Colassal Cottages and Crazy Critters

For the past two days, Jessie and I have been enjoying the beauty of Watego's Beach from a $16.5 million dollar "cottage." While visiting Watego's Beach is itself a treat, visiting Watego's and staying in "THE HOUSE" among multimillion dollar mansions is a real experience. 11 Marine Parade is across the street from "Rae's on Watego's," a boutique resort with worldwide acclaim. However, we learned from the staff at Rae's, having had a VERY nice dinner there (+$700 for five people), that staying in "the house across the street," represents an unprecedented level prestige. Despite the prestige, I wouldn't say that this house coaxes one to be utterly hedonistic. Perhaps it's the laid-back attitude of its tenants; three up-and-coming professional gamblers from North America? Drinking a James Boags, heating t.v dinners in the oven, and jumping off of the roof into the 9ft swimming pool are there idea of fun; the glamour comes second, and any sort of decadence is circumstantial, not necessarily sought.

Regardless, they have managed to rent a house that some backpackers (Jessie and I) would give an arm and a leg to stay in. Fortunately we've been able to keep all of our limbs.

Aside from letting us crash in their house. They also paid for my visit to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. At first sight, the Sanctuary seems a bit of a joke, meaning a small tourist trap where you pay big bucks to see lorikeets (extremely common bird in Australia) and white people dancing like Aborigines. However, train tracks, hidden from passersby, take you through to well-oriented displays of Australia's most famous creatures. You'll see that I took advantage of tamed roos, cornered cassowaries, and docile tree kangaroos.