The Importance of being Earnest

(11.5.08 CS house in Turangi, NZ 9pm)
The next morning (10.22.08) that was all the excuse I needed to call her and cancel. If she would have never given me an out I would have got up went paddling, but at 4am sleeping seemed a much better plan. I woke up around 10:30am and called a cab to take me to a mtg in the city that started at noon. After the meeting I walked to the mall and had lunch and then went to the City Hall to look at their city art exhibit and see the view of the town from the clock tower. Then I headed back to the Museum/Gallery area of the city. They had quite a few cool pieces at the GOMA: "King" was a room with 16 different full length TV screens playing videos of people singing Michael Jackson songs. So they were all separately filmed but played back at the exact same time together. It was interesting. At the Brisbane Art Museum I found a replica “Black Square” painting. It wasn’t meant to copy the original “Black Square” by Kasimir Severinovic Malevich but it was most likely inspired by it. For those of you not from Hawaii, one of my favorite bands is a band from Oahu called Black Square (www.myspace.com/blacksquare) Erin called me when she got off work and we made plans to hang out in the city and grab dinner or drinks. I stayed and check the internet at the adjacent library and then went for a walk down by South bank. I saw a lot of activity going and coming from QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Centre) so walked inside to see what shows were playing. When Erin called I asked if she was interested in seeing a play and she agreed. She grabbed some sushi on here way and we grinded really quick before the show started. I was surprised when the spicy tuna roll had tuna fish inside. I know they all have tuna fish inside but I mean tuna fish like what you buy in a can at the grocery store, not raw Ahi! It was a lil strange. The play we watch was “The importance of being Earnest” and it was really well performed. After the play she gave me a quick walking tour of South bank which was originally developed for the World Expo in 1988. They have since turned the area into a really nice park with lots of lil shops and restaurants. They even have a tropical beach built right next to the river. Seriously I thought I was back in Maui for a minute. We eventually took a train back home and went to bed. Next morning (10.23.08) I caught a train to the airport to meet Kathy the lady that was going to host me down in the Gold Coast. She was another friend that Danielle hooked me up with. She happened to be coming to Brisbane to pick her daughter Emily up from the airport so she offered to give me a ride back down as well. I rode in the back of the car with a two year old pulling at my hair and wiping her hands all over my clothes after eating chips. She was Kathy’s other daughters child. We finally arrived to their house, which was a beautiful house out in the country with a nice big yard and trampoline. I dropped my bags and made my way outside to play on the tramp. I called Jessi to see if she wanted to hang out. Jessi was one of the girls that Leia turned me onto. Leai was a girl I given surf lessons to on Maui about a month before my vacation that was also from the Gold Coast but still traveling around the world. Jessi came to pick me up and took me to Surfers Paradise, a very touristy part of the Gold Coast where the Indy would be starting the following day. I was pretty much over it as soon as we got there, but we sat down at a bar and had some food and drinks for a while. I let Jessi wear my long sleeve shirt because it was kinda cold and I walked to the quicksilver shop to buy an Aussie hoodie. It was 90$ Aus so I figured that was probably only like 60$ US so I bought it. The price was most likely waaaay inflated since we were pretty much in the Waikiki of Australia. I Emily to see what she had going on and she was free, so I asked if she wanted to watch a movie at the house and told the girls that I needed to get home so we left. On the way home Jessi’s friend got a call from her boyfriend saying he was locked out of the house and needed us to bring him a key. Jessi and I waited in the car and after a few minutes I suggested that would pass the time by making out and she went for it. We made plans to hang out again the next day they dropped me back off. When Emily put the movie in, we were surprised to find that someone had recorded over the DVD with a basketball game from the Olympics. So we watched TV for a little bit then went to bed. Next morning (10.24.08) I woke up and caught a ride with Kathy into her other house, which she was renovating by the beach. I had posted a post on a bulletin board on an Aussie Paddling site trying to find a partner for the Gold Coast Relay cup and Matt Carter had given me a call letting me know that he didn’t have a partner for me he would be more than happy to take me out for a paddle on one man’s. Matt picked me up at Kathy’s beach house and took me for a paddle. Matt was the retailer in Oz for Pegasus so he let me use his pink Pegasus and he took out his surfski. We paddled out of the river into the open ocean headed south. There no wind but a decent swell so getting out of the river mouth was pretty exciting. We paddled at a medium pace and talked story the whole time. After about 30 minutes we turned and headed back. We caught a few waves at the surf spot and paddled back into the river. Matt let me try his surfski and I had a really hard time keeping it upright in the beginning due to the choppy water on the inside of the surf break. Once I got back into the river though I had it under control. I’ve never really paddled a surfski before and I was amazed at how fast it goes. For those that aren’t familiar a surfski is a racing kayak. I paddle a ocean kayak for work everyday, but it’s heavy and bulky. These surfski’s are made of fiberglass or carbon fiber, super long and narrow and built for one thing: speed! After using his surfski I joked with him that he had just ruined my Outrigger Canoe paddling career, I was gonna go back to Maui and start racing surfski’s! After our paddle Matt took me to pick up Jessi and then dropped us off at the Carnolla Wildlife Sanctuary. Jessi took me there so I could see kangaroo’s and koalas! It was a really nice sanctuary, kinda like a huge park but there were animals everywhere. The kangaroos weren’t caged, they just went where they wanted but the other animals: dingoes, koalas, Tasmanian devils, snakes, birds, possums, alligators were all in fenced off sections. We went to a few wildlife exhibits where the park rangers talked abut the animals and then let you interact with them afterwards. Of course I took heaps of pictures. “Heaps” is what the Aussies say for “a lot”. I’ve learned a lot of Aussie slang. Jessi and I got a lil inappropriate late in the afternoon, well for a family environment anyways. That’s all I’ll say here, if you want the rest of the story you’ll have to ask. Oh then we fed parrots!!! In Oz they have wild parrots just flying around like we have pigeons in big cities. It’s kinda crazy, cause you’ll just see a McCall or Cockatoo chillen on a power line. After the wildlife sanctuary I went back to Jessi’s mom’s house to meet my future mother in law and family. I think she liked me. Then we caught a movie at the cinema: My Best Friends Girl with Dane Cook and Kate Hudson. It is absolutely historical, you must go watch it!! After the movie there was some “not to be talked about here” activities then I caught a cab home.