Blog : Surfers Paradise

We arrived into Surfers Paradise in a bit of a grog - i slept the hour and a bit bus journey so was obviously grumpy, it was absolutely s***ting it down with rain and the lady at the pick ups desk had never heard of our hostel, let alone could she possibly use her computer to google a number for us... We were tierd and grouchy and all needed to go for food...the girls found a subway and sorted themselves out but 'no-bread-livy' went for sushi (again!) instead... Although it was much more expensive than Brissy, 4 rolls for $10, phew!! They were nice though, i had tempura veg and chicken katsu... I am so looking forward to coming home and being part of the takeaway sushi club at 137 Estcourt road :) in finally ready! Although not the raw fish yet :/

So we had to walk in the rain to our hostel which wasnt that far away but with huge heavy bags and the pissing rain and flipflops we all struggled! I slipped on a wet tile as well and sent myself flying, which the girls assured me was hilarious from the back but really hurt! I landed on my hand and my hip and my clean harem pants got covered in s***... Slippery flipflops and heavy bags do not mix, although my backpacks definitely cushioned the fall!

We arrived at the hostel looking like drowned rats. The hostel was called Couple o days and wed booked that one as the cheapest, so we wernt expecting much but the name pretty much summed up the hostel, you wouldn't want to stay there more than a couple of days... We were in a twelve man dorm, but it was divided into three sort of rooms, with one of us in each, in the most rickety, squeaky beds ever! Mine felt like i was at sea, i was swaying so much on the too when the bloke below changed position!! So having dumped our bags we all got into bed for a quick cheeky nap, which ended up being close to four hours long!

We went for a walk around the town in the evening, having decided that none of us would be able to stand on our feet long enough to dance or possibly drink anything... It was good to scout out what the girls wore...virtually nothing apart from mahoosive high heals and the boys several cans of lynx each! We felt very old walking around, the average age was definitely close to 16, which was weird! And by about 10pm everyone was absolutely smashed...teenagers! We were looking for a cheap eat and the girls spotted nandoes, so we couldn't say no and ran in from the rain and ordered some chicken. They said it wasn't the same as english nandoes and i had spicy rice which just tasted like boil in the bag and they didn't have any halluomi on the menu - the best bit of nandoes! But it filled a hole and was only $10! We walked back in the rain and got into bed and passed out to dream land once again - man i was tierd !

We woke up late on Saturday morning and KV and i went for a walk to the supermarket to get some supplies for breakfast. We got a jumbo box of cereal, the brand we liked at Jacks house, as it was on offer and i also picked up a bit of fresh fruit as i was feeling a bit gross after s*** food and too much sleep! We took our goods back to the hostel, in the overcast and muggy weather and woke al up for breakfast. We then all got dressed and went to mooch around the centre of town and see the beach etc It was unfortunately very big standard town/city with lots of chainy shops and restaurants and high rise buildings. It was like any provincial town at home as B would say... It wasnt skanky as lots of people had warned us and the beach was relatively nice, but the people were just grim, bottom of the barrel... Its a place famous for all the school leavers final holidays and you could tell. A couple of people in our hostel had been living there and said they loved it there though, which i couldnt understand! We had a little nap on the cool shaped benches by the beach and chatted and then went to the supermarket again to get some lunch and dinner... I picked up an avocado and some rice cakes to have with marmite for lunch and some reduced steamable veg in a microwave bag for dinner.

We had lunch and then i sat and had a play on my phone, catching up on emails and looking at our timings around the rest of our trip. I went for a little barefoot run as well, along the river and down the beach as i was feeling really chubby and unhealthy so the run was nice, although it was pretty sweaty and I've now got a pretty blister on my big toe from running barefoot... Al went for a run as well but she wore her toms which were a good idea!

We got ready to go out and i was having one of those days where nothing looks nice and my hair just wouldn't do what i wanted so i put on my Christmas Day dress that id been saving... We had a couple of glasses of goon before we went out and then wandered into town. We went to the beer garden first which a couple of people had said was good and did live music... It was a gold coin donation to get in, which stuffed us up as neither al or I had any change! KV had to bail us both out! We walked in and it was so empty with a really terrible and crazy loud band. We just brought one drink before leaving! I had a gin, as they were only $7 (cheap in surfers!) but you couldn't have tonic, only soda water, so it was pretty rank! The girls got conned on their drinks as well because they were served free pour rum instead of something else and they paid through their teeth for it! Next we had a little wander and saw all the girls in tiny dresses and huge heals sprawled all over the pavements and literally someone tagging on every corner - disgusting! We saw a couple of club that various people had told us about but they all had $20 entry fees which when there was only $23 in my purse, wasn't going to allow me to have a good night! So we kept on walking down the strip and came to Club Liv and a super sleezy promo guys who have us free entry stamps, christ knows why! The club inside was quite busy but smelt like a*******. And we brought a drink, $25 teapot which we thought would be like a jug but we got given shot glasses and the smallest tea pot filled with ice - and i swear - just ice tea! No alcohol! We had a little dance but none of us were feeling it so we all headed home relatively early and hopped into bed, as we had an early start in the morning, an 8am bus to Byron bay.

In the morning, timings were tight and we had to dash over to the bus station after the key palava - we couldnt find the spare one and we were all blaming each other until i found it in my backpack! At least we got our $10 deposits back though! On the bus i was starting so i say with the coolbag under my seat and ate a Tupperware full of cereal with milk and a fork! Such a travelling tramp!!

Happy nearly christmas home and fingers crossed for me that the weather here on the Gold Coast gets better so that i can have a bbq Christmas Day!!