Apparently there was only one backpacker hostel in Mooloolaba. It was conveniently located though with the bus stop right in front and just steps away from the beach. It’s got 2 buildings and 6 floors each, and I was placed on the top floor…. So when a guy saw me struggling to get my luggage up the stairs he offered to help. I shared room with 3 other Swedish girls and our room was a mess… Girls are clean, but we are messy. All the Swedes were really nice, and one of them has been here for some time and is working at an Italian restaurant on the esplanade. We had to pay a deposit for our own kitchenware, cup, bowl, plate, etc. Each floor has its own kitchen and 2 fridges. It’s quite small and unfortunately only one fridge really works on our floor. Once I’ve settled in I went downstairs to check the board of pamphlets for things to do around the area and I saw an Underwater World and Australia Zoo aka the Steve Irwin Zoo which we could take a greyhound bus to. Since I haven’t done much sightseeing I thought I might as well go check them out
. The Underwater World was really close and Australia Zoo was one the places I really wanted to go.
I first went for a walk around town but because I got in town quite late all the shops were closed. That’s one thing that bugs me about Australia, I don’t know if it’s only in small towns but shops close around dinner time so by nighttime I really don’t know what to do. I always look for a post office so I can send postcards from each place that I’ve been to. Unfortunately shops on the esplanade were pretty much closed as well so I’m gonna have to go back again to check them out. When I walked further down the beach I did find some restaurants still open, but a few were closing up soon. I decided to get some fish and chips and had it right by the beach.
Next day as I was booking tickets to the Underwater World and the Australia Zoo out at the front patio these 2 guys called me over and one of them said to me: “Can. I. Ask. You. A. Question? Where. Are. You. From?” I said Canada, and he instantly felt embarrassed because he thought I couldn’t speak English. They were both Irish, Dave from the south, and Paul from the north. I thought they were good friends but they actually just met at the hostel. They’ve both been staying here for a couple weeks waiting for work because the hostel was supposed to have some contacts but they haven’t heard anything yet
. They both want to get the 2nd year as Dave’s visa is expiring soon (he’s a hairdresser btw), and Paul has travelled in NZ for a bit already.
So off I went to the Underwater World. It was right by the harbour, the entrance was bit hidden though, or maybe I was coming from the wrong side of the building. They had a room full of jellyfishes, a shark room of course, and an underwater tunnel where you see sharks and huge stingrays swimming around and top of you. I also got to see watch the seal show and gosh can they jump and do hand stands!! The Underwater World was actually quite small so I probably finished in about an hr.. cost me $30 I wouldn’t say it was worth it. Outside the Underwater World were some shops right by the harbour, and unfortunately closed early again!!! I kept walking along the boardwalk just to see what’s there and I saw a bunch of people out on the patio of a pub, looking over the water. Later I found out they were watching a small sailing race. That night everyone just drank out front of the hostel where I met a Emily, a Korean girl adopted by Swedish family so her mother tongue was Swedish which was interesting to see, 2 crazy American girls Melanie (Melon and Rebecca) and a group of crazy Belgium/Netherland. The American girls actually found work doing fundraising around town but they said the work actually sucked so they quit after working one day
. The Netherlander was the youngest in the Belgium group so everyone called him Baby, and I realized he was actually the dude that helped me carry my luggage on the first day. The guys had actually bought a tattoo gun together and they tattooed each other. I also met Taka, a Japanese guy working at the fish market by the harbour. He didn’t speak much English but he tries. All night I was just talking to Dave, about how he actually got offered job in Tasmania as a hairdresser, but he really needed farmwork to get his 2nd year so he’s been waiting at the hostel instead. I didn’t wanna stay up too late as I needed to wake up early next morning for the Australia Zoo, but when I was just chilling by myself on the staircase before bed I ran into Paul and we ended up chatting late into the night, having Taka’s beers which Paul said was okay because he does that all the time but he’d always replace them the next day.
