Our last few days in Surfers Paradise were much of the same. The rain didn’t let up until Thursday, which just happened to be Australia Day, so we headed to the beach to meet Eugene and Lucas, our friends from Byron Bay. It was a sweet afternoon, just spent chilling with friends in the (tiny bit of) sunshine. That evening we went into town for a few drinks and to join in with the Australia Day celebrations…lets just say there were a lot of hilarious people about!
On Friday we left Surfers for, surprise, surprise, a rather rainy Brisbane…it was so wet and slippy that, whilst making our way from the bus station to our hostel, I managed to somehow find myself sprawled on the ground, unable to get up as I was being pinned down by my own bags! If it hadn’t hurt so much (I whacked my knee when I fell and it’s still pretty sore), it would have hilarious…I wish I’d got a picture! Once we finally made it to our hostel, Base Central, and had checked in and got to our room, we just spent the evening chilling out, using the internet and cooking dinner (in the disgustingly dirty kitchen…review to come).
The next day, with the weather still not being kind to us, we met up with two girls from our hostel in Surfers, Laura and Tanya, at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) and had a look around the exhibitions before heading briefly to the newly opened Queensland Museum. Both places were pretty awesome, and the GoMA had some excellent artwork…I really wanted to go to an exhibition of Matisse’s life-drawing but it was so expensive to get in, we decided against it in the end. After the galleries and a quick pit-stop for lunch, we headed further down the Southbank to the markets, which would have been great had it not been absolutely pouring down with rain! We also had a quick look at the man-made beach and lagoon that sits right next to the river…amazing…if it was sunny I’m sure. As it was, me and rach had to make do with a little paddle in the rain instead!
That evening, after saying goodbye to Laura and Tanya, Rosa and I went to Zi Bar (just downstairs in our hostel) for a few drinks with Jade Johnston, one of the other Gap Daemon interns who just happens to be living here in Brisbane at the moment. It was great to meet up and chat about the internship and all things travel. Then it was off to bed for a peaceful night sleep. Or so we thought…
I was woken at about 1:30am by Rachel and Rosa in fits of laughter, looking puzzled, bemused and, above all, horrified. I looked down and saw that there was a random girl sitting on Rosa’s bed, with no clothes on her bottom half. I was more than confused. I eventually realised, after trying to get words out of Rach and Rosa, who just couldn’t stop laughing, that this was a girl who slept in our room, but had somehow managed, in her drunken state, to climb down from her top bunk, make it to Rosa’s bed (a bottom bunk) and, apparently thinking she was in the bathroom, remove her leggings and underwear, before proceeding to pee all over Rosa’s bed and bags (which were just under the bed). Yes, you read that correctly…shall I repeat it? She PEED on Rosa’s bed! EURGH! This girl was completely out of it, had absolutely no idea what she’d done and then just got into Rosa’s bed and passed out, ignoring our protestations that this was not her bed! Rachel and Rosa went down to reception to get someone to come up and sort it all out, but he had no idea what he was doing, so in the end Rosa got a private room for the night and we just decided to sort the rest out in the morning. I think we were in shock…I still get fits of laughter whenever I think about it!
So Sunday was a day for organising everything post-pee. The peeing girl woke up in Rosa’s bed but for some reason didn’t question it, and she had absolutely no idea what she’d done. She just put her wet (pee-covered) clothes back on and got in her own bed, after complaining that she’d lost her phone and credit cards…all we could think was ‘that’s karma!’. The lovely Kate down at reception helped us out so much…she put us in a new (private) room on a different floor, gave Rosa stuff to clean her bag with, and even gave us vouchers for free food and drinks…silver lining or what?!
Once all that was sorted, I went off with Rachel to meet Jade again and we headed across the river on the city cat ferry to New Farm and the Brisbane Powerhouse, a big warehouse-like space used for all sorts of things – music, theatre, talks etc. We were there to see the Nikon-Walkley Press & Sport Photography exhibition which was absolutely stunning…definitely worth checking out if you’re ever in Brisbane. (You can read about my time at the exhibition here on Gap Daemon). That evening, once back in the city, we said goodbye to jade and just hung out in the hostel, loving our own room!
Monday was our last full day in Brisbane and we started it well, getting an excellent free breakfast using our vouchers from the peeing incident…also, the sun finally made an appearance! Then it was off for a wander to find some flip flops for Rach and then head to the Botanic Gardens which, although pretty beautiful, aren’t anything on the Botanical gardens in Sydney! We spent most of the day just wandering around and chilling, enjoying the change in weather before Rosa and I went out to meet Jade and her friend for some last drinks. We went to a great backpacker bar, TinBilly’s, right near the bus station and had an excellent time, chatting and getting to know each other better…it was awesome to meet Jade and be able to discuss the life of a travel blogger with someone who understands! Then it was back to the hostel for dinner and movie before bed…our last night in Brisbane and our last night in a proper bed before we headed to Noosa for our camping and canoeing trip in the bush…more on that coming up soon!
Roo Around The World 
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