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Published: March 19th 2007
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Ormeau
We were met at Ormeau station by Kim and Jenna (both ex-colleagues of Dave from Guys and St Thomas Hospital, London) who drove us to the lovely house they share with Mark and Angela. After fighting our way through the Brisbane rush hour we were tired, and so spent the evening chatting and drinking in true aussie style.
The next day, while the others worked, we decided to visit Wet 'n Wild water themepark. Arriving by quick train and bus journey it seemed like the perfect day for a waterpark... for rain doesn't matter when you are already wet! Thankfully the rain held off, except for one short shower in the afternoon. On our first ride we me Sam and Matt, a Perth based couple who were spending their honeymoon on the Gold Coast; and spent the rest of the day with them. The rides were pretty cool (a few too scary for Sam), and due to being a week day the park was quiet enough for us to do it all twice. Along with the kamikaze slide, the best rides included the Tornado, where in two seater rings you were sent down a steep slide into a
swirling cone (or 'dunny' as the train ticketmaster called it), which gave the impression that you were going to go upside down. However, by far the funniest moment was when we persuaded a larger couple to accompany the four of us on a six seater mega slide. With all the weight we cleared the side of the slide on more than one occasion, making for a truly hair raising ride; FAB! In usual backpacker fashion we opted to take photos of the official ride photos instead of paying for them, so apologies for the poor quality pic.
We spent Friday catching up on our blogs and beginning to plan the Asia leg of our trip. After being in the house all day we had developed a mild case of cabin fever by the time Kim returned from work, and jumped on her idea of heading out to
Surfers Paradise for dinner. A 30 minute drive brought us to the highly commercial 'paradise', with shops and bars aplenty. After a quick drink and brief walk through the night markets, we wandered the streets for the perfect restaurant, before settling on one back on the main street. Full from our great
steak dinners, we strolled around Surfers' before heading home for more beer.
On Saturday Kim and Jenna took us on a road trip up Tamborine Mountain. We stopped near the top to watch para- and hang-gliders take off Rotary Lookout, and watched them float above us like butterflies. After a fantastic fly-by by a daring hang-glider we travelled on to Eagle Heights. "Fudge... fudge!" cried Jenna, and so we stopped at Fudge Heaven for more than just a few samples, then headed over to Eagle Heights Hotel for a drink in the beer garden overlooking the Gold Coast. We then followed our rumbling bellies back down the mountain to Yatala and its famous pie restaurant... yummy! Mark had been away at a friend's for the last couple of days and returned home with a new sit-on lawnmower and 10 kilos of prawns. The main meal was some shish-kebabs done on the bbq (accompanied by the necessary beverages and prawns on the side), which was followed up by our Yatala apple and berry pie for dessert!
Not actually getting to play in the surf whilst staying on the Gold Coast is a crime punishable by death, so Sunday was
a designated beach day where we headed out to Burleigh Heads with Kim and Jenna with an eskie and a beach cricket set. After getting knackered very quickly jumping over and through powerful waves, we made our way back to the sand and Saz thought a nice quick way to get in would be to body surf. Unfortunately, Saz misjudged the wave that ended up crashing right on top of her and slammed her face into the sea-bed; upon surfacing, the shocked faces of onlookers made her realise that she needed to give her bikini top some attention as well as her poor bloodied nose. Double embarassment! After a clothing readjustment and a quick visit to a lifeguard for some tissues, we settled on relaxing in the sun for a little while before playing a 4 person attempt at beach cricket. Unfortunately some of Kim's friends were too hung-over to make it to the beach to flesh the game out, so it was really just a game of catch, though they did arrive when it came to drinking time at the surf club along with lunch! It was a quiet afternoon back home, where we both took a nap and
waited for Mark's lovely prawn dinner.
Byron Bay
Dave woke up at 5.30am on Monday to drop Mark off at the station for work, which enabled us to have his car to get to the station that afternoon for our Greyhound connection to Byron Bay.
Our first proper day on Tuesday was not a beach day, so we chatted to our dorm mates in the morning, then wandered about town for the afternoon to get a feel for the place and to check out 'The Beadshop'. There are a lot of bead shops over here in Australia and Saz is toying with the idea of maybe starting up a similar business when she gets home.
We stopped off for lunch at a lovely lookout spot watching one surfer kid catch wave after wave (much to the annoyance of those others around him struggling to catch just one!) before taking the scenic lighthouse walk up around the Byron Bay headland. After the requisite picture of us at Australia's most easterly point, we headed back to get ready for our night at Cheeky Monkey's. With our dorm mates in tow, we had a dirt cheap meal reminiscent of the Woolshed at Cairns and 'won' a jug of beer and 2 nights free accommodation for piling $5 in specific coin denominations into the hosts hand the quickest. Once the Coyote Ugly girls came out and started to get people to dance on the tables at just 9pm, we decided to head to another place where we were entitled to a free jam-jar cocktail, and then to the bottleshop to continue the festivities back at the hostel.
Wednesday proved to be a perfect day for the beach, and so after Dave had popped to the doctors to get a year's supply of malaria tablets (no use for both of us to pay to see a doctor!) we headed to Main Beach for a spot of sunbathing and snorkelling around 'the Wreck'. Having had enough of the sun by mid-afternoon, Dave indulged Saz by taking her to see 'Music & Lyrics' at the cinema, a great chic-flick film with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore that even Dave would admit was funny in parts! Following a slightly disappointing hostel BBQ, we went back to the beach at night to watch the stars and the sweep of the lighthouse's beacon scanning the horizon. The perfect end to a lovely stay in Byron!
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amyjamey
non-member comment
oh guys!!
darn it! i wish i was there to show you around also! would have been another side for sure- northern nsw is beautiful! next time eh? london same ol'- except for that freak snow sortm outside at moment!! dont hurry back! glad you having a ball xxxxx