to set for a stranger, I thought.

How great is this picture?  This is Jax, the Overly-Friendly Dog.  He immediately started licking my shins when I walked in.  I thought that was adorable, so I decided to get a picture with him.  He pounced on my chest at this very moment.  You can see by my expression that I had no idea what he was planning.

Neat tree I found in Brisbane.

This is Newcastle.  I don't know why I took a picture of what appears to be a normal road.  I have even less of an idea as to why I thought I needed to be pictured with the road.

Strange women who picked me up.

Nelson Bay. Geez, I loved that place.

A delicious roast chicken with red wine jus in Gold Coast

Neat lantern-tree in Brisbane.

I think this is in recognition of the Anzac Treaty. I dunno, I just like fire.

Brisbane Botanic Gardens.

Winged creature.

Some models I painted at a place called Games Workshop

My new car!

More Brisbane

Jade Buddha - a swanky restaurant on the river - Brisbane Bridge in the background

Daytime view of the bridge.

The guy I'm staying with just talked to me for like an hour about what I need to see around here.  He grew up in D.C. and retired here.  He seemed to have the whole spiel memorized, because it had a definite beginning and end, and I think I said three words the whole time.  His favorite word is the F one.  His wife, or partner, or something was the one I met when I arrived though.  Her name is Sahlee, which I wish I'd paid more attention to when I was reading it online, because I had a bit of an embarrassing moment when she showed me the room.  I introduced myself and she showed me where to put my bags and then gave me a key and said "I'm Sahlee, by the way", but her accent is kind of strong (she is of the latina persuasion) and I thought she said "I'm sorry, by the way".  And I said, like a freaking moron, "Why?".  Then it got real quiet for a few seconds as we both tried to process what the other just said.  She said "So... I'll be studying in the next room if you need anything." And after she left, I figured it out.  I feel like apologizing but I think too much time has passed.

So I'm here for a few nights.  From here, I'll be heading up the coast toward Noosa, probably, but I don't know yet.  I've also semi-started looking for jobs, but it's not a focus at this point.