After our dreamworld day, we decided to focus on shopping for day 2. My sister bought heaps (she’s been working full time for the last 6 months after finishing school, so has pretty much been saving for this purpose) but I limited myself to a few things…I did get a new bag and wallet though, which was nice 
We also spent some time checking out the super rough beaches next to where we were staying:
I've never seen a closed beach before
I don’t think my pictures do the waves justice – they were big!
On the evening of our second full day we found a great sushi bar about 15 minutes from where we were staying. I had actually never been to a sushi bar before! I’d always ordered from take away places or occasionally at a sit-down Japanese restaurant, but not from a revolving belt. It was great! We could watch them preparing it right in front of us and it was definitely the freshest sushi I’d ever had. Plus, it was fun checking out all the things that revolved around in front of us…there are definitely some exotic sushi options out there. I was boring and stuck with tuna. We actually went back again on our next night and I had tuna and veggie then too…why change something that works, right?!
We also checked out a mix-your-own icecream place on one of the evenings…you choose your icecream flavour, pick a mix-in (or a few!), pick a topping if you want one, and they smoosh the icecream together in front of you. It’s a fun concept. My sister picked chocolate-honeycomb icecream with maltesers and mini m&ms as add ins, and I picked sugar-free almond icecream with an oreo add in. I don’t really eat that sort of food much at home so this was definitely a holiday treat, but I am proud to say I truly enjoyed it
Day 3 we caught up with some family on my Dad’s side – my cousin and her husband and little boy and my uncle (my cousin’s Dad/ my Dad’s brother) and his wife. We went to a rainforest area between the Gold Coast and Brisbane:
Mt Tambourine rainforest
Waterfall
Stream (sorry about the lighting)
I love this sort of scenery. Queensland gets a lot more rain than the other Australian states, which is why they get these sorts of forests and we don’t.
Our final day we spent in Brisbane (the capital), mostly wandering around and checking out the main city centre. And then we flew back! Quite a quick trip all up but I am so glad we took it.
This week it’s been back to work, but it’s my last week in my current jobs before starting a new position next week. Lots of farewells! Today is my final day of saying goodbye to people and places…it’s been a bit bitter-sweet finishing up.
On that note though, I had actually better get to work…
Your photos make me miss Oz so much!
That beach! Ah!!
You’ll have to come back and visit!