Day 3 in Brisbane

I woke up fairly early today and went on a walk down the South Bank again. After walking so much in Sydney, my body has been demanding exercise in Brissie. Col's daughter Roberta met me at the hostel, and together with her boyfriend Troy, we headed off to the Gold Coast to sightsee a bit. They're both super nice and funny and made me feel totally comfortable.

We stopped along the beach to park and walked to one of the shopping areas and went to a placed called Infinity. You wear special gloves and socks over your shoes that show up in black lighting, and you walk through a maze of sorts with mirrors and lights -- kind of like a fun house or house of mirrors. In many rooms, you just have to feel your way around and push on walls to find the only door to the next room. Thankfully Roberta led us most of the way, because I would have gotten completely lost! Two of the rooms were super cool -- one that was completely black except for white lights...it seemed like you were just standing in the middle of the sky at night with stars all around you. In another room, there were plenty of strobe lights, mirrors, and big plastic balls, and after a while just walking around felt funny because your movements were so jerky (as you'd expect with strobe lighting).

After Infinity, we walked on the beach for a bit (it was so cold and windy but the beach was beautiful!) and then headed to Big Chief's Burgers for lunch, one of Troy's favorite spots. Next, Troy drove us out to Hinze Dam and a mountain that has a park at the top that is named after his grandfather, whose family has lived in the area for ages. Too bad the fog had rolled out, because both places are supposed to have amazing views! Since I've been in Brisbane, a handful of people have joked about taking me to Hinze Dam and leaving me there for the week, since I seem to bring rain wherever I go -- Brissie's in a pretty serious drought right now and going to higher restrictions on Tuesday.

When I returned to the hostel, Martin was there, and I had an extra ticket for footy, so he was able to come along on his last night in Brissie :-). Karen, a huge footy fan, picked us up and took us to the Chalk Hotel for dinner before the game. I think it's relatively new as a pre and post-game social venue, but heaps (as they say here in OZ) of people were there to eat, drink, and be merry before the Lions game (and after horse racing earlier in the day). Several people explained the rules to Martin and I over dinner, including a super talkative (and "merry") Melbourne native who attached herself to our side for a good 30 minutes. When we finished dinner, we headed out in the (*cue surprise*) rain towards The Gabba, the stadium where the Lions play.

Martin and I had seats *directly* behind the goal, dead center :-) We also had an overhang above us, so we kept nice and dry. The Lions won the Premiership several years in a row a few years back, but they haven't done well the past couple of season, and last night they lost to the Adelaide Crows. Martin and I still had a marvelous time though :-). The usher nearby took great care of us, and I'm really excited to go to next weekend's game with Karen. I don't know all of the rules yet, but I got a pretty good handle on it after last night.

That's about it for my Saturday...Cheers!