AUSTRALIA, MATE.

December 7-9 was spent in Brisbane, AUSTRALIA. Jess and I found out about an airlines sale about a month ago and thought, oh, why not, let's just go for a weekend! So after a very full day of teaching on Friday we headed to the airport to fly over to visit our neighbors to the north. We arrived at our hostel very late Friday night, quite tired.

Our hostel!

Our time there was filled with many, many, (many) bumps in the road, but we still managed to have a wonderful time.

Saturday morning we woke up very early because of the 3 hour time change, so we headed to the downtown to explore. After a delicious McDonald's breakfast (don't hate me but I love it), we bought public transit cards and headed south to the Gold Coast for the day.

I freaking LOVE Macca's (NZ and Aussie's name for McDonald's) hashbrowns and fries. Don't @ me.

It was perfect weather! We hiked a trail by the ocean, watched some surfers, ate on the boardwalk, and laid on the beach and napped all afternoon.

Such cool nature everywhere!

The gorgeous view of the GC from our hike lookout.

The beach!

Watching some surfers!

Saturday night we were exhausted by the time we got back to our hostel so we went to bed straight away!

Sunday morning we checked out of our hostel, stowed our luggaged, and headed to McDonald's for another delicious breakfast. Jess found a koala sanctuary online that we could bus directly to, and was only about 45 minutes away. We decided to go for it since our flight didn't leave until 6pm! That was a GREAT decision!

The koala sanctuary is home to animals I have NEVER seen in real life. We would walk from section to section only to see another amazing creature. Wombats, tasmanian devils, a platypus, kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, a bunch of different birds (including a kookaburra)--they were all amazing.

Having a moment...

Koalas were so cuddly sleeping in the trees I initially thought they were stuffed animals. Seriously such cute little things, only a few pounds each.

We got to feed the kangaroos! They're (mostly) such docile creatures they aren't kept in cages or anything; you can go right up and hang out with them. It was some of the best $2 Australian dollars I've ever spent.

First time touching a kangaroo #TheFeels