Weekend in Brissy!

Last weekend we went to Brisbane ("Brissy"), and it was magical! Helen, Amy, Megan, Andrea, Erin (my two friends from the Kondalila falls trip), Tobias, Christopher (both from Germany) and I left mid-afternoon. We had to take two buses and then a train, so it seemed to take forever to get there. When we got to the train station, Amy and I split a hot strawberry Nutella crepe and it was one of the most scrumptious things I have ever eaten.

 Andrea and Erin

 Amy

 Me, Christopher, and Helen

 Megan and Tobias

Not a good picture, but seriously the best crepe ever!

Once we left the train station we headed for our hostel, Bunk Backpackers. Just walking to the hostel got us all so excited! Brissy is definitely different than Sippy Downs. It's actually the third largest city in Australia! 

 There was a lot of awesome architecture in Brissy!

Our hostel!

Bunk Backpackers was recommended to us by our friend Brent, who used to work for a travel agency, and by the tour guide book Uncle Peter gave me. The people who worked there were not very nice, but otherwise it was great! The eight of us were all in one room with two girls who were also from Germany. The room had 5 bunk beds and one small extremely poorly-lit bathroom (which made it so hard to get ready in!) with one toilet and shower. Once we got settled in to the hostel, we headed to dinner in Chinatown, which was a block away from the hostel. We ate at a fairly cheap Chinese restaurant, which was great until Helen found a huge bug in her food. That caused us to lose our appetites pretty quickly, but I managed to finish my chicken curry anyway! 

 Pretty sky on the way to dinner!

 Sweet statue in Chinatown

 The restaurant we went to- wouldn't recommend it after our encounter with the bug!

After dinner we headed back to the hostel to get ready for our night out on the town. We had heard that Brissy's nightlife was incredible, so we decided to check it out. After we got ready we went and had some chips and dip at Birdee's, the bar in our hostel. Then we walked to Exchange Hotel and had a pretty fun time! By that point Sam, Aren, Peter, Eli, Erick, and Sea Bass had arrived in Brissy, so Sam and Aren joined us while the guys went and did their own thing. 

 Helen and Meg

 Christopher, me and Amy

Amy, Meg, Andrea, Erin, me, and Helen

Saturday morning we forced ourselves to wake up around 10 so we could go see Brisbane. I was so happy it was beautiful outside! We went to a huge phenomenal bridge called Story Bridge and walked across it, which was SO cool! We walked for awhile and then went on a little ferry that took us across the river. We were able to use our Go cards (the cards we use for the buses here, which we also used for the train), which was nice. Then we got lunch at the food court and went to the mall. I've never seen such expensive stores in my life! They had a bunch of designer stores and one of the department stores had T-shirts for $200 and other clothes that were thousands of dollars. It astounds me that anyone would pay that much money for clothes! I did find a store with cheap shoes though and bought a pair for $20! They're super high heels and I'm not enough of a girl to have mastered the art of walking in high heels, but I'm working on it!

 Tobias, Christopher, Helen, Meg, me, Amy and Andrea

 Super cool building!

Love the colors!

 Helen wearing a "Paris Rocks!" shirt- so typical!

 I'll write about this more in a future post, but doing everything on the opposite side of the road is always SO confusing!!!

 Loved the contrast of this house's roof with everything around it

We walked through C T White Park, which was really pretty!

 The ferry we took!

 Picture from the other side of the river!

 Helen, me, Andrea, Megan, Erin, Amy, Sam and Aren

Me, Andrea, Erin, Christopher and Tobias

 SO sunny! :)

 These trees were in the middle of the city and were SO awesome!

 There were a lot of people outside playing music! 

 Awesome wall!

 Aboriginal man playing the didgeridoo outside the mall

After we went shopping, we continued walking and crossed over another bridge. There was a ferris wheel called the Wheel of Brisbane. We wanted to ride it but it cost $15 so we decided to go to the fake beach instead. We had heard good things about the fake beach but in my opinion it was kind of stupid. I guess it's nice for the people who live in Brisbane since they're farther away from the real beach, but we didn't feel like spending too much time there when we go to school so close to the beach. There was a row of stands with people selling food, art, souvenirs, etc., so we walked around for a bit. I bought a banana with chocolate in it and a piece of aboriginal art to hang up in my room. I also bought my first can of DR. PEPPER since we got here!!! I had been looking for Dr. Pepper everywhere but they don't sell it in any of the grocery stores or restaurants here. I had been craving it for weeks! They had it at a candy store though and I was so excited! We also watched a man who was riding this super tall unicycle while juggling knives and fire torches. It freaked me out because I was so scared he was going to get hurt, but he was amazing! Then on our walk back, Megan, Amy, Helen and I saw a big group of people with Huskies. We asked one of the owners what was going on and they said they were in a Husky club and that a big group of people who owns huskies get together every month to walk their dogs together. I thought that was such a great idea! We also stopped in some stores on the way back to the hostel, but everything was too expensive so I didn't buy anything (noticing a trend here? Everything here is so expensive and I want to save my money for traveling!)

 This is the casino where some of my friends went Saturday night! I didn't want to waste money though , so I didn't go!

Sea Bass, Eli, Erick, Peter, me, Sam, Aren, Meg, Amy, and Helen

 The Wheel of Brisbane!

 The Nepalese Pagoda!

 This is the fake beach in Brisbane

Me and Megan!

 Banana with chocolate in the middle- a little weird but pretty tasty!

 FINALLY!!!

Lots of stands with cool things to buy!

 Husky club!

That night we had dinner at Birdee's and then went out to experience more of Brisbane's nightlife. Some people went to the casino, but Andrea, Erin, Tobias, Christopher and I went to The Met, which was incredible, and the Electric Playground (we got free tickets!) Amy, Helen, Amy's roommates, B and Mat, our friend Aaron, my friend Edward, and his friends met up with us and we all had a great time! 

 The Met- SO cool!

Me and Edward!

We went and got "Macker's" (McDonalds) after and then went back to the hostel and went to sleep. We had to be out of the hostel by 10am Sunday, and waking up was rough since we had stayed up so late the night before. Some of our group had already left, and one group took a car back (B has a car), so it was just me, Andrea, Erin and Megan. We sat and waited in the train station for an hour or so before our train came. We were SO tired!!!

When we got back, I headed to the beach with my book, which is exactly what I needed after such a busy weekend! It was so nice!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend! We're definitely planning on going back to Brissy soon! :)