The greyhound bus came to pick us up at 9AM. It had a big tiger on the side as decor. I think the greyhound was actually going along the hop-on-hop-off route so there were heaps of backpackers onboard. I was super excited when I got to the zoo. Immediately I saw pictures of Steve Irwin and his family. I saw huge lizards and obviously lots of crocks that were just laying there. I also got to hold a baby crock. I saw turtle feeding and they were actually fighting a little bit over food, in turtle speed. There were camels and a petting farm where a goat almost ate my map! Best of all were the tiger show and the crock show. There was a tiger cub playing and they showed us tiger feeding, they love milk! The crock show was quite amazing. They showed feeding and you could hear the jaw clamp really loud!! Can’t imagine getting crushed by one of them…. There was also a reptile room showcasing all the snakes of Australia and I really wish I could tell them apart so I know which ones are venomous but they all look the same to me
. At the end of the zoo was the African safari and they were feeding giraffes. In the end I had to catch the zoo trolley back to the entrance in case I’d miss my bus back.
It was just around 4PM when I got back and I really wanted to check out town so I kinda dragged Paul to take a walk with me. We chilled out for a bit by the beach before heading back for dinner. There was hell of a party going on later that night I reckon more people showed up that day and basically everyone was drinking. I had bought a bottle of wine for SIX DOLLARS from the BWS (Beer Wine Spirits) across the street and everyone else pretty much got a box of beer to themselves. Paul and I had a great chat that night and he had finished his beers and when he found out how cheap my wine was he went and bought a bottle for himself as well. There were a lot of people and we were getting quite rowdy so the manager finally came out and tried to kick some of us out. I decided to take a breather and go take a walk to the beach and Paul decided to go with me. We walked up north along the coast and we were about to pass through this path of bushes when we heard rustling in the bushes and both of us freaked. I was worried about spiders and Paul was afraid of snakes, plus he didn’t have his shoes on so we turned around and walked down the other way and came up to a platform by the beach and just sat for a while and listened to the waves.
It had quieted down by the time we got back and some people decided to go drink by the canal. So it was me, Paul, Emily, Baby, the American girls and Belgium/Netherland. We all brought a bit of booze with us althought I’m pretty sure drinking in public was illegal but we were all pretty drunk by then and Paul kept pouring more red wine into my cup
. The American girls said there was supposed to be a good place to chill but they kept taking us around in circles, probably forgotten where it is. Some people ended up just going back to the hostel, so it was just me, Paul, Emily, Baby, Kristof and Melon left chilling by the beach. Baby and Emily were just browsing through my music on my phone, Kristof and Melon were smoking up, and Paul and I were just drinking. Emily decided to go to back to the hostel and Baby kinda just trailed behind her like a little drunk stalker. The rest of us stayed behind for a little longer then Kristof and Melon wanted to get some maccas so me and Paul went back to the hostel and we thought we’d go to bed but we ended up sitting by the staircase again and talked pretty much all night long while we finished Taka’s beers again.
My bus next day doesn’t leave till around 3PM, so I woke up proper early and got the free breaky at the hostel. The Americans said they wanted to go to the beach and Paul asked if I wanted to go too. We ran into Emily at the beach. Paul and I decided to take a walk on the beach all the way down to the end where it seemed like there could be a lighthouse. We took our time and just chatted casually along the way. At the end was like a pier out to a white structure where some people were fishing. We could see that across the water was like a park or some sort because we saw a lotta people with bikes on the other side but it’s a long way around to get to the other side. We walked back and decided to go through that path that we couldn’t do the other night. Turned out the bush wasn’t as thick as we thought but it was dark. We walked all the way up to Alexandra Headland where we sat and watched some surfers. Saw a lotta bearded dragons along the way.
Finally it was time for me to leave and Paul went to the bus stop with me. We exchanged numbers and made sure to keep in touch. It was a super nice day and I’m excited to go to my next destination: Noosa!!
No comments:
Post a Comment