Overnight bus trips are the same no matter what country you're in

I said goodbye to Rhian and Marina yesterday (so sad!) as they took off north up the coast, going the direction we just came from. After we checked out of our hostel, there wasn't a whole lot for me and Will to do, so we decided to play cards, have a couple of beers, and just hang out until 8pm when we'd board the bus for Hervey Bay.

It turned out to be a good way to spend the day, especially since we sat on the balcony out in the sunshine. There was a tiny little wrench thrown into things at the first restaurant where we stopped. I'd ordered a chicken caesar salad. It wasn't good. At all. It was swimming in enough dressing for three salads and the bacon wasn't cooked all the way (yes, I know, bacon doesn't even belong in a caesar salad, but I was willing to forgive it since maybe Australians don't know that, lol). I asked the server if I could have another salad instead, she complied, but then turned back to say that she was still going to charge me for half of the caesar salad (that I hadn't eaten), plus the full cost of the second salad. At first I agreed because I was starving, but by the time she came back, I realized that was crazy. I again told her that I didn't think I should have to pay for a salad that I hadn't eaten and that I couldn't eat anyway because of the half-cooked bacon. She disagreed and said that since I ordered it, I had to pay for it and she cleared dishes and walked away. I realized that she'd taken my beer bottle even though I hadn't finished with it yet. When I asked her about it, she commented that she thought it was empty. She brought me a beer, but it clearly wasn't my original beer. For one thing, the bottle was icy cold, but it was strange because there was more beer than I'd had. The only thing Will and I could figure was that she opened a new beer and poured some of it out to approximate how much I had before she mistakenly took it off our table. Here's where it gets really weird. She came back to our table to pick up the check she'd dropped off, but we hadn't paid it yet. She told us that she wanted us to pay immediately and then leave because she didn't like my attitude. Wha?!?! Oh man, there's so many wrong things about this whole experience, but I think you all can probably figure it out on your own. I was so freakin' annoyed (and hungry! still!) at that point that I wanted to leave anyway. The whole thing was strange and had me shaking my head in wonderment for the rest of the day. It didn't stop us from our card playing session as we waited out the bus, though. In fact, the next place we went to had an awesome server who was just great.

8pm rolled around and it was time to head south to Hervey Bay. We've now been on four different Greyhound buses as we've traveled down the coast and none of the buses have been even close to capacity. Last night's bus was no different and this was a good thing as we were able to spread out a bit (ghetto upgrade anyone?). Spreading out only works so good, though, so neither of us slept too much (although the codeine I'm still taking probably helped me a little bit). We arrived in Hervey Bay right on time and were picked up by our hostel at the station. Considering how tired Will and I both are, I'm surprised we managed to bicycle around for hours today like we did. Then again, it is only 4pm now and we're like slugs in our room, with barely enough energy to even consider watching a movie. :-)

Tomorrow we are off to Fraser Island for a couple of days. Fraser is the world's largest sand island and can only be driven across with 4WD vehicles. It also has rainforest, lots of lakes, and DINGOES. I'm looking forward to the dingoes! So, just a heads up, I may not be around for a couple of days. . .