Blogs from Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

We stayed at a hostel called Surf 'n Sun in Surfers Paradise. It wasn't the greatest hostel but every night they would have a club that we could get free entry to and a free drink. There was not much to do in the day except go to the beach it is definitely more of a party place, plus it rained most of the time so couldn't actually go to the beach haha. On our first night we went to a club called sin city which was really cool and cheap! On our last day Brittany and Jen the Canadian girls who we met in Byron met us at Surf n Sun so we went out with them and their room mates that night. We really didn't like our room mates in this place there were ... read more

Noosa, Brisbane and Surfer's Paradise. Noosa was amazing, we went to Fraser Island and swam in a freshwater lake (MacKenzie). Today we drove through Brisbane and I had the most amazing sushi for lunch with mango and pineapple tea - yum! Unfortunately Marie left the tour there, so now I'm just hanging out with the tour guide and the driver most of the time! Now I'm at a hotel in Surfer's Paradise which charges loads of money to use the internet, hence the super short sentences! Tomorrow I'm spending the morning here and then at 2:30pm we're driving down to Byron Bay and the day after that I'm going hand gliding! Eep! I'm so excited, skydiving is a step too far but hand gliding sounds just lovely. Gotta run! Love you!... read more

Hi guys! this is my first blog in a long long time! Im pretty sure i havent sat infront of this blog screen since.....New Zealand. Of course I was busy working in Sydney where as Andy was just sat about most of the time. For a couple of sentences from me on that; I loved Sydney I worked in a great bar and made some amazing friends, It really gave me the feeling I was living in Sydney and not just traveling through. More importantly friends have been made that should last the test of time! Sooo I believe Andy has caught the blog up to the point of leaving Sydney and starting our East coast travels. Andy and Alex left two days before me and started their greyhound bus adventure visiting; Newcastle, Coffs Harbour and ... read more

21.1.12 Had an hour on the beach before it started raining. We had a walk around the shops, bought some sunglasses for me as Sophie sat on my other ones. There was lots of shops and malls that Sophie could have walked around all day but we had to head back to meet Gaz Little as he had come down from Brisbane for the Big Day Out. We met him and decided to go segway racing. We thought it would be loads of fun but turned up and they were so slow and had to keep your distance from the next driver! We decided to leave it and go on a ride called the Vominator. It was one of those rides that spun you round and round really high up in the air. We then headed ... read more

18.1.12 Bus to Surfers Paradise, our first impresions were totally different to that of Byron Bay. There was high risers for a start, which was a shock. It was like a small city. The hostel was nice but as we were staying for 5 nights we got put into the workers dorms. It was right on the beach and there was a small pool aswell. There was a backpackers night out organised which we decided to go on. It was $30 and you got entry to 4 bars and a free drink. We had a good night and got to know a lot of people in the hostel. We decided that the spirits were watered down as we were near enough sober on the walk home. 19.1.12 Hooray its sunny! We took full advantage of this ... read more

Christmas in Oz I arrive in Surfers paradise on the 21st to discover that the hostel is having a pub crawl (result!). I pay my thirty dollars and receive a beach towel, wrist band and a ticket for the raffle. If you win the raffle you get your thirty dollars back. I try and convince the person running the raffle that he wants to pull my ticket out. Subconsciously it must of worked as mine is the first name read out, I slide up to the bar and receive my thirty dollars. Five minutes later one of the employees of the hostel (pronounced hostelll here) comes round asking if anybody wants to earn twenty dollars an hour moving furniture. I tell him I'm in, maybe surfers paradise is my kind of place. The night out is ... read more

Today we were going to check out a theme park. You know, I've said before you can take the girl out of the theme park company but you can't take the company out of the girl? Well here on the Gold Coast you've got a selection of theme parks to tickle your taste buds. From water parks to Warner Bros movie world, you've got something for everyone. Today was meant to be the day I got to try them out. You'll have got the hint from that sentence that all didn't go to plan. Correct. The weather let me down in terms of attendance at the water park(s). Cloudy and windy. Not good. I'd heard Dreamworld looked tired and outdated. Less good. So Warner Bros world it would need to be. Except....$80...each...for the day. The equivalent ... read more

What better way to spend a mid-December day than walking the full length of the beach from Mariners to Surfers, into a headwind but in broad sunshine? Emma's idea and it was brilliant - took us about 40 minutes but the views were beautiful - stunning waves crashing onto the shore as families enjoyed paddling and the seriously keen surfers and kite surfers showed off their talents in the deeper water. Once at Surfers, it all came flooding back - this place is full of high rise apartment and hotel blocks, all with gorgeous views of the ocean, but it's really like Torremolinos, just in Australia. There's a hell of a lot of money kicking about, which might just set it apart from its Costa cousin, but in essence it's a big holiday resort. We kicked ... read more