Friends, Wine, and City Skylines

Hervey Bay is the number one spot in the world to catch a glimpse of the humpback whale, that is of course if you're there during whale watching season. Lucky for me Hervey Bay has an amazing 22k bike path that borders the coast, and my hostel has free bikes to use. On my tour of Hervey Bay I decide to check out the Vic Heslop Shark museum not really knowing what to expect. Vic is a shark hunter his opinion is that the ocean is over populated with great white sharks. Through his studies he believes that these sharks feed on turtles and whales, and are in part to blame for them becoming endangered. So by him hunting he is creating more of a balance in the ocean. His museum was created to educate the public on his efforts, there is letters from various organizations thanking and supporting him, pictures of sharks he has killed, and various home movies. Perhaps the greatest draw was to see an actual great white shark that has been preserved in a freezer. His hope is that people leave the museum better informed on both sides of the issue. I think thats important to know both sides of something before you make your opinion, at least that way it's an educated one. Too often people only focus on the side they favor. Short bus ride later I arrive in Brisbane and am excited to check into my hostel as online it was described as a sanctuary. Apparently their idea of a sanctuary resembles a prison cell, except in cells I think they get a window. All is not lost however as my roommates more than make up for this dungeon. Two of the three are fresh out of high school German girls, one is suffering from a bout of homesickness so I do my best to console her, and the other makes me envious with her "short 9k runs" it's 35 degrees who runs 9k? The 3rd one becomes the closest friend I've made in Australia so far, she's from South Korea and we click immediately. She shares with me her story of beating cancer and how she is pursuing her dream of working with children by being enrolled in university in Brisbane and starting in January. The next couple of nights in between glasses of wine she shows me around Brisbane via the ferry. City skylines at night have to be one of my favorite things, and Brisbane's is so beautiful. I am not the only that is enchanted by it, many others are as well as I have never seen so many people making out in public