Live, Laugh Love? Try swim, shop, wander.

Oh, the art of shopping... That is what I spent Friday perfecting (let's be honest, I've had that skill down pat for years now, but practice never hurts).  Basically it was more wandering around the city on my own and doing a bit of shopping here and there along the way.  The morning was supposed to be spent in the arts center on the South Bank, but it was all closed up after the flooding and had yet to reopen, so after baking in the oppressive heat and trying to scamper from shaded area to shaded area, I finally worked up the courage to cross the bridge.  By doing so I knew I would subject myself to a solid 4 or 5 minutes under the relentless midmorning sun and could hope only for a breeze coming down the river.  There was a breeze, there was also dehydration after all the fluids I lost to sweat and I would have been happy to have an IV waiting for me on the other side to refill, instead I had the Australian equivalent to Forever 21 with blasting AC (or air con as it is called here).

The view from my slow death in the kiln, i mean bridge
The river is still yucky from the floods

I wandered my way to a fossil! It felt crazy, but it was fun talking to the employees; they were jealous of my 50% discount off of America's already much lower prices.  Note the really tall guy inside the store who seems to be a solid head taller than the woman beside him? Yea, he was really tall.

So the day wasn't all too exciting, though I had a fabulous time and bought some stuff I now have to figure out how to get to New Zealand without being over weight... hmmm... ah I'm sure I'll figure something out, I'm a Rasch after all. Ah! So I have discovered something glorious here, first off Australians are really picky about their coffee, but unlike the French or the Germans they brew it in a way I really like, not too strong, not bitter, vair good.  Well I discovered somthing even better, here when you order an "Iced Coffee" you do not in fact get a coffee with ice in it, you get something much better: cold coffee with globs of ice cream and cinnamon on top!  It's basically a coffee float, and with the weather we've bee having I have basically lived off their deliciousness.

So fast forward to today, low on sleep but very excited we headed out early to catch the ferry to North Stradbroke Island.  After driving to the far side of the island we came to a bit of a road block (see picture below) but decided to walk through to the beach, which was beautiful and empty (see picture below below).

Not exactly car friendly

From this picture you might guess there was an impending thunder storm and we are about to get rained on, and you would be right, but it was just a little sprinkle and since we're always wet on the inside it can't hurt to get a little wet on the outside occasionally.


After our foray onto the beach and some wading in the Pacific we headed for Blue lake which involved a 3 and a half mile hike round trip but promised a wonderful swimming spot when you made it there.  So we brought towels and water and the walk ended up being a little longer than expected, but the water was cool and clear and filled with adorable little minnows you could scoop up in your hands.  Funny that the minnows in a lake on an island off the coast of Australia seemed to like me as much as the ones in the Tennessee River and I soon made friends with a whole school of them as they wouldn't let me move three feet without congregating around me again.

After the walk back to the car we went for lunch then headed to the main beach on the island.  There was a great little sandy inlet with rocky sides to sit on in the shade, but while we were there a helicopter came by and a siren went off, most likely because of sharks so everyone went to shore for awhile.  I of course sat in the waves making dribble castles on my knees, because to ask me to get entirely out of the water is just absurd.  It was a long but glorious day in the sun, and tomorrow will be another, so it is time for bed, and by bed I mean kicking my computer onto the floor, rolling over, and passing out in the next five minutes. And with that I bid you goodnight!