After a very comfortable night spent indoors, Isabella and I made our way north to Brisbane. Thankfully the journey wasn't that long, 4 hours if we went straight through, so we could afford to take our time getting to Brisbane. There were a few places to stop along the way, though not many but we got to see some interesting places, and some that could use a little work.
Cape Byron sits next to the town of Byron Bay, a sort of free-thinking miniature San Francisco. During the 1960s and 1970s many hippies settled in the town and it has become known as the sort of place that welcomes counter-culture and alternative lifestyles. Driving down the main street we saw all sorts of stores selling herbal medicines, healing crystals, beads and other assorted similar products. There was quite a bit of traffic, I think because it was a Friday and the end of the New Year's holiday period so people were trying to get as much sun and surf as they could.
From Byron Bay we continued north until we hit the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise. I wanted to show Isabella this particularly famous bit of commercialized Australia, if for no other reason that the kitsch value. The Gold Coast is the name of the area that runs south of Brisbane to the Queensland-NSW border. For the last 60 years it, and particularly its main center (Surfers Paradise), has been in the process of being completely commercialized in the sense of having highrise towers everywhere catering to the vacation crowd. Think of it as the east coast of Florida, sort of like Miami, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale. It's incredibly gaudy but worth a look. We parked along the main street and every building seemed to be either a hotel or a designer clothing store. We made our way to the beach where Isabella had a chance to play in the surf but we didn't stay particularly long. There really was no point and after spending about an hour in the Gold Coast, you've seen all there is to see, really, so we continued our journey north.
Before coming to Australia, Isabella had convinced me to register with CouchSurfing, an online community of people that give up a couch or bed to others who have registered. It's free, although your are supposed to give your hosts something in return. I remember my mother telling me about it years ago but I'd never really given it much thought until this trip. I was still a bit sceptical but I registered and in Brisbane we would have our first couchsurfing experience. Isabella and I were both a little nervous as to what to expect but we soldiered on.
Our hosts gave us directions to their house and we were pleasantly surprised that it was in a very nice neighbourhood and our hosts greeted us warmly. They were Panche, a Croatian (I think) who has been living in Australia for decades, and Leanne a born and bred Aussie. They led us to our accommodation and it was not just some beat-up couch but a proper room.
Isabella and I didn't have any plans for the evening so our hosts invited us to a soccer game. As it turned out, the local team, the Brisbane Roar, was playing against my favourite team, the Perth Glory. I knew this was going to make for an interesting evening as Panche and Leanne were Roar fans and Isabella decided to join them. Anyway, we were driven to the game, took our seats and enjoyed a good contest. The game ended 1-1 so no one could gloat. Afterwards, we were invited to a square in central Brisbane for some dancing.
Isabella is an avid dancer, especially the Latin variety, so she enthusiastically took up the offer. I'm no dancer so I decided to just sit back and watch. Apparently, this group plays music in this square at night and many people turn up to dance. There were many dozen people there. The night was warm and the music added to the ambiance. It really was quite interesting to see a salsa in the middle of the city in the sort of way I imagine Havana must be like. After such a long day, everyone was exhausted so a good night's rest was welcome. The next day would be exciting too but would involve a difficult choice.
Cape Byron sits next to the town of Byron Bay, a sort of free-thinking miniature San Francisco. During the 1960s and 1970s many hippies settled in the town and it has become known as the sort of place that welcomes counter-culture and alternative lifestyles. Driving down the main street we saw all sorts of stores selling herbal medicines, healing crystals, beads and other assorted similar products. There was quite a bit of traffic, I think because it was a Friday and the end of the New Year's holiday period so people were trying to get as much sun and surf as they could.
From Byron Bay we continued north until we hit the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise. I wanted to show Isabella this particularly famous bit of commercialized Australia, if for no other reason that the kitsch value. The Gold Coast is the name of the area that runs south of Brisbane to the Queensland-NSW border. For the last 60 years it, and particularly its main center (Surfers Paradise), has been in the process of being completely commercialized in the sense of having highrise towers everywhere catering to the vacation crowd. Think of it as the east coast of Florida, sort of like Miami, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale. It's incredibly gaudy but worth a look. We parked along the main street and every building seemed to be either a hotel or a designer clothing store. We made our way to the beach where Isabella had a chance to play in the surf but we didn't stay particularly long. There really was no point and after spending about an hour in the Gold Coast, you've seen all there is to see, really, so we continued our journey north.
Before coming to Australia, Isabella had convinced me to register with CouchSurfing, an online community of people that give up a couch or bed to others who have registered. It's free, although your are supposed to give your hosts something in return. I remember my mother telling me about it years ago but I'd never really given it much thought until this trip. I was still a bit sceptical but I registered and in Brisbane we would have our first couchsurfing experience. Isabella and I were both a little nervous as to what to expect but we soldiered on.
Our hosts gave us directions to their house and we were pleasantly surprised that it was in a very nice neighbourhood and our hosts greeted us warmly. They were Panche, a Croatian (I think) who has been living in Australia for decades, and Leanne a born and bred Aussie. They led us to our accommodation and it was not just some beat-up couch but a proper room.
Isabella and I didn't have any plans for the evening so our hosts invited us to a soccer game. As it turned out, the local team, the Brisbane Roar, was playing against my favourite team, the Perth Glory. I knew this was going to make for an interesting evening as Panche and Leanne were Roar fans and Isabella decided to join them. Anyway, we were driven to the game, took our seats and enjoyed a good contest. The game ended 1-1 so no one could gloat. Afterwards, we were invited to a square in central Brisbane for some dancing.
Isabella is an avid dancer, especially the Latin variety, so she enthusiastically took up the offer. I'm no dancer so I decided to just sit back and watch. Apparently, this group plays music in this square at night and many people turn up to dance. There were many dozen people there. The night was warm and the music added to the ambiance. It really was quite interesting to see a salsa in the middle of the city in the sort of way I imagine Havana must be like. After such a long day, everyone was exhausted so a good night's rest was welcome. The next day would be exciting too but would involve a difficult choice.
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