The greyhound trip was short and sweet to Surfers taking about an hour, I got my laptop out and wrote my Brisbane blog and before I knew it I was there. Tom and Jeeves were already there and checked into our hostel. Tom met me at the bus stop and warned me of the walk we had to our hostel. I didn't expect the forty minute walk that followed. We were so far out of town we were in a new town called Southport.

The hostel looked a bit of a dive, Jeeves wasn't happy with it especially as we had a smashed window in our room. But for some reason I found it quite homely. The staff was nice and friendly and I suppose inside reminded me of the Crown Hotel where I spent four and a half glorious months doing my regional work. We were all pretty hungry so decided to go out and get something to eat, it was pretty late though so the only thing we could find was a kebab shop. We ate our kebabs and then retired back to the hostel for an early night as we planned to go to a theme park the next day.

We woke up the next day and we brought ourselves a three park theme park pass for SeaWorld, Movie World and Wet N Wild. The pass cost $110 but we could go to the three parks as many times as we liked until July 2013. It was a bit of a bargain because if you purchased all three separately it would cost over $150. We decided to go to SeaWorld first. Tom and I were like big kids. We went on the two rollercoasters. I particularly liked the Jet Ski ride. I was a bit disappointed as the log flume was closed. They were renovating the ride for a new improved ride coming out next year. At SeaWorld you could also have an interactive experience with some of the animals. I was really close to doing the forty minute tour in the penguin enclosure where I would get to stroke a penguin, have my photo took with a penguin and learn a little more about the penguin species but the $100 price tag on the experience ultimately put me off doing it. We watched some shows my highlights were the Dolphin show, Jet Ski show and sea lion show. Visited Dinosaur Island and looked at some animals including polar bears and sharks. We also had a blast on the water cannons firing water at people on the boats who were also firing water cannons back at us. Like I said we were like big kids! We walked home and got something to eat. We chilled out that night watching a couple of movies and falling to sleep.

The next day we were still like big kids when we visited Movie World. We had our photo took with so many different characters ranging from Bugs Bunny to Marilyn Monroe to Batman. I could be here all day listing them but I don't think it would make for a good blog so you will have to wait for the photos. Movie World also had several roller coasters. We started off with a log flume, about the only ride Jeeves would go on. We got pretty wet and had fun, but it's no secret I love a good log flume. We thought we would try the kid's roller-coaster next, hoping Jeeves would come on but he was having none of it. The ride was a bit cramped for me and Tom at the back and my meat and two veg took a bit of a hit when the woman pulled the bar down. So the ride didn't get of too the greatest of starts but it wasn't that bad. We had been recommended the Superman ride but the rid wasn't working. Eventually though they got it up and running and we weren't disappointed when we got in. Jeeves again bottled it and was left holding our stuff. I had sympathy for him though. I remember times when I was properly scared of rollercoasters. People don't seem to let me forget the climb up the Pepsi Max roller-coaster in Blackpool or crying in Paul Frith's lap on the pirate's ship. However, times have changed and I'm all for them now to a certain extent. The Superman ride was excellent a mixture of Rita and the Corkscrew at Alton Towers. Another ride at Movie World was the Green Lantern. This didn't seem the safest of rides only being held in by a small bar. The ride wasn't the fastest but was made with its unexpected twists, turns and loops. The only disappointment for us was not being able to get on the Batman Rollercoaster as Thunder and Lightning stopped play at the end of the day. It looked a bit like the nemesis and we got told you go upside down no fewer than five times. We had a pass so we could go back so I was confident I would experience the ride at some point. Movie World like SeaWorld also had a host of shows we watched. These included the Stunt Car Show which was excellent, a Wild Wild West show which was Average at best. There was also a Batman show which was pretty good although it was cheesy, which also sums up the Scooby Doo show. It was fair to say we had had another brilliant day. We went back to the hostel, got something to eat and celebrated the day with a few cheeky goons. I say a few, Tom maybe had a few more than the rest of us losing at the drinking games and he got very drunk and emotional.

