Day 6: Wednesday, March 19th

today has definitely been our day of the biggest let downs so far.

we did get to sleep in until 8, even though i woke up at 5am anyway and had trouble getting back to bed. we woke up, i watched morning kids' cartoons, my sister showered, we got to repack and completely reorganize and then we checked out successfully.
since we had a few hours to kill before our flight out we put our luggage in the hostel luggage room (an orange shed) and walked out to the town.
Allison, our american tour group friend, had claimed she went to the kangaroo rescue center in Alice Springs just 5 days earlier and got to feed milk to a baby kangaroo. one of the tour guides also mentioned this rescue center and said we should go. my sister asked a front desk last night where it was and she claimed it had closed, but when i asked a different front desk girl this morning she said it was just 10 mins down the road. so off we went to hold baby 'roos.

we followed the front desk lady's directions (turn right at the KFC) and we found no such 'roo center. we walked down the main road, saw a YWCA, a hospital, and the "Hospital Lawns". i asked a passer-by and her response was "oh, i know it's somewhere, but i don't know where".
this town is literally 7 streets wide.
so we kept looking and found a reptile center. come and pet a snake! i asked the guy at the desk and he said it had closed down. what on earth.

so we headed back to our hostel. as we entered the front parking lot we saw Jane and her tour guide friend. she asked what happened to us last nite! we asked what happened to her last nite! she said she came by our room around 8:30. but we were already walking down sketch road to get our greasy pizza :( if only we had stayed 3 more minutes. oh well. but at least we weren't left behind on purpose!

so anyway, my sister and i waited in the lobby until our airport shuttle came. we read, checked e-mail and realized the bus was 10 minutes late. it was to arrive at 11:15 (our flight was at 12:25). (we were told we'd have plenty of time and not to worry about cutting it close). the bus arrived at 11:28.
we got to the airport at 11:40 and was greeting by a long line at the Qantas desk.
at 11:43 we hadn't moved an inch (or a centimeter). there were at least 15 people in front of us. my sister walked up to one of the 3 Qantas employees and expressed concern about not making our 12:25 flight to Sydney, and he rudely explained that everyone in line was in the same position and to get back in the line. (how would he know what flight everyone was getting on?)
there was a shorter "business class" line next to us, so i hobbled over there (remember, this whole time my sister and i are wearing huge backpacks, at least 25 lbs each. the bags were bigger than us) and stood behind 3 "business" men. when i got up to the desk at 11:58 the man gladly helped me. my sister came over and we got our boarding tickets at 12:07. boarding had started 2 minutes ago.
now, this might not sound as nerve racking to anyone else, but growing up with my family, if you aren't at the airport at least 2 hours early with boarding tickets in hand, and at the gate at least an hour early, then your whole body should be overcome with fear and palms should be sweating. it's what we do.
so we now have 18 minutes until the plane literally takes off.
we go through security, and one of our bags gets flagged. the lady took it off the machine and just placed it next to her. she didn't signal to us or to another worker. she just left it on the floor. my sister and I impatiently looked on until i said 'i'm sorry, that's my bag, is something wrong?' and she replied 'i need it to be checked'. they had 1 bag checker on duty and she was having problems with a bag belonging to an elderly couple. she brought the elderly couple bag over to be re-x-rayed, and the x-ray lady still said there was a problem. we watched the woman take the elderly bag over, research it, then replace it back on the machine. still not satisfactory. i was about to scream that we needed our bag until some other lady walked over to take charge of our backpack. finally.
meanwhile my sister walked to our gate to check the status and said there was a long line of people boarding so we should have some time. the lady checked our bag saying the x-ray lady spotted a knife.
a knife?! a knife. why on earth would we have a knife.
know what is was? our danged butter knife we bought in alice springs to cut our cheese for our picnic. the lady extracted the knife from the bag like it was a sharp meat knife murder weapon. we gave our apologies and grabbed our bag and sprinted away. our flight was going to be 3 hours so i stopped to grab some chippies. my sister is freaking out saying 'we have to go! no one's at the gate!" and while paying for the chips i said "just go tell them!". pretty helpful answer.
we got our snacks, got to the gate, and found our seats. it was 12:21. amazing.
however, we had a middle and a window seat and the aisle seat was already filled by a woman. we walked over and said 'oh, we're in here!" and she looked at me, then looked back at her book. we stood there a bit confused and i said 'oh.. well.. no? oh... so should i just... oh ... ok' then i proceeded to climb over here. my butt right in her book. my sister followed, and we just bust out laughing. from relief, from awkwardness, and from the stupid australians that are over -cocky with their 'no worries, no worries' WHY YES! we had worries! you made us board at 12:21 for our 12:25 flight! we were damn worried. because if we had missed it, it would have been another 24 hours in pov Alice Springs. no thank you, mate.

so here we are in brisbane! we made our connection in Sydney just fine.
BY THE WAY, there is a 1 hour time difference between Brisbane and Sydney (and looking at map one would wonder why) but there is an hour and A HALF time difference between Sydney and The Outback. A HALF HOUR TIME DIFFERENCE?

anyway, we got our bags, our $24 train tickets to central station and found our New Orleans inspired hostel. after dealing with the dumb blonde girl at the front counter (are you staying for 1 night? you already paid for 1 night, so are you just staying 1 night? so are you departing tomorrow? you are only staying for 1 night?) (that was no exaggeration.) we finally got our room key.
after tying to use the self-service elevator that refused to open for my sister we took the stairs to the 4th floor, backpacks and all. after dropping off our stuff, we head out for dinner and explored brisbane at 7:30pm.

we found a busy outdoor mall. my sister remarked it looked like japan. ?.
then she actually shrieked and grabbed my arm when she saw a sign for Wagamama. one of her most beloved restaurants that she can't eat at in the states.
we first walked the length of the shopping area, stopped in a couple tourist stores then returned to Wagamama and had a great dinner.

we then spent over an hour trying to figure out the bus time table to the Koala Sanctuary we heard about. yes, it was open, and yes we were going to be able to hold koalas!! but then we found out we didn't have enough time before our flight tomorrow. :( no baby 'roos and no baby koalas. horrible day.

so off to our room where my sister decided what we would do in the morning. looking at the Brisbane city map my sister saw there was a museum district across the river and said we should go sightsee and see the clock tower and a museum in city hall. sounds like plenty will be filling our morning!

it's now 11:14pm. my sister has passed out and i'm turning off the lights. drunk people are milling in the hallway.

by the way, another time my sister made me go the wrong way: finding the baggage claim in the Brisbane airport. i read the sign that said "baggage claim ahead". she saw some escalators and decided that was where we should go. we went down, and nope, nothing. so we u-turned and went right back up again. followed the actual signs and found the baggage claim that way. the right way. my way.

sorry there weren't any pictures posted here... but we had nothing to photograph that day, except us tired in the train station and pissed off in the airport. it was a lame and nerve-(w)racking day. but the beds in our hostel were fairly comfortable so that was good enough for us.