Rainbow Beach & Brisbane

What a long bus ride! 25 Hours is just too much! I managed to sleep a little bit, but was really tired. My hostel, Pippies Beach house, was right across the bus stop so at least I didn't have far to go. When I got there, my room wasn't ready yet, so I stored my belongings and roamed town. It was about 2 blocks long. So, needless to say, that didn't take long. I pulled out my book and read a bit instead. I had to check 3 times, and 2 hours later, I could finally take my much needed nap.
The hostel itself was nice, clean and spacious, but the service was absolutely horrendous. They make you feel like your a burden to talk to them. Wouldn't recommend them.
I woke up for dinner, (hmm, more instant noodles) and watched 2 episodes of "The Inbetweeners" that some people were watching in the lounge. A popular English favorite. Not quite for me, but at least I gave it a shot.
Then, I chatted with a nice Holland girl in my dorm before going to bed.
The next morning, I went out to the beach for a nice walk. After about 6 km, you get to see all the different coloured hues of the sands in the cliff side. So beautiful. Supposed to be 72 different colours... I didn't actually count. The rainbow coloured sand cliffs had taken a beating as a cyclone a couple years ago tore down some trees and disturbed the patterns a bit. But, it was still wonderful! I ended up meeting a nice local on the way there and back. We made the walk faster by talking together. We had to keep an ear out for vehicles driving by us on the beach. We even found the remains of a jeep in the sand... mostly buried. Apparently, the beach is littered with them, all beneath the sand. The beach is only accessible when the tide's out, and it comes in quickly. So, there's been a few trapped, unable to get out in time. Lol, not very good planning. Amazing how often that happens.
I popped into one of the other hostels to book my bus for the next day to Brisbane and went home to make dinner, watch a movie on my laptop and head to bed.
My bus left in the morning, it was only a 6 hr ride. Nice change. I checked into the "Somewhere to Stay" hostel. It was refreshing to have such nice people working there. It was a little out of town, so it was nice and quiet. Nice hostel there, reminded me of Chili's in Darwin because of all the longer term people staying there. There was a complementary shuttle every hour in and out of town.
I walked to the grocery store to get some spinach/cheese ravioli with pesto sauce and sausage for dinner. I figured, it was enough for 2 nights. Good to plan ahead :) Then, I occupied the rest of the evening chatting with my Japanese roommate.
I spent the next day exploring. I walked from my hostel, down Boundary st where lots of funky shops and eateries were, to the South Bank Parklands (city beach and markets) were I then crossed The Goodwill Bridge to the Botanic Gardens. There were some really cool fig trees and even a kookaburra in them. They sound so neat, like laughter. Many lizards as well, trying to warm up in the sunshine. Then I walked to Victoria Bridge, along the river pathway and checked out the State Library. They had free internet! Yay! 7 pm is my last shuttle, so I caught that back home. Once I got there, I met my other new roomie, Angela from USA. Portland, Oregon just like my dive buddy Teal.
She was having some relationship turmoil so we spent the evening talking about it. Great bonding times!
The next morning, she was leaving to Surfer's Paradise, so we planned to cross paths again in a couple days in Byron Bay, so we exchanged numbers and email.
I headed to the Lone Pine Sanctuary for the next day. It was easy to get there by city bus. It's the world's first (established in 1927) and largest koala sanctuary, around 130 of them there. They have them grouped in different sections. For examples, the females have an enclosure, same with breeding males, retired males, the juveniles and the mother and her joey koalas. Really neat.
So many native animals there. 3 of the fyling fox species, dingos, wombats, all kinds of reptiles and birds, kangaroos, emu, farm animals, tasmanian devils and a platypus. They even take some of the animals out of there exhibits! They put a leash and harness on them and walk them around the sanctuary for daily exercise. The wombats were so cute!
They had daily talks and activities (like feeding and sheep shearing) every half hour so I watched the birds of prey and koala presentation. I learned that Koalas sleep so much because the Eucalyptus leaves don't give very much energy and they have a slow metabolism. They have a highly developed liver as well to eliminate the toxins (terpene) in the plant. I really liked their feet, they have extra thumbs and their hind toes are separated in pairs. More efficient climbing. They're marsupials, not bears, and the joey lives in a pouch till 6 months when they then climb onto mom's back. They have a patchy white furred bottom so that they camouflage well up in the tree when they are sleeping and it is also unique to each koala. It can help identify them.
Once I got back to the city, I checked out all the fashion shops in Queen st Mall. They have some nice clothes, but... how would I carry anything more?
Today, I'm spending the day in the library till I catch my bus at 4 pm to Byron Bay.