Nice

Day 3 on my little QLD Adventure and I;m rightfully a couple of shades darker. I've been doing a lot of walking under the blazing Australian sun, and it's starting to feel like Malaysia.

I'm currently in Brisbane, and my host over here, Cara is really really sweet. She's such an interesting character, very bubbly and chatty, and oh so kind hearted. And I've met her other flatmates as well and they all seem very nice. It really reminds me of the Green house I was living in last year because of the retro design of the house, and how everything is really old in here. Also because there're 4 girls and a guy living here.

I guess one of the biggest things my Couch Surfing experience has taught me thus far is that people are remarkably nice. The very core of humankind, is compassion and generosity, just that for some people it's buried far deeper than others. I guess I believed that for a very long time, and I'd really like to continue believing in it, but it just seems harder and harder to keep believing in it.

However, what I've come to realise from my life abroad, and from my travels is that the people who you hardly know, are the people who treat you with pristine kindness, whereas the people you hold really close to your heart, has the largest advantage of breaking it into smithereens. I guess the universe is funny sometimes.

Hello, Sunshine!

I just arrived in Gold Coast Australia this morning. At 7.15 am, I was greeted with a warm 24 degrees air, with soft breeze and bright sunshine! Ah...yep, definitely on a holiday!

My host, Brendon, met me at the airport because he was flying in from Melbourne and was arriving at the same time too. He's a nice guy, but I haven't talked to him much yet. He's away at work at the moment, but we're gonna have dinner later. He works in a gym! =)

The first number on my to-do list was to get a sim card. So when Brendon went off to work, I followed him (to get something to eat too, because I was famished). His gym is in Robina Town Centre which is an amazingly huge shopping mall, much like Pyramid, and very modern looking. Also, right smack at the entrance was was a HUGE christmas tree (like the one in Singapore) and Max Brenners. YUM. Such a huge change from Auckland. But because its a Sunday, most of the stores aren't open yet. It was only 9 am, and I had to wait till 10.30 before I could start shopping. But I managed to get myself a salmon wrap from the food atrium (much like the one in KLCC, I swear). The last time I ate was at 4.45 am Auckland time, which was aeons ago.

I was kinda sleep deprived because I've had about 6 hours of sleep in total for the past 2 nights, with going away drinks, and Christmas (early) parties. And my extremely early flight this morning. So yeah, I was pretty knackered. I just needed to get the sim card. After asking around and doing some simple math in my head, I opted for Virgin Mobile because they gave me good data plan and credit expiry for 180 days. =)

Then I hopped onto a bus to come back to Brendon's flat. $3.40 was the bus fare. That's ridiculously expensive!! That's like a 3 stage fare in Auckland!! And I was only going 1 stage! Oh wells, I guess I'm walking there tomorrow morning. Looks like a pleasant 3km walk.

I came back and had an hour's nap because by now my head was throbbing from the heat, and the dehydration and the lack of sleep. And now I'm just waiting for dinner. =)

So my virgin couch surfing experience, Day #1, has been quite pleasant so far. We'll see what tomorrow brings! =)