Day Two - Brisbane to Christchurch NZ

Day 2

Woke up to what sounded like a pleasant rain forest of birds chirping at about 430am. Wandered around the apartment for awhile, then everyone else kinda woke up too. Don’t think I mentioned it, but everyone I’ve met or overheard, seems to be absolutely polite and considerate and welcoming in Australia, and the women are amazingly beautiful. It might just be the places we go, but everyone is in great shape as well. Anyway, back to the topic… Brent and I decided to go to his gym and workout. We got there about 730am, and worked out for about an hour, then came back and had breakfast with Tom and Kristin. I tried all the new fruit I bought the night before. Tangelo, Black Sapote, Kiwi, Banana, Blood Orange, Cantaloupe, and mixed some of them with some really good yogurt and some muslie, which is an oat heavy breakfast mix. Everything was great except the Black Sapote, which evidently wasn’t fully ripe. It was interesting to watch when I cut it, as it oxidized immediately. It went from white to wooden brown in about 5 seconds. But it was the most bitter, nasty thing I’ve eaten, and it left a tickle in my throat that lasted for like 20 minutes. I don’t recommend it.
We went shopping after that, took the bus downtown and went to a cool, major shopping center. I bought all my souvenirs to bring back to the states. There were some really cool stores, I really wanted a Brisbane soccer or cricket jersey or t-shirt, but they were all ugly so I got a random shirt by a cool local brand. This was kinda just a kill time before the airport day, so we rode back in time to repack, eat some awesome kangaroo burgers with avocado, and try some of the different candy bars I bought at the store. We headed to the airport, checked in, and hung out for an hour until the plane came. The whole flight was full of beautiful women and young people. The check-in lady was super nice and gave us seats in the front, and Tom snuck his overweight carry-on for regular price. The flight was good and short, got a small nap in. The biohazard team came in and shut the door until they got to look at some documents. Finally, we got out, and went to customs. Tom got stopped and questioned b/c of our short stay, they said. They searched him and emptied his bag, but everything worked out. We caught a cab to the city center and checked into the hotel SO. We’re in Christchurch, New Zealand at this point, by the way. The hotel was a European style, and was pretty cool. It had blue “ground effects” under the bed, the shower/bathroom was contained in a pod-like structure with a curved sliding door, and also featured a lighting system controlled on the wall. Pretty crazy. We went out and hit a few bars, or clubs as they call ‘em, and Tom described the night with the ladies as Hideo Nomo, or 17 strikeouts. It was really fun though, we met a few really cool people, and realized American culture dominated the scene. The first bar we went to was a karaoke bar and everyone was singing and dancing wildly to Sweet Home Alabama. It was all young people and they danced like 60s and 70s Americans.