Surfer's Paradise

Not long after 6am James and I were both up getting ready for the day. It was early, and it was cold. We swung by to pick up Russel and then headed towards the beach, Surfer's Paradise to be more accurate.
It was a beautifull day, 3-4 foot waves, a few bigger ones thrown in for fun every now and then.
I pretty much had to re-learn everything about surfing from my trip to California. So I had a hard time getting past the breakers and then even catching a wave. Getting my balance back under me also took some time. After about 20 minutes I was pretty much bushed and had to hit the beach for a break. My arms felt like stumps of lead paddling around! Better that than actual stumps, i had my eyes peeled for strange moving shadows in the water. They've got nets set up about a kilomter (1/2 mile) of shore, but there are some massive holes in those nets....
Anyway, James and i switched back and forth most of the morning between the surf board and body board. Not too many waves in kentucky (HAH!) but I was able to hold my own by the end of the day. It was interesting to watch some of the others surf. they were often farther out, ergo, bigger waves... i.e. awsome wipeouts! lol
(here's James heading to the surf)
We both had a good time out in the surf, but by about noon I was pretty well done in. My shoulders are still achy. So Russel, James and I headed inland to the tourist mecca to score some icecream. I got some cookies and cream with a scoop of chocolate, which really hit the spot after the hot sun. And as luck would have it, we bumped into one of the famous meter maids! Now these girls go around helping non-queenslander's keep their cars from beign towed. Apparently a parking ticket here can set you back a few hundred bucks. So I made a donation for their more than worthy cause and was able to get a few pictures with the beautiful maid.
We then headed up to Point Danger. Where we were able to look out on some beautiful surf and just kick back. We were in Twin Towns--a town that is cut in half by the state border of Queensland and New South Wales. Which leads to two different but somewhat similar sets of laws. On one side of the street, is different from the other side.
And new years is fun, there's an hour time difference, so you get to walk across the street and celebrate all over again!
We had to drop James off soon after so he could take care of some pressing business, so Russel and I headed off to the local winery to check it out. I got to learn a lot about wines, mostly that i don't like red wines at all, and very few white wines. Perhaps it's an acquired taste. It was still an interesting and fun experience. But we hightailed it out of there soon after the wine tasting was over down into Brisbane. Just kind of passing the time till Crystal got off work. We got a little lost trying to take a "short cut" to bypass the rush hour traffic, and got lost. We drove into a few dead ends, but slowly made our way back to "over the bridge". (Basically, two sides of Brisbane, one on either side of the bridge) We made it back to southbank where we grabbed some coffee and chatted it up for a while, and Russel had a great idea of letting this Yank drive his car around the city a bit and then to Crystals place!
Let me tell you, My eyes were moving so much, trying to absorb it all, i didn't miss anything. Reading the road signs was a bit tricky, but with Russel interpreting it wasn't too difficult. The easiest part was when he would say "just follow that car in front of you". That i could do. But there was one incident when i was in a merge/yield lane where we almost got down right chummy with a taxi cab. lol
We survived and made it to crystals place where we switched cars and headed out to dinner. Hitachi (well, it started with an H for sure) sushi bar was amazing. they chefs were right in front of us making the meals, and then the food was set on little covered dishes, put on a fancy converyer system and would travel just inches in front of you.
Whenever you saw something you liked, you grabbed it. Whatever color plate it was, that's what you payed. It was fun grabbing sushi and trying to determine what it was while eating it. I think my favorite was the soft shell crab, though the tuna belly was very good as well. I probably had 6 or 7 different dishes.
We topped off the night with a game of bowling just next door. We all started off pretty rough, but Russel's style of bowling almost one out on the evening.
His method of tossing the ball in a short arc through the air to land with a resounding CRASH on the lane intimidated the hell out of the bowling pins and I believe many fell over out of fright! lol. Crystal put up a determined game, but didn't start to get the hang of it till near the end. I showed a moment of greatness with a strike in the 4th or 5th frame, then pettered off. But i rallied in the 8th,9th and 10th frames to throw three strikes (a turkey) and beat russel for the game.
With time pressing we only had time for one game, but i hope to do another on my return trip to brisbane. We all seemed to warm up towards the end, so a second game, and with the rest of the family, would be a lot of fun.
But i've got my itenerary to finish up, and packing to do for my little backpacking excursion. So adios. I'll post my itenerary here as well when it's done.