Friends!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

We had our first visitors from the states today.  Paul and Mary were on vacation in Australia and made a special trip up to the Gold Coast to see us.  We got on a train at 7:30 this morning and headed down to Surfer’s Paradise and met up with them.  It was great to have friends for the day. 

Paul and Mary rented a car for the time they’re in Queensland.  They picked us up at the train station and we bopped over to the beach.  It’s funny that they have more experience driving here than we do.  Paul said he got the hang of driving on the left pretty quick.

We hit the beach at Surfer’s Paradise and managed somehow to avoid the throngs of Schoolies that have taken over the Gold Coast.  It was a perfect day, light breeze, no clouds and nice surf.  Paul had rented some boogie boards and we took turns getting thrashed by waves.  Leah was the best of all of us at it.  Of course this should come as no surprise to anyone. Leah was a fish in a past life I’m sure of it.

We spent several hours on the beach, chatting and catching up.  All of us got a lot of sun despite heaps of sunscreen.  I somehow managed to cover everything but the tops of my knees which are lobster red tonight.  We have this great spf 60 that Leah got from the dermatologist that works really well when you put it on right (Thanks Christ).  Paul managed to get lobstered all over his body.  If you’re planning on visiting, spf 15 should be left at home.  Bring the hard stuff. You’ve been warned.

After the beach we went to get some lunch.   We found a restaurant with a bar and talked and drank for a couple of hours.  Then went over to their hotel and while they showered and changed, Leah and I checked out the pool.  The Marriott at Surfer’s Paradise has one of the nicest pools I’ve ever seen.  Actually they have two huge pools outside.  One is shaped like a river and has fresh water.  The other is shaped like a lagoon and has a sandy beach and is salt water full of tropical fish.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  I took a picture from their balcony and will put it up when we can.  It was awesome.

All clean and showered, Paul and Mary drove us back to Brisbane and we stopped by our house so we could change.  We then walked over to Park Road and grabbed a pizza.  This time we went for the meter pie.  It was great and we damn near took the whole thing down. 

Paul and Mary are leaving at six am to go back to Sydney, where they started their vacation, and then back to the states.  It was great to see them, but we’re sad they had to go back so soon.  One day is too short.  Keep that in mind for your visit.

Some observations for today:

-The Australian media is obsessed right now with a singer from Canada named Michael Bublé (pronounced boo blay) it’s really fun and funny to say with an Australian accent.  I’ll try and record what it sounds like and post it up here soon.  We all laughed about it all day.

-On the spot fines apply.   There are signs warning people of possible consequences for everything everywhere.

-Four jugs of beer divided by three people equals a nice buzz.