Surfer's Paradise - 18th Feb to 21st Feb

Surfers Paradise is a well known city along the sunshine coast as it is a major surfing spot in Australia and has a sky line that overlooks the beach. As we rolled in late on the 18th we had our complete trip there planned. The first evening we took a stroll along the beach watching the wave's crash in and the sun set behind the city, it felt like being in the CBD of London just with clean air and a beach to relax on. The next day we awoke early to get to our first theme park of the trip, 'Movie World.' The sun was beaming down and the streets were packed. To get to the theme park we had to catch a bus at the water's edge, although so did 200 other people. One common thing we have noticed about most nationalities is that they have not mastered the art of queuing like the Brits have, 'sorry but its true'. So the first challenge was getting there, as each bus rolled in it was like the scene from the Lion King, a stampede of people raging to the door of the bus, madness. Eventually around three buses later we got on, thankfully, and we were on our way, or so we thought. About 15 minutes into the journey a strange smell flowed through the bus, a smell of trouble, and before we knew it there was a bang and the bus ground to a halt right on the main intersection. With over 90 people on board it was a slight concern that we the driver could not get the doors open as the bus had filled with a warm haze. After a little while another bus pulled up, empty on return to the unit, and we were saved. The doors by this time had been forced open, 'good old German couple, no messing' and on this occasion we would get to our destination.

As we arrived memories of Paris came flooding back, the sickness bug. 'Wimp' is what Rachel described me as but I showed her. We took off on the Batman space launch and then got soaked on a log flume before watching Shrek in 4D, however the worst ride was still to come, Lethal Weapon. There is a hint in the name really and we should have paid attention as although we the queue for the ride itself was long the ride itself seemed to be over in about 60 seconds. Once strapped in we started the climb up to the top, then… hell, that is all I can describe it as - upside down 5 times and round and round, yuk. As we came off, and this is no exaggeration here or a Mossy, but I could not walk in a straight line and my face was green, the concern on Rachel's face soon turned to fits of laughter although the feeling going through my head was somewhat different. As I recovered and Rachel calmed down we spent the rest of the day searching round the theme park for more 'Steven friendly' rides although taking a film down the Log Shoot was fun and dangerous with the water. As the day drew to a close, we were shattered and a storm had rolled in with rain soon belting down but luckily we were on the bus heading back to Surfer's.

On our last day in Surfer's, part two of our theme park fun was only just getting started, this time it was 'Wet n Wild'. The name says it all and personally I found it much more enjoyable as the rides there were similar to any water park, other than a giant surf board that rolls from one vertical position to the other and a huge bowl that you drop into on a rubber ring that sits on a slant which was probably the best one there for the speed and elevation that you get when you enter the bowl. As the gates opened we were the 4th ones in, big kids I know but it's just such fun at water parks and we did not want to wait a second. During the day we hardly stopped except for lunch and only then for about 10 minutes. We had met a couple of lads in the park who we had gone around with us and this helped for the bigger rides as more of us could go at once. But, as the afternoon drew in the days heat triggered yet another storm, this one with far more lightening and before we knew it the whole park shut down. The rain came down at an incredible rate and we had to wait outside for the bus. After 40 minutes of waiting the best part of 200 people were freezing cold, soaked through to the bone, the warm tropical rain of Queensland was for the first time dearly missed. When we arrived back to the hostel we dried off and waited for the rain to stop. When it did we wandered outside to cook ourselves a BBQ of Kanga Bangers, the leanest meat there is and quite tasty, those poor Kangaroos.

The next morning we left early as our bus to Byron Way was literally at the crack of dawn so we had little choice. After two days of theme parks the energy levels were low so heading to the Hippy capital of Australia was probably the most chilled out thing we could do.