Surfers Paradise
Next stop for us is Surfers Paradise, we’ve only incorporated a 1 day visit into our itinerary as we have heard mixed reviews (with more than a few mentioning “Magaluf” and “Benidorm”) So we make sure we book an early greyhound bus so we have 1 full day there. Unfortunately, this happens to be the day we (or rather I) make our first blip with times.

On this occasion, I take full responsibility. On checking the itinerary many times, i am convinced that the bus is at 9.15am. So, we will get up at 7.30.....leave the hostel at 8.30 and be at the transit centre just before 9 – perfect.

So.....we get up at 7.30am...finish packing, depart at 8.30 and arrive at the transit centre at 8.50. One slight problem, the bus is at 8.15am!!!! Not sure how i managed to make such a mistake...we seek help at the greyhound desk and are lucky enough to go to the kind assistant for help (her colleague is just plain mean) She goes out of her way and half an hour later, has us both booked on the 10.30am bus! Hooray – disaster averted! On queuing to board the bus, we bump into a couple – Olly and Laura who were staying at the same hostel. They are a little confused as to why we left the hostel so early! After explaining our mix up, we’re able to laugh about it now and are pleased to hear they are also headed to Surfers Paradise for 1 night.

There isn’t really a great deal to say about Surfers Paradise. We walked to the main popular beach – Surfers Paradise Beach, which was very nice. It also offered great entertainment watching the hordes of lifeguards on duty (i use the term life guard very loosely, some of them looked about 13yrs old and spent most of their time gossiping rather than looking at the water!) In the evening we went in search of the infamous “Surfer Paradise” archway and began to see why the terms Magaluf and Benidorm are thrown around! There was the pleasant surprise of a rather impressive didgeridoo performance by an eldery Aboriginal man and a young chap singing his heart out – a nice bit of nostalgic Savage Garden. We eventually agree upon a small Irish pub for a quick drink and bump into none other than Olly and Laura! We have a great time chatting away on our thoughts about Surfers’, stories of travelling and life back home – we even have an impressive live music performance in the pub (not quite what we expected – more Santana/latino music than laid back rock) We establish that yet again, the next day we will be catching the same bus to our next destination....Byron Bay – the place of birthday celebrations!