So the Brisbane River is receding, we've finally gotten a break from the torrential downpour (however small since it's thunderstorming again here), and classes are officially starting tomorrow. So a few of us decided to take a short trip to the Gold Coast to Surfer's Paradise. OMG...it was amazing. It was exactly what we needed in order to veg and relax before our hectic school schedule starts. It's super easy to get to. We just take an express "Gold Coast" train from downtown and then a short bus ride to "Surfer's Paradise". As soon as you get off the bus stop, there's a hostel called "Nomads" which actually used to be an old hotel. It was pretty awesome for $32.00/night. We had our own bathroom and there was also a pool and hot tub for use.
Our room wasn't ready until after 2:00, so we changed, put our stuff in a locker, and then head to the beach! It was so hot and sunny and amazing. The water was warm, and the waves were lively. The lifeguards are very watchful and there is only a small area of the ocean that you're allowed to swim in, and you have to be really careful to stay in that area as the tide will suck you in diagonally. The area between the 2 flags isn't very big and it's easy to drift beyond those perimeters. In fact, the lifeguards call out to the swimmers to remind them to go back within the flagposts. I was in the water swimming back towards the flags when my thigh started prickling. The prickling turned into a stinging, then burning. After making sure there wasn't a leech or crab or some other type of parasite on my thigh, I saw a bright red line on my skin. So...my first time on the Australian coast was punctuated with a jellyfish sting. I ended up going to the lifeguards who then sprayed my thigh with some type of magic elixer and told me to ice it...an hour later it went away! Yayy! Needless to say, despite the jellyfish sting, the day was awesome.
It started to cloud over so we went back to the hostel, changed, then went out for dinner and drinks. We were so tired that we were in bed by midnight. In the morning we checked out, put our stuff back in a locker, then headed back to the beach. We kept saying how amazing it was to actually be there. We're all on a tight budget, but understand how important it is to have a life-work balance. Our schedules are the most strenuous...we start about a month earlier than everyone else and finish about a month later. In total, we get about 8-10 weeks out of the year off from school. According to my schedule for this week, Thursday I'm at school from 8am - 4pm, and Friday from 8am - 5pm...and next week this will be everyday. Not to mention fitting in studying also. We know that we won't have time to enjoy this once school starts, so we were so grateful and fortunate to be able to soak it in beforehand. Don't get me wrong; I am SOOOO EXCITED to be starting school!! But I'm also happy I was able to thoroughly enjoy the beach. That's all for now, but I'll let you know how the first days of school are!!
~Christine~ xoxo