The next day was time for Wet N Wild. I was looking forward to this one. It's no secret I love a good water park and this one didn't disappoint. Jeeves also shocked us by going on all the slides too. The highlight of the park for me was the drop slide. This saw you stand in a little pod and then the floor opens up beneath you and then you slide around a loop at rapid pace. We also went on the tallest water slides in Australia a rapid steep slide. The kamikaze was also good fun as was the Tornado ride. The only downside of the day was the amount of Schoolies and kids there which meant queuing for the rides was outrageous. We got on everything once, but it would have been nice to do a few of the slides a few more times. Unfortunately because of the queue's we weren't able to manage this. We still had a great day. Jeeves even declared it his best in Australia. It was Jeeves last day with us before heading to Sydney for a night to see his Uncle and then flying home so we decided to have a big night out. We started off with a few drinking games as usual drinking with a German girl and the American receptionist at our hostel. We then made our way into Surfers to meet Alex and Anna. They had also made the trip from Brisbane to Surfers a few days after us. They obviously couldn't get enough of us charming English blokes. We ended up in an Irish bar called Waxy's where we had a good night out. Until Jeeves lost his head and was trying to pick fights. I decided to get him out of there as I didn't want any trouble and if I got involved it would probably end up in me being deported home which I didn't want yet. We walked the streets trying to find somewhere else to go but there was nothing so we ended up settling for a Hungry Jacks and a taxi ride home.

The next day we woke up a little worse for wear. We checked out and played a few rounds of s***head before Jeeves had to get his bus. It soon came and we gave Jeeves a Man Hug (something he doesn't really like) and he was on his way. Me and Tom were back as twosome. It was weird. We changed hostels that day moving into a hostel called Sleeping Inn. It was very nice and the rooms reminded me of uni halls. They were two four bed dorms which opened up into your own personal kitchen and living room. The hostel also had free Wi-Fi and saving cards for McDonalds, Subway and Nando's. We chilled out during the day trying to catch up on sleep we lost the night before. We then joined the hostel barbeque and had a few cheeky beers. Drinking games were trying to be organised by an Irish guy who worked at the hostel but that turned into a farce. I think they needed me running the show. We made our way to a club called Vanity where we got free entry and a free drink. We only stayed for the free drink. It was rubbish. Cramped and full of idiots, so we decided to go to an Irish bar called Fiddlers where one of our friends would be from our time at the Crown would be there. Fiddlers was a good night, they had a decent band on and we met our friend Caitlin briefly before we decided to leave. We walked back talking to a few random people on the way.

The next morning I had to change rooms. So I got up, checked out and waited for Tom to wake up and my new room to be ready. Eventually Tom awoke at Noon and we constructed a plan for the day. Firstly we would feast on the backpacker's finest delicacy Beef two minute noodles. Then we would have a few cheeky games of s***head with a beer or two whilst I finished copying movies to my hard drive from the hostels hard drive and then we would book tickets to two more theme parks Dreamworld and White Water World. When we booked the tickets we got another attraction included, going up to the observation deck of sky point. This was ideal for something to do this afternoon. But first we had something else to do. We decided to test ourselves against each other at King Tuts Put Put Crazy Golf. The course had three different 18 hole courses an Indoor Egyptian themed course, an indoor dinosaur themed course and an outdoor course. Of course we decided to do all three. We started on the Egyptian course, where I struggled to find my feet. Tom was acting all professional and I thought my travelling undefeated streak at Mini Golf was coming crashing to an end, but somewhere along the way Tom bottled it and allowed me to sneak a victory by one shot. The dinosaur course was our next venture. We both started pretty evenly before I lost my head with a few bad shots. It looked like I might get back into the game when I had a huge slice of luck with a fan assisted put, but the next few holes let me down and I ultimately lost the round by four shots. The highlight of this course was the penultimate hole which delivered something unforeseen. We had to play the ball down to a dinosaurs mouth and then up a little steep ramp into the hole. Sounds easy right? Not as easy as you might think. The hole was made out of a plastic pipe and was sticking out on the green. So when I missed the first shot to pot, my ball nestled nicely on top of the hole meaning I would have to waste another shot down the ramp. Eventually I potted the ball on the 7th attempt. Tom was up next and did exactly the same, and I was glad I wasn't the only one to suffer this annoying fate. It meant we were left up to a decider on the outside course. Tom got off to a bad start when on the third hole he managed to chip his ball off of the course and into the nearby water feature. He never really recovered and I ended up taking the course by 2 shots. Meaning my unbeaten run at mini golf was still intact. Tom however disagreed, he is claiming the win by adding up all of the scores for all three courses meaning he would take the victory by one shot. Of course I was having none of this and claimed my victory, but the main thing was we had a great time and I would recommend the crazy golf course to anyone it semt to have everything apart from the classic windmill holes.

