Lightening Strike

I feel sorry for the hotel staff, honestly. I feel like having 96+ Americans shoved in a relatively small hotel is just too much sometimes. Especially when all of us are spacey and tend to cluster in the worst spots. Herd mentality. Who can blame us? At least at 7:30am there aren’t many people trying to get out of the hotel…

A good chunk of my people, aka the blue group, went to Burleigh Heads today for surfing lessons! I attended, rather last minute, not for the surfing but for the national park and the little tide pools. I promise I’m older than 10 years old. Really, I am.

Getting there was relatively simple, purchase a “beep” card (you have to tap it near constantly when you travel and it beeps; hence the terribly clever name. What made it even easier was that Michael Oliveri, a teacher, was toting around a massive white surf  board (bought on ebay last night): impossible to miss. Once the herd finally arrived on solid soil, we hit the ground running. Sorta. I got distracted by a tree that Christine had told me about that is known to harbor a very interesting sort of insect… the name unknown to me.

Awesome bug

Lots of awesome bugs

Bright blue awesome bug

Another orange one. I couldn't stop.

The greeting scene

Surf town for sure!

After the group peeled off towards their surfing adventure, I headed the same way at a grandma pace snapping photos like it was going out of style. It was just a stunning place, it reminded me a lot of the postcards you see from Hawaii. Walking along the trail, minding my own business, I heard a kerfuffle up ahead. I pressed on, cautiously, and was met head on by two brush turkeys trotting along the trail, winding with the path. When they reached me, they ran/flew up the cliff and around, hit the trail again and continued to follow the pavement. Totally normal.

No words can do it justice

Once I had followed my way to the river, I trudged through the sand to the river’s edge. Nearby was a little girl tramping around on the shore- it was precious. 

Probably staring at the fish

I got to try my hand with my underwater cover and managed to snap a few pictures of fish! I also got assaulted by a kamikaze seagull who insisted that a certain section of the shore was all his. I hate to say it, but high tide has got to come sometime, buddy. Kiss your sand adios.

Took this photo completely blind- I'm surprised the fish made it in!

I crossed over the bridge and walked out onto an outcropping of rocks, still part of the national park. The giant-sized boulders made a perfect lunch spot! It was a stunning view of surfer’s paradise (we were south of the city) but I’m glad I was in the quieter part of town. Walking out of the area I heard some cute little chirping. There was a precious little blue and black bird which was extremely difficult to snap a photo of- he was so jumpy. 

A fisher by the outcropping

I swear there's a bird in this photo

Taking the upper trail back to the main beach I was constantly reminded of Costa Rican rainforests. There were huge trees that seemed like walls and vines drooping across the pathways. Beautiful.

Trail to the beach

Hiking up

One of a few outlooks

Arriving back at the main beach I took my sweet time to kick off my shoes and hop from rock to rock, hunting for tide pools, watching the gulls, and awaiting the massive storm that was inevitable. 

Gorgeous shells

Wasting time with pictures

The underwater case got to play again!

When I was deciding to head home, I saw Michael and a student of ours, Ryan. Just as soon as we decided to head back towards the other group, the bottom dropped out- pouring rain. We scampered from restaurant deck to restaurant deck until we heard a crashing thunder boom/lightening strike. Terrified and hungry, we headed towards town which seemed very Athens-esque but more hippie.

Within minutes the city on the right (surfer's) was gone.

Saw this when I arrived...

Turing the corner onto the street, we saw a few police, an ambulance, and a fire truck. Kerfuffle indeed. After asking quite a few locals, I found out that the woman on the ground had not been struck herself by lightening, but her car had been hit right outside of the vegetarian restaurant that Christine had recommended to me. Michael, Ryan and I spend a while standing (gawking would be a better term) at the mass chaos. Micahel managed to get a video which ended up in the news! Ryan is the guy on the right hand side. MSN News

Wandering around a bit more, I found an adorable hole in the wall bakery which had the most spastic meringues I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying something. Of course I had to get one! Before heading to the bus stop, I took a break from the pouring rain for some much needed and highly enjoyed Nando’s while talking to the waitress. I told her all about the disaster that happened mere blocks away- she was terrified! The poor woman hates lightening and storms, and apparently they are pretty common here (lightening strikes, that is).

Sugar. Deeelicious.

Once I was at the bus stop, getting there was  a stop and go affair to avoid getting soaked, I saw a bus roll up crammed with people… surprise… they were the blue group! A couple ended up joining me on the way home. It was nice to have the company, even though the pair were unconscious the majority of the journey. What could have been a peaceful ride back was not quite such. Just like Germany, many of the schoolchildren take the trains to get home. And much like American children they were obnoxious. Getting off the soapbox.

Tonight isn’t over though, I have to pack for Carnarvon and make my room not look like a bomb exploded. This is going to be a serious issue. And it doesn’t help that mythbusters just came on... and I’d rather be watching that than packing… I have a 10 hour drive to catch up on sleep.