After a short plane trip on Friday from Sydney, we were met at the Brisbane airport by Wendy’s friend Jill. Jill is an American transplant, working here for 2-3 years as a dam engineer. (No kidding- she is the only person I know who could complain about her “dam job” in church without raising an eyebrow.) Wendy is also a civil engineer, which worked out perfectly. Their talking shop enabled me to get in a good nap in the car.
Jill lives in a modern, classy flat right in downtown Brisbane. She graciously rented a car, took a day off work, and gave us space to sleep. Then she became our guide to all things local: first stop- Target. (Well, it was on the way and I needed to replace the sunglasses I broke yesterday.) After that we ate great Japanese food, explored the Gold Coast, discovered a charming little craft market in Surfer’s Paradise, and watched the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. Surprisingly, Bejing is 2 hours behind Australia East Time Zone (same time as Perth).
The Gold Coast makes the mermaid part of me happy. It is not a series of sandy pockets, but rather miles and miles of scalloped white sand coastline occasionally punctuated with a sand bar. There are hardly any rocky bits in the whole stretch. It is absolutely beautiful. It is warmer than Sydney, though still too cold to jump in the water. I can see why Jill loves it here. It’s almost enough to make me consider a career change!
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