We trekked back to the hostel where I moved rooms and got a shower and then we headed out to the observation deck at sky point. It was ok and full of good views, but there wasn't much to do once we were up there. The drinks were overpriced so we took a few photos and headed back down and to our hostel where we would join the backpacker's big night out bar crawl. We started off in our hostel with several drinking games, ring of fire and f*** the dealer and before long the bus was here to pick us up. We went to pick some people up from another hostel and then the bus dropped us off five minutes' walk away from our hostel. It would have literally been quicker for us to walk to the place than get the bus. The first pub on the agenda was Melbas. It was dead. It was like Rumours in Innisfail but with fancier toilets. We got talking with some Irish guys from our hostel and had a few drinks. Just as things were getting going the call was made to go somewhere else, we went in a bar which we had to go up some stairs, that's all I can identify this bar with as I never found out its name. We got out free drink and then had a chat with some people who were in our last hostel. We then got talking to a Swedish girl called Elin and her gay friend Timmy. I impressed Elin with my already acquired Swedish speaking skills Alex and Anna had taught me, apparently when I say 7 in Swedish it sounds really funny. I also tried to learn a few more words and phrases to impress Alex and Anna but unfortunately due to either being a bad student or more than likely too much alcohol I forgotten everything I learnt. Anyway we were soon off to the final destination of the pub crawl. A club called Sin City. It was rubbish. Small, over cramped and just generally not that great, so we had our free drink and left. We tried to get in Waxy's but I wasn't allowed entry for being too drunk. I should point out that I wasn't at all drunk, yeah tipsy maybe but nothing bad it's just the bouncers over here are really strict. I was flabbergasted. It was the first time in my 28 years I had been refused entry for allegedly being too drunk but I got over it and we went to Fiddlers where I watched a bit of the Man City vs. Everton game before retiring for the night with a Cheese & Bacon Pie from Pie Face.

The next morning we were up early to go Dreamworld with the Swedes. Anna and Alex not the two we met the night before. It's fair to say and I don't think she will mind me saying either that Alex wasn't that comfortable with the big rides. But unlike Jeeves she soldiered on and went on. Our first major ride was called Buzz Saw. It was epic despite Alex's squeals in my ear. Then again I'm pretty sure I gave as good as I got on the squealing. The ride involved us going up 90 degrees and then twisting and turning upside down before being fired down the other side, to go up 90 degrees again and then continuing going back and forth for a while. If you don't get it just Google it, I've tried to explain the best I can. The next ride we went on was called the Big Drop and if you haven't worked it out already it involved a big drop. We went up vertically 119 meters. They left us there waiting, teasing us, before being dropped at rapid speed towards the floor before coming to a halt just before the floor. The ride wasn't good for the morning after the night before. It was then time for my favourite the log flume! We went on the rapids earlier and didn't get too wet but the log flume didn't disappoint me wetting my front from head to toe. We then went to the cinema to see Robin Hood 3D. Yes folks Robin Hood! The same guy I always mention when I say I am from the Nottingham area. I was excited. Unfortunately the 3d show was a massive disappointment. Robin Hood was an idiot with bad jokes. Maid Marion just squealed and there was no sign of Sherwood Forest, Little John, Friar Tuck or Will Scarlet. I'd lost my head but carried on and we went on a Moto GP ride.it was ok but lacked any real white knuckle adrenalin rush. We then made our way to Tiger kingdom where as you may expect we saw a few Tigers. We then made our way through Shrek's area of the theme park where we went on the Gingerbread man's roller-coaster even though it was for kids. It didn't offer much to us and in the photo of the ride it looked like I was asleep. I probably was to be honest. Me and Tom then acted like big kids again in Madagascar's Mad Jungle Jam. Firing soft balls from air compressed guns at kids. I'm not sure what the Swedes thought to that. When we finally came out Anna suggested going on a ride called The Claw. I did everything to suggest something else, another ride, food, anything I knew I wouldn't appreciate the ride. The ride swung you from side to sign while the circle spun around. It was too much like a pirate ship for me and I've already told you about my bad time on one of those. I however, was convinced to go on. Anna put up the good point that Alex had been soldiering on even though she didn't really want to ride on some of the rides. So I had no choice but to ride it. I hated it. But at least I gave the others a laugh with my faces and squeals. I came off thinking I was going to be sick. I wasn't though. The next ride saw me get a bit of revenge. Anna and Alex didn't really want to go on Shockwave but I insisted they did because of the trauma I had been through on the last one. The ride involved going back and forth along a bumpy track while being spun around. It's fair to say Anna didn't really like it and came off wanting to be sick. At least she knew how I felt after the last ride. I thought I could cheer them up though by meeting the Madagascar characters. For some strange reason they had never seen the film so Tom and I were once again left looking like big kids getting photos. Tom even danced gangnam style with Alex the Lion and the Meerkat. We decided to get some ridiculously overpriced food before going to see the Shrek characters. Again The Swedes weren't too interested in meeting Shrek, Fiona and Puss in Boots but me and Tom loved it, until I realised there was no going to be no donkey! I was not a happy chappy. Donkey is a great character and they should have had him there. But I moved on and our next stop was a roller-coaster called Cyclone which looked more impressive than it actually was. We ended the day with a spot of laser tag which was good fun even though I was rubbish and then headed back on the bus. That night we decided to chill out. The Swedes came over to our hostel and we played some cards. They taught us new games called The Sign, Cucumber and a Swedish version of s***head and we taught them the English version of s***head and Cheat. It was a good night.

