Brisbane - Day 2

Brad at Surfers Paradise - he was mostly unco-operative at being photographed so pictures of him are either of his back or the side of his face - as he attempts to get out of the picture.

The sun was shining at 7 am this morning – good thing because Queensland is known as ‘the sunshine state’. They have 300 sunny days/year so I would like at least a few of those this week. Obviously it doesn’t matter where we are or what time zone we’re in, the kids have a hard time getting up and mobile on a Sunday morning when church is involved. Church starts at 9:30am here, which is a travesty according to the kids because they have to get up that much earlier. We do make it there by 9:20. We met everyone after and they kept misunderstanding where we were from…”Canberra? Toowoombah?” It must have been our Australian accent that was confusing them! But then they got that it was Canada.

We went to the Carrara Markets after that. It is a huge market place that sells pretty much anything under the sun. We had lunch there as well. Jeff and Steven ordered a hamburger. You could get it plain or ‘with the lot’, so they both had ‘with the lot’. When Jeff and Steven’s burgers arrived they looked really good. I thought it almost looked like there was a fried egg on it but Jeff said it was just cheese……until he bit into it. Apparently “with the lot” means with tomato, lettuce, cheese AND fried egg. We also know now that an Aussie burger comes with beet root (a slice or two of beet) and ‘sauces’ are not readily available. You have to ask for tomato sauce (ketchup) or BBQ sauce or mayo. I don’t think I’ve really seen mustard or relish. Also you order your food at the cash and pay for it at the same time. Then they give you a number for your table and when the food is ready they bring it to you. This works out well because there is also no tipping required in Australia. So, when you’re done your food you leave – you don’t have to wait for the bill.
We then headed to Surfers Paradise. Even on a Sunday, in the winter, there is still a lot of cars parked everywhere. We tried to use the ‘automatic parallel park’ but it didn’t work (who needs the manual anyways?!) so Jeff had to rely on his instinct to squeeze us into a spot – which he did admirably well. We walked up to the Esplanade (or ‘es-pah-lawn-dey’ as Brad says to bug Steven). Again, another beautiful beach with waves that remind me of Virginia Beach.

We didn’t see any surfers but maybe that was because the tide was out? The boys spot a McDonalds (or Macca’s as the Aussies say) and they start salivating just thinking of the free wi-fi it offers. We don’t have any internet connection at our apartment and they are starting to go into withdrawal.

While sitting in the McD’s area we see 2 bronzed girls in gold bikinis done up to the nines. They are walking around in high heels, cowboy hats and blue sashes; we think they must have won some type of pageant. As we’re walking around later the one girl approaches us and as it turns out she is a ‘meter maid’ and they are fundraising for the ‘Surfers Paradise Meter Maids’….really? There is such a thing that needs fundraising? She holds a can out with change in it. Jeff ponys up a donation. I asked if we could get her picture and she said that they ask for a $5 donation for pictures. I said ‘forget it’. Ironically we head back to the car shortly after that and discover that some lovely meter maid has given us a $50 parking ticket. Turns out the 1P sign does not mean 1 hour free parking (which we were over anyways) but pay and park for one hour. I hope I run into that meter maid again at some point and I’m glad I did not ‘donate’ $5 for her picture.

Kristen at the park

We have a few things planned for this week. We are going to the Australia Zoo (Crikey!) and into the city of Brisbane….also the boys are on a mission to find Buckleys Hole (yes, it’s an actual place) and they want to go back to Surfer’s Paradise and ride the waves on some boards….(of the boogie type).