Cave dweller

Weird place for a  ferris wheel! Surfers' Paradise, Gold Coast

So, on the weekend I returned from the Gold Coast after being there for 6 days.
It turns out this wasn't really a "travelling experience" after all...I stayed with a girlfriend down there, about an hour and a half's drive away from home, while I completed a Body Piercing training course.
I packed the camera and other tourist-y type items, that never even saw the light of day! At the end of each day I was so exhausted, there was no socializing in me :(
It was rather difficult the first day, some people were completing just the infection control portion of the course, expanding the class size from the expected 4 people, to 8! I kept to myself at lunch break, it was all a bit too much.
Once that day was over, the class dropped to a manageable 5 including myself, that felt better already. With the course being conducted on a very quiet part of the coast, there wasn't a great deal to do during breaks, but we all eventually ended up together and I was able to come out of myself a bit.
Not having studied for over half of my life, it wasn't easy trying to absorb information, times of over-stimulation messed with my head, a few times I retreated into a quiet corner to try to concentrate while everyone else was talking.
I found it quite difficult turning up every day...whether it as the anxiety, or just wanting to hang out with a girlfriend, I usually cannot do much of anything on many consecutive days. Since being home again, I've been able to retreat into myself, my own thoughts, get away from the outside world a bit.
But now I must also prepare for another 6 day trip...this time to Adelaide, leaving early Sunday morning.
Another city I've never visited, but I'm no as apprehensive about it as I was with the huge city of Sydney.
I'll be hanging out with another girlfriend, my old babysitter actually, quite a distance from the CBD. I'm arriving on a long weekend, so it will bring a great balance of time spent, with time alone when she is at work each day, with some couch surfing and meeting facebook friends along the way ;)
I hope to visit the Adelaide Zoo and the Adelaide Gaol as well.
Well, off to make my lists and let the anxiety/excitement build!