Gold Coast II

So as promised, Surfer's Paradise. The place is what people call the "main" part of Gold Coast, where tourists and locals alike go to enjoy the beach and sun. It wasn't really summer yet, so there were no surfers around. I think the Australians prefer to hang on at the beach when it is hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement. So yeah, not as many people around as expected.

In case people don't know they are already at the place.

Like I said, not as many people as expected.

The sun sets against the buildings.

I can imagine it's good for surfing once the wind gets strong enough.

 

Only a genius like me wears trousers to the beach.

I like how the city meets the beach.

After a tiring day at Sea World we went to this restaurant, Hog's Breath Cafe. It was highly recommended by friends.

What a name.

For those who can't decide between ribs and steak. I ordered a mix of both.

This pancake like thing tasted strongly of Indian spices. They did a great job mixing the 3 sauces there.

If you are a meat-lover I believe you will like Hog's Breath (as in the restaurant, don' try to be funny :P). I messed up my steak a little because I said "medium" to the waitress. I should have said medium rare because  that slab of meat came out a bit too hard for my liking. The ribs were soft and tender. Very, very nice. Oh, and you see those crinkled/twisted fries there? Those were very nice too. Just right. Not too salty, not too soft, not too hard.

Next post, Australia Zoo. The story is nearly a month late. But so what. I write the blog, I make the rules. =)

Gold Coast

It would be a bit dumb to not visit the Gold Coast while being in Brisbane. So although I have outgrown theme parks and kiddy rides, I still went to have a look at that famous stretch of beach, with it's many theme parks. Of course, entering all the theme parks would mean financial suicide (at least for me), so we decided to only go to Sea World.

So Sea World it was.

The best part of the theme park has to be the dolphins.

 They do stunts!

Must be pretty strong to jump that high.

This guy was actually riding on 2 dolphins, but they can't be seen clearly here.

Some rest after all the jumping.

Of course, Sea World isn't just about a bunch of jumping fish. There are rides and games for everyone (though not as many as expected). We gave them a miss to preserve financial resources.

This is for you to climb up and feel proud.

Penguins, not bothered by the heat.

They were pretty friendly.

 We were lucky enough to catch penguin-feeding time.

Whatever they were eating, they definitely loved.

Sometimes they even try to line up for food.

Moving on, some of the larger swimmers held in a huge pool.

Some big stingray.

Shark, with long nose. Could not even fit into the photo.

Conventional shark, also could not fit into the photo.

Bye Mr Shark!

The shark food/seals were kept safely away from the sharks of course.

Instead of getting eaten by sharks, the seals stay safe and do shows.

 Wheeee!

 

1 scoop of caramel + 1 scoop of macadamia ice cream to end the day.

To avoid a photo overload, the photos of Surfers' Paradise will have to wait till the next post. Now I need to get some sleep. Got more tax files to rummage through tomorrow.

Brisbane 2

My account of Brisbane continues with photos of the city in daylight. As I previously mentioned, my camera was as good at capturing night time images as I was at piloting flying saucers, hence the limited photos of Brisbane nightlife in the previous post. Let's focus on what we can see in the city when it's illuminated by the sun.

Awesome architecture. Not unlike Perth.

I don't know what that is. Just decided to snap a photo.

That my friends, is a church.

We went in for a quick look. 

From someone that does not take sushi, I tell you this place serves great sushi.

Another pretty building.

Guy with phone spoils photo...

That's the CityCat. It ferries you across and along the Brisbane River.

Rain Forest Park, South Bank.

Also part of the Rain Forest Park.

Walked across this bridge to get back to the city from South Bank.

You can see part of the Maritime Museum from the Bridge.

Cannon! Kaboooom!!!

 That's a SCHOOL. Looks so pretty.

Oh, another picture of the CityCat, taken from aforesaid bridge.

Now THIS took my breath away. It was standing on a small cliff.

Every town has Chinatown.

And that concludes my second post on Brisbane. I'll be back again with more photos. Now I need to get some shut-eye.

Brisbane

All these updates are coming late but I'm trying to space them out so I don't jam the blog with one post per day. I consider that too much traffic. Too much traffic gives the impression that I'm too free... which isn't too far from the truth. Free only for now though. I have another internship starting next week. :)

Anyway, Brisbane. Ewe Juan the caveman sets his feet down on another Australian city. For a holiday.

Had a yummy breakfast upon touching down in Brisbane. Belgian Waffles!

Went to tour University of Queensland.

UQ is famous for its sandstone architecture.

A pretty campus indeed.

Indeed! Squawk.

Melissa, Shingun's friend and our gracious host in Brisbane, brought us up Mount Coot-Tha to enjoy the sunset over the city. It was too cold to hike to the waterfall/anywhere else, so we had to be satisfied with just enjoying the scenery. And we were.

Brisbane city before sunset, from the viewing point.

The city when it gets dark.

We then made our way down the mountain to have sushi, exploring parts of the city along the way.

A random photo.

This evil-looking building is a casino. Not Dracula's holiday villa.

 Across the Brisbane River is what they call the South Bank.

That's all for now. The next update will showcase photos of Brisbane City in daylight. My camera isn't a champion at low-light photo shooting. So I'm not showing off any more photos.