Hello again (check us out with our rapid updating - sorry it's taken a while...is anyone even reading this?!)

So...next stop was Surfer's Paradise which we'd heard some mixed reviews about but in fact we really liked it. It's supposedly exactly like Miami (which neither of us have ever been to) - lots of high rise buildings provide the backdrop to the beach. There's lots of theme parks around the area to go to, so we chose Wet n' Wild. The name speaks for itself - it's a huge waterpark with lots of different types of water slides and rides.

After warming up on the fairly tame family rapids, we braved the Tornado. Pretty hard to describe, but it involved an almost vertical drop in a yellow dingy which then launched you into a giant bowl that you spin around in...our explanation is rubbish, but it was scary enough for us to be so traumatised by the first attempt that we just had to go on again to appreciate it! It was definitely worse going backwards down the slide...which we only realised when we'd experienced going forwards aswell (Sherm thought Alis was being a woos being scared the first time when she was backwards, only to realise the error in her judgement when she was sent spinning down on the second leg!). More rides followed and all contact lenses were retained despite our paranoia.

I (alissa) feel the need to mention a very special event that took place on our return to Surfers from the water park.....i've been schlapped in and out of EVERY shop that sells bikinis in Australia, and given that the east coast is renowned for its beaches and surfer lifestyle...there are MANY bikini shops! On this day...wednesday 1st April, sherm FINALLY succeeded in finding a new billabong bikini that she was happy enough with to buy and thus marked the end of our arduous search for the 'perfect' bikini.....shame the weather has since taken a turn for the worse and there doesn't seem to be too many more occasions in australia that she will get to wear it....!! amen to the bikini shopping!

Later that night we embarked on the 'backpackers big night out' with the rest of the girls in our dorm room, people from our hostel and 8 other hostels altogether (150 ppl?!). It was supposedly school disco themed, but our dorm room were pretty much the only ones dressed up - which meant we were recognised by all and made for a good night out, with 4 bars, free drinks in all, and free pizza along the way! There was no goon in sight, but this didn't stop me (debra) from having a little nap on a bar stool in bar no.3 to re-energise before hitting bar no.4 - alis has photo evidence of the snoozing event in question, much to my dismay.

The next morning we woke up to find it was absolutely chucking it down with rain, worse than anything in England - it didn't stop for 24 hours - and provided us with a nice leaking bus for our journey to Byron Bay...