St. Patty's Day 2007

St Patty's Day- March 17- is very popular in Aussie. The tradition around here is that you go to breakfast at 6:30am at Dicey Reilly's. We had to wait in line to get in- there were hundreds of people there. They serve a large brekkie complete with eggs, sausage, black pudding (fried blood), toast, etc. There is also live music and festivities throughout the day. We got our face painted, collected our free green tshirt and tattoos, and headed into Brisbane for the parade later that morning. It was a great parade and there were heaps of people to watch. We saw many dancers, musicians, footy teams, fire trucks, etc. We were so Irish for the day..haha. It was alot of fun!!

This is at Dicey Reillys at 7am. Everyone is so festive!The parade in downtown Brisbane!
There were many different groups of musicians.
And the Irish flags...these are the different towns.
Cute little Irish dancers...we saw them perform later too!
Fire mascot, Michelle, and I.
Neat old school fire truck.More bagpipes!
My group with a bagpiper and Irish kiddos.
Guy carving ice at Dicey Reilly's- super cool!
Dylan is luck that he is Irish. ha.

Michelle and I- we went all out for Irish Day!
The group. Michelle, Me, random, Dylan, and Nick.

Gold Coast & Straddie

On Sunday a group of us drove to Cleveland (about 35 min drive) and then took a ferry over to North Stradbroke Island. It was a gorgeous day and a lot of fun!! We played in the water, threw a frisbie, and walked around. It is a treasure and not nearly as crowded or touristy as the Gold Coast. There are a few places to eat and stay, but not too much activity here. The beaches were beautiful!! I was suprised to see how blue and clear the water was. Stradbroke Island aka Straddie is just off the coast, directly east of Brisbane. We had a blast and will definitely be back!! I am getting tan here in the Aussie sun- I nearly got burned today and I had the sunscreen on thick.

This is the Main Beach at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island. It is just amazing!!!
Hi mum!!
I worked hard for this picture.
Vines and crab tracks in the sand. I just thought something about it was neat.
G'day to all my friends in Texas.

The group- a mixture of Australians and Americans.
Jumping for joy on the beach.
Pretty much says it all.
I think I should just move here. Soo gorgeous and so close to Brisbane!! At least I could getting married here, right?
These are the surf flags- you are suppose to swim between them if you want the lifeguards to save you. The lifeguard wear speedos and really cool hats too. The beach. The waves were actually much larger than they look here.


Surfers trying to watch a wave on the main beach. The waves were really large here. We played in them for awhile- you had to make sure to hold your bathingsuit or it might just come off.
Lindsey, Michelle, Devin , and Nikki.
Me and the beach...
This is what another part of the island looked like.

We spent most of this weekend at area beaches. On Saturday my friend Devin and I headed to the Gold Coast. We took a train and a bus to Surfers Paradise, it was about a 2 hour commute. This is a really popular destination with tourist and is only about 45 miles from Brisbane. The weather is great here all year round and the beach is clean and pretty. The Gold Coast has tons of highrises and hotels along the beach. Definitely a tourist place, but it is nice.

Welcome to Surfers Paradise... This is part of Gold Coast.

This part of the beach at Surfers Paradise was really crowded. It was a really pretty day and a Saturday so that explains it.

Looking the other direction at Surfers Paradise.
A relaxing day at the beach.

Mt Cootha

Mt Cootha is a mountain that looks out over the city of Brisbane. It is a short drive to the west of Brisbane. A group of friends and I went up to have dinner, enjoy the sunset, and city lights last sunday. It was a great view and the lights were amazing. We could see several islands off the coast as well as mountains and the entire city. The moon was a special treat as well. Take a look...

The city of Brisbane from Mt Cootha look out just before sunset.

Looking the other direction (to the south).

Brisbane and surrounding areas. My uni would be to the right,

just out of the pic.Another view of the city.
The group at Mt Cootha- all Americans in this pic.Lindsey and Kaitlin in the captain pose.
The moon rising over the city was amazing!!
A longer exposure of the moon over the city.
Me at Mt. Cootha

The moon was huge and orange. What a great sight with the lights too!

We took a maxi taxi home and had a few problems. The first taxi never showed and the second was late. It also broke down on the freeway!! Fun times!

This is our maxi taxi broke down and smoking on the side of the freeway.

This is us walking back to the uni.

Everyone was a great sport- we laughed about it the whole way back.

After 45 min of walking we make it home! It was a great adventure and bonding experience!