Spa Day — Bugs On My Face

On a high from the Australia Zoo, we hopped on the bike and headed 50 miles north to Noosa Heads. One of our favorite parts of traveling in places that we don’t know is the uncertainty of it all. For the most part, we do as little research as we can get away with because we like to be surprised. In Australia, however, you’re most likely going to see this on the East coast:

This is not a disappointment. Coming from Texas, the number of phenomenal beaches is just incredible. Anyway, we rolled in just before sunset and strolled around what may be the most affluent beach town that we’ve visited.
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We woke to this:

Yet another surfing contest.
From what we can tell, to be an Australian you have to at least know how to mount a surf board. I have to say that with every moment I watch someone else surfing, a fire is further stoked inside. I have an image in my head that I desperately want to be realized: Kristen has completely white, long hair. I’m bald with a huge white beard. We’re long boarding on some deserted beach. I need to make this happen somehow...

After being spectators at the beach and seeing Kristen eat, yet again, another order of salmon benedict (she is currently on an impressive streak) we hopped on the bike to head back down to Brisbane so that the bike could be serviced. Of course, the sun that had been blazing was instantly covered up by sheets of rain. Doesn’t Kris look excited?

It was as we were rolling into Brisbane in the rain that I really appreciated my lady. As per her instructions, we went straight downtown and parked in front of a huge, high-end apartment building. We pulled over, Kris ran inside, and came out a few minutes later to guide me into an underground parking garage. It turns out that there is a high demand for apartments for traveling businessmen and women. During the week they’re quite pricey, but during the weekend they’re apparently empty and cheap. I have no idea how she found this place but it was incredible:

Living room, kitchen, separate bedroom and most importantly, a washing machine. Everyone that had been around us recently was so grateful for that washing machine, considering I had run out of clean socks days ago.
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We took the opportunity to explore Brisbane, which turns out to be a really great place.

One thing we didn’t know about Australia going in is the strong influence from several Asian countries, especially China. It makes sense, considering its close proximity and it showed in a lot of the cuisine available in Brisbane. I realize that Burger King (which is called Hunger Jack’s in Oz for some reason) is shown in the shot below, but this outdoor mall area was full of great food.

We walked into the church above just because we were passing by and were treated to a jazz concert. A strange and welcomed surprise.

We also got around to dropping the bike off to the guys at BJ’s. Another little plug for the Ural dealer network in Australia: Jon, the distributor, already had a new seal shipped up and the guys were able to get the bike stripped down and repaired in a day.