Today marked day 2 of the Middleton Family’s stay on the Gold Coast. The plan for the day included: the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the Mt. Coot-Tha lookout, dinner at the pier, and a soak in the hot tub back at the hotel. Given this list, we were highly successful, despite trading the hot tub for an unexpected trip to the casino.
As predicted, Minnie pulled up fashionably late once again, because dad and Kev had, of course, hit up both the beach and Pie Face before deciding it was time to come get us. Justin, Meadbh, and I piled in the car, only imagining what the day had in store. The drive to Brisbane was rather uneventful, despite getting lost in Wolf Creek (an Aussie horror film) type territory and a search for civilization in order to have lunch. When the options became slim, we pulled over at a grocery store complex for more car snacks to hold us over….Mars Bar cookies, yumm!! Kev and Justin bonded over a Mate’s Meal from the Macca’s (McDonald’s) drive-through…a major step in the friendship. Meadbh and I were generously offered a couple of fries.
We spent a good part of the day at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. It was very similar to a zoo, except that you were allowed to enter some of the exhibits and get very close to the animals. There were bats (Meadbh’s favorite), dingos, kangaroos, wallabys, and hundreds of koalas. We admired the koalas in the Koala Kindergarten (the babies!), the bachelor pad (the single males), and the retirement complex (the oldies but goodies) before we got in line to hold one. Since the sanctuary is located in Queensland, you are actually allowed to hold a koala bear and have you picture taken! The Lone Pine Sanctuary is well-known for this attraction and even Taylor Swift visited while on tour in Australia. Everyone, except for Dad, took a turn holding the koala, who was much heavier and far less cuddly than anticipated. *Note the long, sharp claws* The koala was really cute and relatively willingly to let us all hold him, until he saw Justin. That took some major convincing from the zoo keeper, along with more than one food bribe. I mean, can you blame him? Kidding J
After the koalas, we went into the kangaroo and wallaby exhibit. All of the animals were loose, hopping around and laying in the sun. We were all a bit nervous at first, wondering if it was safe to even touch them, until Kev sat down right next to a kangaroo and started petting it. That pretty much sealed the deal. We pet them; we chased them; we took pictures with them, and I even kissed one (strictly for the sake of winning my ongoing bet with Madde!) Kevin was affectionately nick-named “the kangaroo whisperer” due to his strange fetish with and knack for wrangling the kangaroo species. But the highlight of time spent with the kangas definitely came when every kangaroo in the pen took off hopping all the way across the exhibit. Meadbh and I practically screamed with excitement. The reason that I came to this country, personified. If only they were wild!
After leaving the sanctuary, we drove up to the Mt. Coot-Tha lookout. This lookout tower was located at the top of the mountain (a good warm-up for dad’s impending New Zealand driving) and provided a view of the whole city of Brisbane. Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative and the view was pretty hazy, but it was still neat to see. Later, we had dinner at the pier, also not so glamorous in the rain, but our shakes and iced milks made up for it. After dinner, we headed home, the day seemingly over, until Kevin was enlightened to the fact that the gambling age is 18, not 21, in Australia.
For those of you who know my brother, you can appreciate the fact that once he gets something in his head, he’s not going to give up on it, until he actually accomplishes it. Some people may see this as an admirable quality, but trust me; it gets him into more trouble than anything. Today, that something that he was bound and determined to accomplish was sneaking into the local casino. My brother, being only 16, does not have a license, does not have a fake i.d. and, most certainly, does not have an 18+ card (the form of i.d. that international students use here in Aussie). So how does he even stand a chance you wonder? Here’s your answer. Justin has both an 18+ card and a Connecticut license. Let’s do a quick comparison: Justin- blonde, Kevin- brunette; Justin- green eyes, Kevin- brown eyes; Justin- 5’9’’, Kevin- 6’2’’; Justin- buzz cut, Kevin- serious shaggy, greasy flow goin on. And the list goes on…. But, being on vacation, dad decided, what’s the worst that can happen? And after Kevin changed into Justin’s shirt (as if that was going to help the cause), off we went to Jupiter’s casino with Justin #1 and Justin #2. Kevin spent the entire car ride memorizing Justin’s license and probably knows more about Justin than he knows about me. We thought we were doomed for a minute when he couldn’t even pronounce his last name, but surprisingly he pulled through in the end, even nailing the zip code. Mom was literally shocked, wondering why Kev spent his whole summer vacation in summer school for his inability to memorize Spanish when he could clearly memorize pointless information on the spot. When we got to the parking garage, Kevin had the genius idea to pretend that he and I were dating so that we could walk in together. We held hands for a solid ten seconds and made a major scene; it was rather precious. I think mom almost cried, seeing as that probably hasn’t happened since we were 3. Then it got creepy, I let go and “Justin D. Giddings” was on his own.
Inside, Meadbh and the real Justin split up from the Middleton family to go in through another entrance, just so that the 2 Justin’s weren’t walking in one after the other (we really thought things through). Mom and I went in first and then stood of to the side and waited. We watched as the man took Kevin/Justin’s i.d. and surveyed him. He said something to Kev, which we couldn’t hear , causing us to instantly assume that the gig was up and that he wasn’t getting in. Then, sure enough, Kev walked through the gate with a huge smile on his face and quite the swagger of confidence. The guard apparently asked him to take off his hat and then decided he was legit. Hmm. The most ironic part of the story comes with the fact that the real Justin D. Giddings got questioned at his door by the guard, being told that his i.d. “looked fake”. So after all that, the 20 year old was almost denied, and the 16 year old floated through with no questions asked. We spent a good part of the night at the casino, with both Justin’s doing most of the winning. Kev claims that his night at the casino was the highlight of his trip and will probably be reported trying to sneak into Mohegan Sun in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment