We managed to dodge the rain on the way to the bus stop in Byron, which is lucky because in the few minutes it will rain, it really rains and there's no escape! It did this on and off over the next few days in the Gold Coast, so while we had some sunny moments, we didn't really get a beach day or amazing weather. Nevertheless, we still got to experience some of the Gold Coast and finally also cross into Queensland! The hostel we'd chosen was quite far away from the main area of Surfer's Paradise, but it was in a pretty area next to the marina, so on the first afternoon we spent time exploring the marina and deciding which yachts we could buy! All while avoiding the intermittent downpours, of course.

The next day we got the shuttle bus into Surfer's Paradise, which was nice to finally see but sadly a bit underwhelming. Perhaps because we'd already seen stunning beaches both on the west coast and in NSW, we thought the long stretch of beach not particularly that special and it was just a bit odd to have it right next to the high rises of the city! That's not to say it's not nice, I'm sure if that's the first place we visited and it was on a sunnier day, we would have loved it! But our standard for beaches had been set too high by WA by then, so there it is! We walked back along the sea front as much we could, as it was massive stretch of sand. The rest of our day was disturbed by the rain, but at night we went into Surfer’s Paradise to have a drink with Mallu, our friend from Albany, and her boyfriend Josh. It was really nice to be shown around the area by people who lived there, so we saw some things we missed by ourselves and even got a photo under the famous Surfer’s Paradise sign! Luckily by the evening it was also warm and not rainy so it was a great night.

The next morning we got the shuttle bus to the Greyhound, but received a text on the way to say our bus was going to be at least 2 hours late! When we arrived at the terminal, this had been pushed to 3 hours! Luckily, after about an hour, we were all placed on a rival bus company on the way to Brisbane, as the Greyhound driver had become ill en route and it was going to be hours! We made good time into Brisbane though and arrived only half an hour later than we were due to anyway.

Highlights: Drinks at night, and the iconic Surfer’s sign, walking around the marina

Accomodation: Surfer’s Paradise YHA (not really in the centre of Surfer’s)