Yes, I'm alive, don't worry

I received a worried email from my mom when I wasn't updating this page, so if any of you were in the same boat, I doubt it but it's nice to dream, I'm all right. We've been driving a lot the past few days and haven't had a lot of time or Internet to do all the extra things. I know this blog should be important because it's like a mass email to all of you, but I don't even have time to write emails to my parents, that's how quick I have to be on the Internet. but enough excuses.
Moving on...

Last time I left you we were in Brisbane. Brisbane is a cute city. It is small for city standards (only 1.5 million living there) but you can't tell when you're right in the midst of things. When we went exploring on the first night, we discovered we were located right across the street from the Queen Street Mall. Maggie and Jess naturally got very excited and determined that this is what they were going to occupy their time with on the next day. I however, hate shopping when a)I don't have money to spend b)spend more than an hour and a half looking at clothes and c)don't have money to spend. I decided that I would be a nerd and go see the historic things around the city (that were free! yay) while they perused the 500 shops that were in the mall.

So on Wednesday morning, we set off on our separate ways. I headed off to city hall while they headed to the starbucks across the street. I can only tell you what I did, but it's safe to assume that they went shopping, saw some cute clothes, and Maggie bought some shoes. That's all I know.

I went to King George square where city hall is located. It is also down the street. Excellent. I visited it the night before, and it apparently has been redone. At night, lights in different colors bounce off the hall while on the ground lights in the cement turn different colors. It's very pretty. In the day however, it's nothing out the norm. It is a nice building, inside and out. I wandered in and attempted to find the way to the clock tower, where an elevator takes you up to see the skyline on Brisbane. Apparently, city hall is a multipurpose room. on the left and right wings there was a museum I wandered into, and right across from the entrance a children's concert was going on. I walked up the marble steps and found myself in the Deputy Mayor's waiting room. I had a feeling I shouldn't be there, so I wandered into a room across the way, but again I felt like I was trespassing. Finally, I found the elevator to the lift to the tower. I was waiting in line with some older people who paid to be on a tour. The guide was waiting with while rattling off some facts about the place, and I had a feeling that they resented me because I was getting this information for free. Whatever, it's not like I snuck in with them. The tower was cool, the skyline wasn't so much. The clock tower used to be the tallest building in Brisbane until 1971, so there were quite a few buildings that blocked any sort of view of the river.

After I was done with that, I wandered around trying to find the Roma Parkland. I accidentally stumbled upon it, and it's good that I did. I was walking along construction sites and I don't think I should have been there. the parkland was a little boring and it was really hot, so I went back to the hostel to look up better things in my guide book. One hour and one war memorial later, I found myself in the botanic gardens by the river. this was a lot prettier and colder. Brisbane has a free newspaper that they're handing out on every corner, so I just sat and read that until it got too windy. By the way, I was super confused about the Balloon Boy thing. Is that a big fuss back home?

On Thursday, Jessica and I took a bus to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. There we got to see the koalas up close (from babies to the old fogies) AND we got to hold one! We did have to pay 15 bucks for a picture in order to do so, but it's ok. Cross that off the list. When I went to hold it, the koala was more interested in the male koalas that were calling nearby, so she kept turning her head away from the camera, but we got the shot.
We also got to pet more kangaroos, avoid these huge lizards just scuttling around the area, and watch a sheep herding show. It made me want to watch and/or read Babe again. The dogs were hilarious. I would explain more, but it's just boring things only Francesca would like to hear about. I do have videos.
Oh! and be proud of us. We sat through a python presentation (I was ready to flee at any moment, but that's beside the point) and we patted the python at the end. I consider that achievement for two snake haters. The helpful tips the guys gave us if we came across poisonous snakes were good to know, but he forgot to mention what to do when a wave of crippling fear washes over you when you see one and can't react in time. I need to work on that...
So that was our time in Brisbane.

On Friday we checked out of our hotel at 9, and got our car from a long term parking lot at 10. what did we do in that hour? you wonder. We looked for our car. this is hard to write because it's bringing up a lot of anger, but basically, we parked our car on the fourth floor, but the elevators only went to the third. We tried to go up staircases, but they were gated or the fourth floor doors were locked. It took us 20 minutes just to find the car park in the area. It's part train station, part hotel, part food court. We tried to retrace our steps from how we got out on the first day, but that door was locked. we found the third floor, but the elevator needed a card to take us to the fourth floor. we went up a staircase, the door was locked. we went back down to the third floor, that door was locked. We had to start all over again on the first floor. Maggie had a bit of an angry outburst in an elevator and scared the woman riding with us, but I can't blame her. If sh hadn't, I would have. Finally, we followed the car way up and got the hell out of there. Did I mention we were super hungry because we had planned on having breakfast in our next destination that we were supposed to almost be by then? oh, that must have slipped my mind.

So after that, we made our way to Surfer's Paradise, which apparently is where all the attractive Australians live. It all makes sense now. Lots of beautiful people there. The beach was beautiful as well. We had breakfast there, looked around, then made our way to Byron Bay.
Friday was just a mixture of all bad things. Our hostel in Brisbane was over a bar that got loud at nine and didn't stop the music until 2 or 3. The night before we left, the music was extra loud, followed by a lot of cheering, and it was really hot in our room and we couldn't control it. None of us got a lot of sleep. Add that to the car fiasco, and we were almost done for the day.
So we got to Byron Bay (the easternmost tip of Australia, as signs let me know), and we walked around, looked at the shops, walked to the beach (also beautiful), saw some whales showing off, and got a milkshake at a cafe. By the way, milkshakes here mean milk and syrup and ice cream. You have to specify thick. We did not know that. It felt like we were drinking strawberry milk. Yep. So we were still very tired and not up for anything more that sleeping, which we were looking forward to. When we checked in, we were the only ones in our room. cut to 8 at night, and all the beds have been taken, and they all belong to friends who were meeting each other down in Byron Bay for a night of partying. they were nice, but I ended up hating them. It started out innocent enough. We talked, told them where we were from, learned stuff about them, all good. They went out, we collapsed into our bunks. 3 am rolls around, they come home. Everyone is wasted. They try to be quiet, but again, they're drunk, so there's a lot of giggling, a lot of loud whispering, and a lot of leaving the door open where they're all talking loudly outside. they had a friend who wasn't staying in the room, but I swear to God, kept coming in every five minutes or so to talk to them. he was who I hated the most. He kept forgetting that we were trying to sleep, which is what his friends told him every time. I wanted to kill him.

Needless to say, I got about 2 hours of sleep and hopefully my revenge when I woke up at 8 to check out. I did not try to be quiet. This was our long driving day, and I got stuck with the wheel somehow. Apparently sleep deprived Angela is better that sleep deprived Jess or Maggie. I doubt it, but I drove for six hours. Eventually lack of sleep and food and monotonous driving made me a little delirious. It made for a fun few hours of driving. Jess begrudgingly took over the driving after I begged her, but I'm guessing if I hadn't asked, I would have driven the entire 8 hours. you would not want that. We arrived in Newcastle for the night in a hostel that used to be a gentleman's club. I hope it wasn't what we think of nowadays but you never know.

Now, we are in the Blue Mountains. It's been raining off and on, and the fog has obscured a lot of the views, but we're hoping for sun tomorrow. Our hostel is small but cute, and everyone who stays or works here gives of the family vibe. It's nice. We have one more day in the Mountains, then we're heading to Sydney to take off to New Zealand.

ok. That's about it. To those who made it all the way, congrats.