Today was my 9th full day in the Land of Oz. I woke up at 8:30 and got ready to leave Jessica’s house. She had to leave for work and she left her phone number for me. I checked my email and all that and then started out. Hopefully I’ll see Jessica and Kyle when I come back because I’d love to share my Outback travels with them. It was very nice of them to let me stay with them, and I don’t know how to thank them enough. I got a Red Bull on the way and then went to the bus stop. I caught the bus to the Nerang train station as usual. I was talking to this mother and daughter from Australia who lives near Fraser Island. The train came and I just sat there. An hour later, I got off in Brisbane and just roamed around. I wasn’t out to go shopping because I’m trying not to spend a lot of money at the moment. In downtown Brisbane, there is this very unusual looking building that kind of looks like someone put a box on top of it. I tried to go to the top of the building to get a photo of downtown, but it’s a secured building, and the security guard asked me to go back downstairs. I was hoping to go to the beach at Noosa, but the train ride would take more than an hour and it was already 2:00. Oh well, maybe next week. I grabbed lunch at Macca’s (McDonald’s) and talked to an Aussie chick. One thing about Australia is that there is a pretty girl on every corner. I then walked around and got lost a little. I sat and talked with this pretty girl from Cairns. I then took the train to South Bank after finding out about the man-made beach there. I walked around the riverfront and then put my feet in the water. I sat on the beach with this pretty girl named Annika from Germany, and we took a picture together. Afterward, we said goodbye to each other and I jumped on the CityCat ferry. All while I was trying to nail the perfect shot of Brisbane. I actually like the skyline of Brisbane better than Sydney. After getting off the boat, I went to the place where I booked my Uluru tour to use the free internet. I emailed Edana the picture of me holding the koala because she had asked me if I had a photo of that. I really wanted to put new pictures on MySpace, but at every computer I tried it at, I was having a problem. At one computer, someone set the language to German and I couldn’t figure out how to change it to English. I tried for like an hour with no luck. Afterward, I walked to the hostel I was staying at and checked in. I put my stuff in my room and went up to the roof. I met these two pretty girls: Louise from the UK, and Erica from New Zealand. I was like, in love with Louise right away. The view from Brisbane from the roof is incredible. Afterward, I went and threw my laundry in the wash and went next door to the bar to hang out with Louise and Erica, but I got picked on for not having a shirt on. I had put everything except for the shorts I was wearing into the wash. Well, after my clothes were done, I threw on my wet Fiji shirt. It rained out for a short while. I went to my room early, but I couldn’t go to sleep, so I went and hung out with the girls again. We took a heap of pictures and I kept hugging them. They even told me that I’m very nice and that even though they’re traveling alone as well, everyone is like family here. So, tomorrow I’m off to Alice Springs or “The Alice” as many Aussies call it. I promised Louise and Erica that I’d be back to share my Outback tales. What I’m most looking forward to is camping in a swagroll underneath more than a million stars. I’m also really looking forward to seeing Uluru. After that, I said good night and gave them each a nice, warm hug. As I lay in my bunk, I imagine listening to tales of the Dreamtime by the campfire while looking up at the stars. Well, I have an early flight tomorrow and I’ll have to be up before dawn. I’ll have the Southern Cross in my Dreamtime as I sleep peacefully. See you in the Alice tomorrow night.
