Noosa

Well, we have officially declared error in our packing - we have WAY too much stuff. A few other people in our hostel have been joking that they sent 80% of their stuff back home. We took a public bus up to Noosa and checked into our new home - Flashpackers. We have been using hostelworld.com to find our hostels, and this seems to be the best site, and we find most of the other backpackers use it, too. This place is like a hotel - it's so clean! The common areas are huge, the kitchen has everything you might need to create a gourmet meal, and there's a great pool for cooling off in the afternoons. No more private rooms for us, we are dorming to save dollars! In fact, most of the hostels allow you to work for accommodations. More on this when we actually try it.

It's a bit of a walk to the store when you have groceries, and also to the beach - but fortunately there's a free shuttle that leaves about every hour. The best part - free internet! We've been catching up on our posts. So far we've had roommates from Germany, the Netherlands, and our first fellow American. Surprisingly, there are not many Americans here, but lots of Canadians who are immediately insulted when you assume they're American. Sorry, Canada!

The jelly that stung me!

This week we're taking it easy, hitting the beach and hiking. We spent all day yesterday sunbathing at Main Beach. There was some sort of life saving contest and people were paddling out into the ocean left and right. The lifesaving programs are huge here, every big beach has a Surf Club, which serves as a lifesaving school, headquarters for the beach guards, as well as a restaurant, bar and night club. Awesome. We went for a swim and then hit Laguna Jack's to catch the Aussie Rules Football game. Corona and a hot dog for $10 - sweet! It was there that I started to feel a stinging sensation on my leg. It looked like a long scratch winding all the way down my leg. We realized it was a jelly sting and asked the waitress if there was any reason for us to be concerned. She said it was probably a Blue Bonnet and if it wasn't extremely painful then I would be okay. Damn all the jellies! Might take awhile for me to get back in the ocean :(

There's a koala in this tree!

Last night we decided to indulge in a party. We went to Nomads for dancing and met our Canadian friends from our Mooloolaba hostel. Nomads is surprisingly full of locals, and kids. The drinking age here is 18, and we're accustomed to 21 and over. You look next to you and see Australian Bieber dancing and think, how did he get here? The bar is dirty and crowded, but good fun. We walked to The Reef after Nomads closed out at midnight. After waiting in line we were forced to relocate as Chris' thongs were not allowed in the club (flip flops, not "thong" - Chris is still a guy). We charged over to The Rock down on Hastings St. On our way, we heard a rustling in the bushes, and I looked over expecting to see the common wild turkey. Instead, we saw a koala crawling on the ground! This was seriously exciting and we watched as it leapt onto a tree and clamored up until it was just over our heads. We then proceeded to blind the poor thing with all the photos we had to take of this rare sighting.

Once we hit the promenade, we pass by a 25-and-over nightclub and feel really old. We are definitely amongst the older of the backpacker crowd. Most of these guys are 18-23. The Rolling Rock has an older crowd (21-30), and is full of fancy lasers and techno pop music. We dance all night and head for the taxi line. Ten minutes later there are no taxis despite all the people, so we walk back to Flashpackers. Warning: Australia is warm during the day, but gets COLD at night! And it looks like my campus legs will be back in full swing by the end of the week. While tromping through Noosa Junction we met a group of young Aussies waiting for the bus (which was probably never going to show up). They heard us talking and the girl asks "Are you American?! That's so cool!" When her grungy friend learns Seattle is our home, he gets all excited and starts going on and on about Nirvana and do we like Kurt Cobain. He has no interest in Pearl Jam funnily enough. There's definitely a grunge thing going on in Australia, lots of black boots and plaid flannel shirts, acid washed cut-offs, and messy dyed hair. However, we are stoked that someone is excited we're American instead of feeling sorry for us and asking how we feel about Obama - the typical first question. Oh, America.