Day 33: XXXX Brewery

With another thesis day ahead, I slept in until 7:30 trying to fight off becoming sick, which has been in the background the past two days or so. With DayQuil, Mucinex D, and Vitamin C in hand, I was ready to call the Brisbane City Council, then grind.

With the buses being city-run, the City Council has a lost property department where items are turned in by workers or good Samaritans, filed, and held for collection. Workers recover these items and document condition, contents, name, color, or any unique identifier down in their database. When individuals like myself call (sounding like their puppy has just died), they search keywords, names, etc. to try and locate the items another worker logged. Sounds easy enough: except for the fact that my surname and other combinations hadn't worked so well yesterday and seemed to turn up nothing again today. As I spoke to the super friendly lady on the other end of the phone, I seemed to be out of luck yet again (or so I thought) as she said "well, it's been two days, at this point the chances seem to be pretty slim, might want to cancel those cards." Then she said "well, let me try a couple of other combinations, what is your first name and middle name?" As my hope drifted away and my hopeful spirit washed away, this angel says "ahh I think I may have something! It seems someone has logged Nicholas Anthony as your name instead of using your surname, it seems we have it!" I could have seriously kissed this stranger, possibly married her. Wow.

Something as simple as losing a wallet has been such a slap in the face, and one that I needed. Not only did someone turn in my wallet: they (and all the workers who touched it) left all my cards, identification, and A$120 cash. I have a strong feeling some awesome guy above had a hand in that. To top it off, before we departed for a brewery tour Troy, Jack, and I saw the most amazing thing. We were relaxing at the rooftop pool, gazing at the city and talking about this trip and life when out of nowhere: an older construction worker came running into the scene, tapped a random lady on the shoulder, and returned her wallet that she had dropped. My exact situation had just played out in front of me within a matter of 5 seconds, and we were so blown away by the bold sight. This man is someone who could've easily taken the money, possibly needed it, and would've most likely been judged as someone who would steal it. Yet he didn't take it, just as someone did for me. This trip is reaffirming over and over again that this world is inherently good, and I have quickly gained a deep appreciation and respect for Australians and their beautiful country. I had several friends and colleagues offer money or anything I needed to get through the rest of the trip, and just went out of their way to cheer me up and make my struggle as minimal as possible.

As if this highlight wasn't enough, we went to the XXXX Brewery, which has been in business since 1924. Their XXXX Gold Lager is the most popular beer in Australia, so seeing how it was made was exciting. Our tour guide was cheerful, and convinced several in our group to eat a piece of hops. I knew this was a terrible mistake; however, Troy and Mike did not. Their faces were priceless, as the bitter taste is one that lingers for hours. We completed the tour having tried the beers they offered, and used $5 vouchers to purchase merchandise. I picked a $5 poster, and Tyler gave me his voucher which I put towards a pair of $10 grilling tongs. Today was a monumental success, and I wouldn't have it any other way. God is good, and cold beer is a close second.