Headed to Melbourne

Aug 9th, 2008

Tomorrow I'm off to Melbourne. Brisbane was really amazing. There might not be tons to do in the city during the day, but there are a million things to do within 2 hours by car. I got to see some amazing stuff because of Sarah.

The third day I was here I decided to go to the zoo. They let you walk around with kangaroos, play with koala bears, and feed elephants. It was a lot of fun because of the contact with the animals. The kangaroos were really funny. They are kinda like a cat or a dog, they love you to scratch around their ears and their neck. Then the just plop down on the ground and lay in the sun. Some times they dig holes for no apparent reason.

The next day I just walked around the city with Sarah to see what happens in Brisbane during the day. Its a small city but it was fun just checking out the shops and going different cafes. We got a bunch of food and then met up with one of her friends for some tea. I don't really like tea that much but its ok I guess.

Friday we went to a place called O'Rileys. Its a rainforest in the mountains. These beautiful birds just come and land right on you if you have food. I must have had 7 of them on me at one point. Then we hiked through the woods and went through the tree top walk. We climbed all the way to the top of one tree because they have ladders and little tree forts. After the trees we hiked a few more kilometers to some waterfalls. After jumping around the rocks a bit there the girls decided they wanted to go in a pool before the waterfall. I said it was too cold, but I attempted to get in too. It felt like someone had a put a thousand blocks of ice upriver and let the water flow through it to us. It was the kind of cold that immediately makes your lungs close and pain shoots straight through your muscles to the bone. It definitely did not feel good. I got out pretty quickly and fell asleep on a rock in the sun for a bit.

Today I went to Moreton Island. I thought I was going to do that a few days ago but it didn't work out. It was a lot of fun. People just drive 4wd trucks around all day through the paths. One truck got stuck and we had to help it out. I was also trying to call Julianne all day to say happy birthday but between no signal and no answers at home it didn't end up working out. So happy birthday Julianne. It was a bit cold since its winter and all but we still managed to do some swimming. We swam in a fresh water lake called the blue lagoon and then went up to the highest point on the island to look at any marine life we could see in the waters below. We saw some dolphins and some sea turtles but no whales. It was still amazing regardless. The sky and ocean were such a deep blue they almost blended together at the horizon. We also got to drink from a freshwater spring right on the beach. You just dig down about 6 inches and freshwater starts pumping out of the sand. We just cupped our hands and drank right off the beach. We took the boat back around 3:30 and I met up with Sarah and Jordan after that for a goodbye dinner.

Melbourne tomorrow.

- Alex