The next morning we woke up and headed out to White Water World. We had a blast there going on another drop slide, this was different to the one at Wet N Wild it was faster, but it didn't have a loop. There was also an interesting ride called the hydro-coaster. The ride didn't have any white knuckle thrills but the rides technology amazed me as it used water cannons to send you up hill. You ended up going faster uphill than downhill at some points. There was also a Funnel ride the same as at Wet N Wild. There was a Big Octopus racing slide which was a good laugh and a ride called The RIP where you sat in a donut and was sent down a slide into a bowl where you whizzed around before dropping out into a pool. There were also two smaller rides of this kind called the little rippers. To complete the slides at this park were Broken Heads, The Cut Snake and Extreme Right Hand; these slides were a lot steadier and didn't have too much thrill involved. The water park was pretty subdued so we managed to do all the slides at least twice, some even more than twice. We decided after a while to move on and go back to Dreamworld to finish any bits what we missed the previous day. We stated things off with the Log Flume before going on the rapids three times because there was no queue. We then went and had a tour around the Australian Big Brother house, Tom wasn't too impressed by this but it brought me back to my youth when I loved the programme and really wanted to go on the show. Our next stop was a ride called the Tower of Terror II, this ride shot you off backwards at exhilarating speed through a tunnel before you rise 90 degrees around 70 meters, gravity then takes over as you drop to the floor and back through the tunnel. I ended the day by having my photo took with the Kung-Fu Panda. We headed back to the hostel where we made dinner. We told the Swedes we would make them a Sunday roast. It was a reasonable success. Nothing like my Mum and Dads masterpieces or apparently Tom's Grandma's but we were pretty happy with the dish. Well apart from Tom's Yorkshire puddings, he thought you would be able to use pancake mix but all that we got was little pancake cakes. Luckily the rest was a success but we didn't quite get the reaction we craved from The Swedes. 7 out of 10 from Alex which was ok, but 5 out of 10 from Anna. Outrageous. They promised us desert earlier in the day but came to our hostel with nothing. Well they weren't completely empty handed; they thought it was our last night in Surfers so had bought us each a present. They had got us both t-shirts. Tom's said Anna and Alex like this because of Tom's constant need for Facebook likes and comments. Whereas mine said Bajsa Pa Min Potta!!!, which means s*** on my potty or something like that, I'm not sure how it really came about but it ended up being a kind of joke between me and the Swedes. I und out a few nights late that they had actually hand made these two, well they didn't stitch them but they wrote the writing on. They did such a good job I thought they were printed! I appreciated the effort and felt a bit guilty that I never got them anything. We were still disappointed though that we didn't get dessert so after some whinging and complaining from Tom and me they finally relented and made us some Sticky Cake with cream. I gave them 3 out of 10 because Anna gave us a 5, but to be perfectly honest it was really good and more like 8 out of 10. But ssssshh don't tell the Swedes. We continued the night with a few drinking games and card games.

The next day I woke up in a pool of my own sweat. It was so hot during the night and we had no fan or air con in our room. I got up and did some Christmas shopping online for the family. I'd go into more details but I don't want to spoil the surprise. I then got a text from a lad I met in Magnetic Island and Mission Beach. He and his Girlfriend were heading to Surfers for the day and asked if we wanted to join them for a drink. I thought it would just be for a steady drink but 5 pints later I made the fatal mistake of telling Brett to surprise me with what drink I wanted. He came back with four tequilas and a glass of white wine for me which was then tipped in my beer. This wasn't good for a man who had only ate two slices of toast all day and a bit of left over sticky cake. Brett and Laura headed back to Brisbane and I ended up being a drunken mess around Woolworths offering everyone hugs. We were in Woolworths because I had a brain wave. We had let over potatoes and carrots from the roast we made so I thought we could make a shepherd's pie. I was still seething over the 5 out of 10 so I asked the Swedes to join us too so I could improve on the 5. I sobered up slightly and we pulled out another remarkable success Alex gave the meal a very good 8.5 out of 10 while Anna went for 7. I was happy. We also gave tasters to some ladies I our room from Crawley and Norfolk who gave it a strong 9 out 10. That night we did the usual and played some card games.

The next day we were up early to check out. We would move on to Byron Bay this night but first we wanted to go to Superbee Honey Factory for something a bit different. I booked my ticket on the greyhound for the late bus thinking we would be visiting some kind of bee zoo and we would be there hours and Tom booked his bus for four confident it wouldn't take long. I was confident he would miss the bus. We got the bus to Carrumba where the Honey Factory was located and entered. It was nothing what expected it was just a shop! A shop that sold a lot of honey. We tried the tasters. I tried them all even though I am not a great fan of honey and I'm still not a great fan of honey. And then we signed up to the show that was happening at 2. We didn't know what to expect from the show but it turned out to be really good. We got to find out a lot about bees such as the males are lazy and do nothing apart from wait to get laid with a queen bee, but when they do they lose their manhood. And the bloke bees don't even have a stinger! What a raw deal for the bloke bees at least they get the women to do all the work. It was over in forty minutes and it seemed Tom had made the right choice and made his bus comfortably. So for the rest of the day I moosed about on the internet and around the hostel until my bus came for the next adventure of the east coast. Byron Bay.

So until then Take Care and Stay Safe

Adi

xx