Surfer's Paradise and Goodbye to Sam in Brisbane




On Saturday Mike, Sam, and I flew from Cairns to Brisbane, the largest city in Queensland.  Despite sharing the same state, Cairns to Brisbane is still a two hour flight.  I've probably said this before, but Australia is huge - and this is coming from an American.  The continental US is slightly larger, but Oz only has 23 million people.  Also consider that it only has seven states or territories on the mainland.  That makes for some huge states!

States of Australia; Northern Territory is not a state (as the
name suggests), and the Australian Capital Territory,
similar to Washington DC, is located in south NSW
Size of Australia compared to the US...
...and to Europe

From the airport we took a train to Surfer's Paradise, a strip town along the coast where lots of tourists, domestic and international, go to soak up the sun.  Our train first went though Brisbane and took nearly two hours.  It was nice to see the city though - and I was surprised to see so many skyscrapers downtown.  Aside from Sydney and Melbourne I didn't really know much about the other Australian cities.  And probably for good reason - there aren't many others!  Brisbane has over 2 million people in the metro area, but the downtown looks like an even bigger city.  But once you get out of downtown the city quickly turns into low density residential housing.

Brisbane CBD sure looks bigger than a city of 2 million

After the train ride we had to transfer onto the bus, which was only another 20 minutes but cost 10 dollars.  If you don't have a transit pass (and maybe even if you do) the public transport is expensive here!  All told the train and bus combo from the airport cost us about 40 bucks.

I was also impressed with the size of Surfer's Paradise; the beach is lined with high rise hotels and apartments, giving it a south-Florida feel.  Unfortunately the buildings block out most of the sun during late afternoon on the beach!  Another downside is that we couldn't swim most spots.  Because the current is so strong the water is off limits to swimmers, save for small stretches marked by red and yellow flags and patrolled by lifeguards.  On Sunday afternoon they closed the water only 20 minutes after we arrived on the beach!

the beach strip in Surfer's Paradise
Flags up, you can swim here

Sam's flight left Brisbane on Tuesday at 5:30 am, so we only spent one night at Surfer's.  We were worn out from the day of travel so didn't make it out on the town.  I wanted to see if the nightlife was good (supposedly it is), but the NCAA tournament was playing early the next day, and March Madness takes priority.  I submitted ive brackets in total; the one with Duke and Villanova in the final four looked doomed early, but if Florida and Wisconsin make it to the championship game I'll still make the money!

I need Florida atop the podium and I'm getting paid!

Once the tourney was wrapping up for the day we hit the beach.  Thankfully we had more time for swimming, although even an hour out in the water can wear you out.  The current is so strong that we had to constantly fight our way back into the flagged area.  Luckily it pulls you parallel with the coat and not out to sea!  The waves broke too far out to catch many with our boogie board; nonetheless jumping under, over, or through waves was good fun.

At 7 pm we caught a Greyhound bus from Surfer's to Brisbane, which took an hour less than the bus/tran combo.  Mike and I checked into Citi Backpackers, a short walk from the bus station.  Sam didn't even bother paying for another night considering he had to leave for the airport at 2 am.  Before he left we hung out in the hostel bar, drinking beer and playing cards.  Mike and I passed out by 1:30, but luckily Sam stayed awake and make it to the airport with time to spare.  He flew in style, business class to Seoul and then first on to New York.  Gotta love credit card airline miles!

Our hostel in Brsibane

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