Feeling in good health and spirits after a brief detox in Paros, we were all very excited at the prospect of staying at the much anticipated Far Out Beach Club on the island of Ios. The stay wasn't off to a smooth start, with the hostel not having our booking on their records. The result; a free upgrade to the hotel at the top of the hill with a perfect view looking down over Mylopotas Beach. This was only to last for one night so we figured we'd live the high life whilst we had the opportunity, spending the afternoon receiving drink and food service by the pool. After sinking numerous beers, Doug shot us a message from down in the camping ground to alert us that the weekly wet T-shirt competition was about to commence, and large crowds of people had gathered around the 'party' pool to watch the event unfold. A good showing that lasted a few hours with competitors from all different nationalities trying to out-do each other in their moment of fame on the stage, in an attempt to win over the judges and claim the 125 euro prize money; kinda desperate actually. This event kick-started a rather large pool party at the Far Out Beach Party that carried on into the night and we were very quickly realising why so many people had raved on about this place.

Whilst the wet T-shirt competition was a one-off, the majority of the drinking occasions only happened in the town of Ios, starting off from about midnight and ending in the early hours of the day. Most nights seemed to follow a similar routine and trend, whereby we'd start the night off with drinking games in the Far Out Bar, mixing with different groups of people for a game of 'this or that' and 'i've never ever' before moving into Astra Bar for cocktail and shots specials. From there it was your pick of the bars, depending on your type of music and perhaps how many drinks you had under the belt. Ranging from old school sing-along classics at Flames Bar, fire throwing party tricks at the Circus Bar and a card-matching game at Rehab, there was a fair range of options to suit everyone's interests. One bar, however, that we always found ourselves venturing to, no matter how much we'd swore on it each morning that we'd never return; was the world famous Slammer Bar. The special of the bar would be to purchase a fizzy slammer shot, which you would throw down before whacking on a bike helmet and waiting in suspense until the bartender 'slammed' you in the head with their choice of fire extinguisher, skateboard, crate, hammer or bat. I think the novelty of not being able to do this ever again in Australia with the stricter laws kept drawing us to this bar, but I tell you what, they definitely intensify the headache that comes with the following mornings hangover.

As the nights had such a late start & finish, the days in Ios were very low key, waking at noon for a couple of bacon, egg & tomato rolls before contemplating what to do. Most of the time it involved lying on the beach or by the pool reading or sleeping in hammocks, in order to re-energise for the night activities, as it seemed to be the main focus of Ios. One day, however, we decided to be a tad more adventurous and Joe, Doug & I booked into a kayaking tour. The tour left at midday and took us to the opposite side of the island where we jumped into kayaks and canoes and paddled around to a remote beach whereby we had the opportunity to swim, snorkel, sun-bake, skim stones and stomach a few sausage & salad sandwiches. After eating, the afternoon activities saw us kayak around to an underwater cave whereby we dove under a rock formation and popped up in a hidden lagoon. The view underwater as we swum back out underwater into the sea was called the 'Blue Wall' & was a piece of quite unbelievable scenery which Doug managed to capture on his GoPro. The final feature of the day involved climbing up the cliff face to do a jump into the deep waters of the Aegean Sea. The heights were 4m, 10m & 14m; with the majority of us taking the plunge from the 10m level. One poor British bloke that thought he'd take on the 14m overturned slightly in his jump and I can imagine he'd still have slap marks on his backside today. After that it was a tough kayak back around to the beach in strong headwinds which provided a good workout, and capped off a really fun day that was excellent value for money.

The final feature of Ios that provided good humour was the silly bets that were undertaken on the island, usually created by Joe & usually lost by Joe. We decided that whenever an argument was about to arise between any of us boys, a bet was made whereby you state your answer or argument, and a mutual silly punishment was to be carried out by the loser. The punishments that came of it involved Doug having to wear his jeans back the front for a night out, Jack doing 3 somersaults on a bars dance floor once cued, Louis wearing a purple grandma visor for a continuous 24-hours & Joe forcing himself to vomit in front of a packed crowd, as well as smearing an opened Gyros in his face without being able to explain himself; I think he can still feel the garlic sauce in his eye now.

So Ios, as an island, upheld its reputation and fulfilled our high expectations; with pretty laid back days, as seems to be the case of many of the Greek Isles, and many memorable stories from our 4 nights out. If there were a Trevy fountain-like feature in the pool at Far Out Beach Club, I can safely say all of us boys would throw a penny over our shoulder and into it, as we would definitely be returning here if we venture to Europe during the summer months again, or possibly even sussing out working there for a month over mid year school holidays next year. For now it's off to the final island of our 2-week Greek Isles holiday; the scenic sunset city of Santorini.