"Bogus Duuudes"

So after a short 45min bus journey we arrived in Surfer's Paradise at around 15:00. For people who don't know, Surfer's Paradise was built to replica the high rise buildings and American beach side city life style of cities like Miami and LA. Surfer's is famous for two things - High rise modern tower blocks sprouting right on the sea front and gold bikini cladded 'meter maids' who feed expiring parking meters for surfers (Now more good-looking female travelers who need to earn a quick buck).

Luckily Nikki and I were two of three people on the bus staying at Surf and Sun Backpackers so the bus driver kindly dropped us off at the front door. Once we had checked into our room we headed out to explore. We were based 10min walk from the centre of town and only 2 hostels on the 30secs from the sea. We walked along the paved path parallel with the beach and sea into town to find a night market being set up and people starting to leave the beach. We had a wonder around the shops to get our bearings and then headed to Hard Rock Café for 50cent Chicken wings mid afternoon snack as we were both starting to get hungry. I love chicken wings and after we had devoured 20 we bumped into Debbie and Ben just down the road heading to the sea front. If you hadn't worked out by now, Debbie and Ben are travelling down the East coast a very similar pace as us, so we meet up in each place. They are basically doing our trip in reverse - Oz, NZ then US so we have helped them out about with travelling suggestions and places to go and stay. After a quick catch up, we grabbed a beer together and relaxed before the market started. Debbie and Ben wanted to cook dinner so we decided to meet up again later that evening in town and wondered back to our room the change.

Quickly evening came and we walked back into town through the market selling all different things - Jerky, wooden items, jewellery and even 'hold a snake / lizard' stand (only in OZ!) We then met Debbie and Ben for a few beers in a local bar and relax.

The next day we got up and headed to the beach. The best time to sun-bathe was in the morning as by early afternoon the sun hid behind the high rise buildings and cast shadows over the beach. The beach was stunning, beautiful clean sand with great waves to watch surfers and keep me entertained. Once the shadows started to make us cold we grabbed some lunch in town and wondered around the shops. In the evening, we cooked dinner at our hostel (Spag Bol) and invited ben and Debbie round to watch a film in our apartment lounge area. It was nice to relax in our own space not surrounded by other travellers or a busy bar. The evening passed after a couple of beers and before long we were heading to bed.

On our second full day we decided to top up our tans again and chill out on the beach. The wind had picked up a bit since the day before but it was still really hot and the beach. Again as the sun got behind the high buildings we headed back to hostel and showered before heading out for dinner. Again we decided on Hard Rock Café is it has good food and even better portion size. After food we headed back to the hostel to pack and relax.

From a very relaxed Surfer's Paradise with love

Nikki and Ben xx