Well we have been in 'Surfers Paradise' since Thursday evening after arriving on the Greyhound bus from 'Byron Bay'. We are only staying for a few days, leaving on Sunday lunchtime. 'Surfers Paradise' is our first stop in Queensland. It is fair to say that of all the "Gold Coast" areas it is the most built up. It is a cross between Benidorm and Blackpool - very touristy with a lot of high rise buildings!! Neeley and I have called it "the highrise paradise!". The beach runs for miles and miles, and has beautiful white sand. The water is clear but at the moment the waves are massive - Neeley and Anne-Marie saw some people get saved by lifeguards yesterday. The weather has been quite windy so there is a great deal of swirl and strong rips. The beaches are not all that busy as it it now heading into Australian autumn and it is not as nice - damn it!! Yesterday (Friday) I mad the bold choice to have my hair cut, and at the moment I either dislike it or really dislike it - she took too much off the bottom!!! Boo!! Last night we headed out of the main area and went to meet my friend Adam - who we met in Bali - in "Palm Beach". He lives in a nicer area as it is away from the main tourist and backpacker bits - with there brash lighting and highrise condos. We just met up with him and his brother Simon and his mate Mark and had a few beers at Simon's house! It was great house with a huge Aussie style balcony and garden, a really relaxing evening! We have spent Saturday just wandering round the central area and tonight are planning to go out on a bar/club crawl along the main strip. We had a goone of wine in the dorm before heading out. We then went to the "Sports Bar" and a very posh bar - where I had a "Apple Surprise" cocktail (very sour but nice!) and then moved onto "Shooters" nightclub. Annie managed to persuade them to give us free entry as we were poor backpackers (technically true) and so we ducked out of the $10 cover charge!! It was based on a Wild West style and so had stuffed animal heads on the walls, barrels as tables and proper saloon doors! Neeley and I stayed until 3am (the music turned rubbish) and then went to "Melbas" sports bar to watch the Manchester United game - what a disappointment!! We left Annie with a guy that she had met there! Today (Sunday) we all left Surfers Paradise, Anne-Marie and Neeley met Neeley's aunt and went to 'Helensdale' and I got on the lunchtime coach to Brisbane.