What Am I Even Doing Here? - The Gold Coast, Australia

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So flying out of Sydney I arrived in The Gold Coast about 80km south of Brisbane. I made my way out the doors and hopped onto the local bus for the final 20km or so to the city of Surfer's Paradise. Now what I had in my mind - palm fringed beaches, hippie/surfer vibe, and laid back style of life ala my favorite surf village Itacare, Brazil- and what was reality were two different things. Showing up into town I had basically arrived into Miami Beach. Glitz, glamour, and sky high prices to match the sky high luxury apartments lining the beach. To make matters worse, every amateur rugby player in the country had converged onto The Gold Coast for an end of the season blowout. I was surrounded by 18-20 year old meatheads. Umm...check please.

Clearly I need to do a little more research and think things through before I just hop on a plane and a bus to go to some spot I saw on a map. However that is a lot of the fun. You win some, you lose some. It is quite liberating to just throw my bag on my shoulder and "go" as it were. To be fair, the beach was quite nice and if thumping nightclubs, drunken youth, and Prada stores are your thing then this place is for you, it's just not for me. I made arrangements to get out of town the next day.

Hopping on the local bus for a transfer to the train ($AUD12) I felt I got a good deal for the first time in this country. Sad when I feel $12 for a 80Km journey is a deal. Anyhow I rolled into Brisbane looking to meet a friend of a friend. That fell through so I checked into what was probably the worst hostal of my journey so far. Instead of travelers the hostals here in Oz are basically filled with people who live in them and are working here or are trying to find work. This place was filthy and later in the night I was woken up by a drunken English guy and his drunken French girlfriend assaulting each other. Nice. Needless to say I checked out the next morning and made a beeline for Noosa about 100km up the coast. The one day I did spend around in Brisbane was nice enough and the city itself was quite nice, but just another city.

So leaving Brisbane I was able to get a train/bus ticket combination for $AUD28. The journey took six hours for what would have been an hour and a half drive had I had my own wheels. The reason for the amount of time was that I had to wait and hour for the train to arrive in Brisbane. The train ride itself was two hours, then I had to wait at the bus depot for an hour and a half for the bus to pick me up for the hour and a half ride into Noosa where I currently reside. This is what travel is. A lot of walking and a lot of standing around doing nothing waiting for something. Now at my destination I am staying with my friends Tom and Emma, a lovely British couple whom I met in Fiji. They have traveled the world together and are now working here in Oz saving a bit of money before returning home in February after 4 years on the road together. I'm happy to be able to spend some time with them again and happy to stay put in a spot for four days or so before flying onto Cairns.

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Photos

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This is all I travel with. 8 Months, so far, so good!