Bad lunch, good dinner

Most of the train woke up at 6am, but we managed to sit through some noises and bumps, and drifted back to sleep until around 8am when we made another stop. The moaning/coughing lady behind us eventually got off, so it was a much nicer environment and we read and slept in peace. Nathan finished Angels and Demons, and chipped his tooth on an all-natural nut bar, while Susan continued reading about Korea’s Red Queen. Luckily the chip isn't visible since it's just a piece from the back of his tooth.

A baby two rows back started crying and screaming like crazy, which was our cue to get lunch in the buffet car. We had a kind of gross chicken burger and went back to our seats for journaling. Our seats were pretty comfortable and the train was much quieter. We definitely had more room than you get on a plane.

At 4:00pm we de-boarded the train and got our luggage easily. After waiting a little bit, we shared a cab to Caravella Backpackers. The woman at the check-in counter was very odd, and took ½ hour to get us our key. She answered the telephone many times, and would tell whoever was calling all about her visiting family, and her daughter’s 40th birthday. She also told us and another couple not to have one-night stands. It was pretty amusing but after a long day of travel we were ready to get rid of these suitcases and settle in.

We got a nice room with living room, A/C, a fridge and our own bathroom. We even have painted walls with a blanket to match. It’s the hostel version of a Ritz Carlton! After finally getting the A/C to work, we walked down the main road along the water, called the Esplanade. We found a nice Italian place for dinner and had a bottle of wine to go with Susan’s Barramundi and Nathan’s chicken asparagus linguini. We vacated the premises by 7pm, which meant we got a 25% discount on our meal. Score!

We stopped by Global Gossip, then got some yummy Dippin’ Dots. Woolworth’s grocery store was just down the street so we got some groceries before walking back to the hostel. We retreated to our air-conditioned room and tried to figure out our New Zealand plans before Nathan called his parents. Nathan then tried to make the PSP switch from golf (which he had played all trip) to hockey, and played a couple games before going to bed.