The best thing about Australia is...

....The McDonalds 50 cent soft serve cones!

My breakfast this morning...seriously.

Okay, so of course that's not the BEST thing about Australia, but I have to say that it's a pretty awesome thing. What I need to explain to you, though, is this:

In Australia, nothing costs a dollar. And I mean nothing. You know how in the states cans of soda cost a dollar? Chips are 99 cents. A dollar goes a long way... but not in Australia. Here, soda costs 2 or 3 dollars. Bottles of water are 3 or 4. You know how theres a dollar menu at McDonalds? Yeah, that doesn't exist here; not even close. Movies are 15-18 dollars. Not to mention alcohol- a bottle of vodka at home I can buy for $15- but in Australia I get the same thing for $40. No joke. A 24 pack of beer is about $40-50 depending on what it is. And no, the conversion rate does nothing. Right now, the USD to AUD is about .90 to 1.

So when I found out about soft serve ice cream for 50 cents, I was exceedingly happy. All I had to do was take out one of the Aussie 50 cent pieces, and pay. Easy and simple, and the result is something delicious, creamy and tasty. McDonalds here, also, isn't a shithole like it is back in the US. Here they have McCafes, which have basically kicked Starbucks out of the market. Starbucks barely exists here.

Anyway, after I had my 50 cent cone at McDonalds, I was in a super great mood, and went to wait for my friends in front of the Library called the State Library of Victoria. There is a beautiful grassy lawn where people sunbathe in the day and smoke cigarettes... so I went and lay down in the grass and made sure I was away from any smokers. It was a gorgeous day out and I relaxed for about an hour.

State Library of Victoria

View from the Library of Swanston Street

Once my friends arrived, we hopped on the tram and headed to St. Kilda's beach, which takes about 20-30 minutes to get to. It's a nice beach, for a local beach, and I read my book (Super Freakeconomics, I know- I'm a loser). It was super relaxing, and I got a nice little "tan" and a little burn. Right near St. Kilda's beach there is a little amusement park called "Luna Park" and the entrance to it scares me and is pretty cool at the same time, so I decided to take a photo...

Luna Park

All in all it was a great day. Tomorrow I am going on an all day tour along the Great Ocean Road. I am super excited... and will definitely be updating soon...