Crystal arrived the evening of July 7th and it's basically been a whirlwind of awesome since she got here. The next day, we headed into Brisbane for a look around South Bank and the city and then we were off to the XXXX (Fourex) Brewery tour. XXXX is, of course, Queensland's most famous and beloved beer, found on tap everywhere you go and the logo is plastered across most sports uniforms. Jeremy had gone with Scott while I was studying anatomy and they both enjoyed it. At the end of the tour, you get a card for four free beers in their pub...all XXXX, of course! It was here that Crystal developed a love for XXXX bitter. Here is what the official XXXX site has to say about the tour:
- Start in the XXXX Ale House Visitor Centre
- Learn about the origins and history of beer
- Hear the colourful history of XXXX
- Walk through the heart of our heritage listed site
- Learn about our raw ingredients and brewing processes
- Visit the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest single packing line
- Learn to pour yourself the perfect beer in the XXXX Ale House Bar
- Taste a couple of brewery fresh beers
After that, we rushed home to a delicious Jeremy cooked dinner with J, Mike Nicholson (he and his wife had me over for dinner while J was away) and Baldwin who was still crashing at our place at that point. The dinner was fantastic - not that there was any doubt! We had an early night and decided to take it easy the next day because the next several days would be incredibly busy!
Friday night we headed back into Milton (home of the XXXX Brewery) to meet up with Sean, Louise and Matt for dinner at the Polish Club. It was our first time there and we were impressed! The food was cheap and yummy and so was the beer! We ate and drank our fill and then cajoled Sean and Louise to come to The Muddy Farmer with us for KARAOKE! There we sang, danced, and generally had a fabulous time. From the Muddy Farmer, it was just a short walk home down the hill from Annerley. Saturday saw us take another day to relax. Crystal sadly had gotten a cold and so she needed to rest up. We opted out of going to the markets in Brisbane and instead stayed home until that evening. Saturday night was a night of music. My friend Alastair's band, Inland Sea, was playing at a place called The Zoo and I was very excited to introduce their music to Crystal, Jeremy, Justin, Jen and Chris. Crystal was feeling pretty horrible with that darn cold, but she pulled through and we spent the night happily dancing away to lively music.
We woke up the next day and then it was off to the Gold Coast. Crystal had heard about a famous bikram yoga studio at the GC and it was one of the things she really wanted to try while she was in Australia. I had a look at the Translink website and plotted a route that would have us there in time for the 4 pm class. We navigated our way through the train and bus system, only to end up in Burleigh Heads in a very industrial looking area. We thought we were out of luck, but sure enough the yoga place was tucked away around a few corners. It looked deserted but people started pulling up and the class was actually quite full. Does anyone know what bikram yoga is? Let me tell you this - it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. For 90 minutes, I was in a small-ish room with about 35-40 other people. The room is heated to 40 C and you're not allowed to leave. You do a series of poses while sweat pours off you onto the ground. There were some guys there whole were incredibly fit and strutting around showing off their abs and by the middle of the class some of them where just on the ground whimpering. I made it through the whole 90 minutes, taking a couple of breaks, but even just laying on the floor I felt like i was going to die of heat. You feel amazing afterwards, though. Here is a brief description:
Bikram yoga aims toward general wellness and claims the heated studio facilitates deeper stretching, injury prevention, and stress and tension relief. Bikram yoga is claimed to systematically stimulate and restore health to every muscle, joint, and organ of the body. There are two complementary aspects of the 26 exercises, asanas (postures) and pranayama (breathing exercises), though many other branches of yoga also use these methods. According to Choudhury, many people only use up to 50 percent of their lung capacity; the lungs must be stretched in order to (through practice) withstand holding more oxygen. When one is practicing pranayama s/he will eventually be able to enhance oxygen conversion and absorption, as well as improve blood circulation. (Choudhury, 2007) This is true of any cardiovascular activity.
It is common for beginners to experience dizziness and nausea. Like many forms of yoga, immense amounts of focus and discipline are required to complete a session.[4] There is much controversy as to whether or not performing strenuous exercise in a room over 100 degrees F is safe.
I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to talk to Crystal again after that!! Wow. We then made our way to our hotel, the Goldrigger. We were about a two minute walk from a surf club which was quite convenient since we wanted to have dinner at one.
I don't feel like ranting on forever, so this entry must stop here.
Next: Gold Coast (continued), Byron Bay, Nimbin
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