Day 12: Pave Paradise, Put up a Parking Lot

The sun dawned bright and glorious - the beginning a beautiful Sunday morning! I slept in until 10:30(ish) and got up to find a good number of folks headed down to the beach for some sun and waves. Since I had just gotten out of bed, I did not immediately run down to the beach. Instead, I was able to enjoy a nice devo with Brittany over the phone and then get ready for the day listening to some Hillsong worship!

I ventured out of the condo around noon and called Steele to figure out where the group had set up down at the beach. After a quick stop at Subway and another phone call later, I was sitting down to a nice lunch right on the beach. Looking out over the ocean, there was no doubt that this place was aptly christened "Surfers Paradise." The sun was shining and waves were rising a few feet out of the water before crashing onto the sandy shore. Check out the view!

I let my food digest some while I applied some sun screen, then it was time to catch some gnarly wave action! And was it ever gnarly! These waves were by far the best that I had ever experienced. We had to be careful though, because the great waves also created a tremendous rip current (undertoe as it's known in the states). After a good 20-30 minutes of pleasure, I retired to the shore to dry out (I had no room for a beach towel!) and to let the ocean water evaporate from my ears. Sitting there on the beach, Sydney seemed ages ago. It was hard to believe we were in Australia.

Before we took in more sun than we needed, we left the beach to browse the local shops down the streets of Surfers Paradise. It was quite hot, so I went and treid a small chocolate mint gelato cone at Gelatissimo (which is an Italian ice cream shop). I had never had gelato, but it was quite tasty! However, it was definitely not Blue Bell, but then again, what is?

I came back to the condo and, exhausted from being out in the sun all afternoon, took a long nap. I woke up to find that a few members of the group had run over to Coles (the grocery store chain here) and picked up some burgers and fixings for dinner. (Just A$6.50 a person!) We had another lovely dinner as a group out on our balcony as the sun was setting and we determined at this point that every chance we get to cook out as a group, we should. Not only for price reasons, but also because having everyone at the same table makes for some great dinner conversations. We hung out in the living area for the rest of the evening and went to bed kinda early (before 11) to get ready for our morning departure back to Brisbane.

All in all, the weekend in Surfer's Paradise was a wonderful break from a structured schedule, but I was ready to get back to Brisbane and start chipping away at my thesis!