Bucko, you were so wrong.

One last night in the Beach House after we got back to Cairns went by quickly, and we checked out early to take our stuff to Gilligans and go shopping. Okay, Gilligans is apparently the number 1 hostel in Australia. Not #5 to Beach House. It's the nicest place I have stayed yet here, and it definitely made my last night in Cairns enjoyable. Jess, Deb, and I spent the day wandering around the City Center peeking in the various shops, cafes, and gelati stores. I eventually ended up at the pool back at the hostel for the last couple hours of sunlight, and Debbie left to spend the night with her friend and her friend's mom up on one of the Northern Beaches. Jess and I made dinner in the kitchen on our level and shared a bottle of wine on our balcony with Michael Buble seranading us as we talked. There were some guys in the room next door that hopped on the roof and came to chat for a while with us. They go to Colgate back in the states and are studying down at Wollongong for the semester. Soon enough, Jess and I were being summoned by the other Butler kids to come out for the night, so we said bye to our new friends and went downstairs to the bar. It was a great night had by all, including some table top dancing by Jess haha. classic.

The next morning Jess and I spent in a cute cafe on the water sipping coffee, eating muffins, and, well, recovering haha. Now, let me tell you about iced coffees here in Australia. What do you think of when you think "iced coffee"? You probably envision a plastic cup with your chilled coffee, ice cubes, and milk or cream if you desire. Ha, such a silly drink. Yea, the Australians are serious about their iced coffee. Two espresso shots blended with cream and ice with a scoop of actual ice cream on top followed by whipped cream and chocolate shavings. That's three types of cream you got goin on there. That's not a coffee. It's a freakin dessert. And it was the best thing I've ever had. If there was a Tim Tam sticking out of it, I'd have been in heaven haha. Needless to say, I'm hunting those down in cafes in Brisbane now; especially now that it's spring and hot. We went out for lunch after that, and then wandered some more, but this time, we were in search of gelati. Yes, I ate extremely healthy food on this trip :P.

Well, we found some great gelati at this cute little place owned by an older couple. I had the best hazelnut and chocolate gelati while Jess savoured the mint chocolate chip. Lets just say it was the perfect last purchase in Cairns before we had to go back to Gilligans to claim our bags and hail a cab to the airport. The flight home was not as exciting as the one down with my little friend Curt, but I doodled in my moleskine and made a few playlists on my ipod. One of Debbie's friends from Oz was really really nice and came to pick us up from the airport rather than us trying to take the train back to Toowong and then walk the rest of the way home. Dean, Debbie's friend, is also a hopeless romantic with a great sense of humor. He tried to make our trip home like a limo service, complete with crackers and spread and champagne. I thought it was hilarious. There was candy hidden in the esky as well and we dug into that instead.

Now it's a week later. This week got off to a rocky start with papers and news and stress, but it's smoothed out since then for the most part. This weekend has been great. Wednesday I went out with a bunch of frisbee goers to the Regatta, which was the best night out I've had in a while. Great company, great conversation, some good laughs. Thursday I caught a movie with Katie and Sarah, again two girls I play frisbee with. Friday was my day to myself. I needed to clear my head and get out of the apartment. I grabbed my ipod, moleskin, camera, and purse, and I caught the next City Cat to South Bank. I mozied along the boardwalk taking in the sights and sounds of this great city. I found a life drawing drop-in class that I will be attending on Tuesday. I searched the market. I ate some good sushi and people watched from my table. As the sun started to set, I grabbed the City Cat across the river and walked around the CBD for a while before heading back to the apartment. It was a great day.

Yesterday I spent with John and Katie over at John's house in Yuronga. After the 45 minute walk there, we jumped straight into his pool for a swim then dried off and caught a lift over to Kulgun Park north of the city where there was a outdoor showing of Hitchcock's Rear Window. A picnic dinner in the park, watching the clouds make images, a great movie with suspense, stargazing afterwards. Yes, a great night. The three of us went back to John's for the night to watch the footy world cup quarter finals. England beat Australia in a close match. They pulled ahead in the 2nd half and that was the end. We ended the night with some stand up comedy before hitting the sack. Katie and I got to sleep in a soft fluffy queen size bed for the night over at John's place. It was sooo comfortable haha. Brekkie this morning and then Katie and I headed home. Now I'm here. Writing this blog. Yep.

Actually, I'm getting ready to leave to go to the market in the CBD on the river followed by church at the anglican cathedral i found a few weeks ago. :) Just another great weekend in Brissie.