06.06.10

Well the day we left Tonys, we decided we would find a beach and try to camp out there for the night. Unknowing that most of the coast near Brisbane is mangroves, we just picked a train that went to the coastline and figured we would walk. We spent about 2 hours getting on the right train and making our way East. When we got off the train, a man asked us where we were going. Turns out, we were nowhere near a beach. He told us how to get on the train that would take us to where we wanted to go, and spent another hour making our way to Shorncliffe.
Shorncliffe is a very cute seaside town. Very homey and seemed rich in community life. The train station was only a small walk away from the beach, and thats exactly where we headed.
On the way we found a small café and decided to get a cappuccino and use the internet while they were still open (everything closes at 5:30 here, even the malls!). We sit down, ordered our coffee and started rummaging through our stuff to get everything we need to use the computer.
Now let me tell you something about our laptop...its massive! The computer screen is larger than most peoples desktop computers. The beast must weight 10 pounds, not including the charger which weights an additional 2 or 3 pounds. Its the heaviest item we have, but also the most important. Its the biggest pain in the butt, but what are we going to do?
When we got here (Australia), we got an internet USB card so that we could plug into the internet anywhere we go. Unfortunately, my beastly computer is running on the last few useable hours of its battery, which means we cant use it unless its plugged in. This posses another obstacle when trying to find a place to sit down and use it, as we have to be near a plug.
We had the computer set up, plugged in, ready to go when I realize that the internet card isnt in my purse, which is where we have been keeping it. Crapola, we must have left it at Tonys!
We packed everything up and started walking. Trying to decide on whether or not we should go back to Tonys tonight, or just wait and go tomorrow. The problem in this troublesome equation is that I have only a few days left to complete my teaching certificate. You have a year to complete the program and I am quickly approaching my deadline. Without the internet, I cant do a thing, and if we stayed for the night, that would be one more day that I didnt get anything done.
We walked up the street cause we were going to stay and then changed our mind, we walked back down the street and then decided to stay, then we sat down to try and make up our minds, and failed. Our backpacks our heavy, our bones hurt after walking all day, and John was on his 2nd day without cigarettes. It was now getting dark and we were crabby.
We finally decided to stay and started walking up the boardwalk. There is a beautiful park that runs for miles along the edge of the city. It has a nice pathway and is lined with gorgeous landscaping, picnic tables and BBQ pits. We started to head back just as the sun was setting and took a minute to enjoy the serene atmosphere. Even as we are, backpackers, we forget to stop and see all that is around us.
We did end up finding a beach. A tiny one, but none the less a beach. We were in a park and didnt think they would be too fond of us pitching a tent so we opted for the playground instead!
There was a massive wooden tree house, with three little cabana type things. We made our way to the one at the top and got our sleeping bags out. That was where we would sleep.
It was pitch dark and only 7:30. Sheesh it was going to be a long night. We knew we would need to be up at the break of dawn, so we tried to sleep but it was hard. There were people still in the park well into the night, and sleeping on planks of wood is even worse then sleeping on a cobble patch for camping. The nice part was that you could hear the gentle breaks of the ocean, and the air was so fresh and crisp. We did managed to make it through the night, just not with a lot of sleep.
We were woken up by the INSANE bird chirping. It was obnoxious! It was just a calamity of all these birds getting ready to start the day,with or without the sun. Neither of us have woken up so early before without a reason. We decided to take advantage of our early bird rising, and watch the sun come up.
It was breath-taking. You could actually feel the air get warmer the further in the sky the sun went. It was nice to take a minute to watch the Australian sun-rise.
After, we got washed up and headed back out to Tonys.
Sure enough, Tony had the internet card and we were ready to head out for the day. We went back to the Starbucks down town and did some more work. We packed up and decided to just head back to the same campground we stayed in before.
We took some amazing refreshing showers, I finished my last assignment for my teaching certificate and fell asleep...a much needed, in our safe tiny tent, good nights sleep.