Gold Coast

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I caught a local bus to Coolangatta at the start of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast towns have now been amalgamted into Gold Coast City and there is a definate stratagy that the council is employing. There is huge development all the way up the coast from the NSW/Queensland border at Coolangatta through Surfer's Paradise and up to Brisbane.

I thought that now I had arrived at the glitzy Gold Coast I should get a tan. Unfortunatley I really hurt myself and I was out of action for a while. So I spent a lot of time inside wathcing the tennis. Coolangatta wa OK and the headland which marks the sate border is very nice and the surf is really good - they are holding a pro competition there at the end of february. Omce I could move again, and after I had learnt my lesson about the intensity of the Australian sun, I haeded to Trekkers: a great hostel in Southport just outside Surfer's Paradise. Everyone was very nice there and I had a good night out with all the backpackers in Surfer's. The town is iconic but there is no character to it; you can buy any cheesy souvenir you can think of but there is no substance to the town.

I caught the train to Brissy (as the locals call it) and stayed conviniently close to the transit centre (we all know what that means). To be fair it was OK and I bumped into Bily who Tom and I had met in Coofs Harbour so it was nice to meet a familiar face. I spent a pleasent evening in the bar chatting with Billy. I did not see too much of the town but I was impressed by the street art sculptures of Kangaroos. I bumped into Ka Fung (a candian girl had met in Southport) on the second day and spent a nice evening with her.

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