Spooky

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We arrived in Surfer's Paradise after a short bus trip from Byron Bay and were amazed to be picked up by a guy working at the hostel who used to live in the same road as Emma!

Despite the Gold Coast having a fairly bad reputation (it's Australia's largest domestic tourist destination) the place itself was fairly quiet this time of year and not half as bad as people make out. The beach is really amazing and the high rises are much better spaced out than in many comparable European over-developed resorts. Our rough guide (from a couple of years ago) said that they were planning to build the world's tallest residential building and from the size of one of the current towers going up it looks like the plan is going ahead. This thing looked incredible, although much more what you'd expect in New York or Singapore.

Anyhow, throwing ourselves fully into the holiday spirit we dined at Hard Rock Cafe and then set out the next day for Warner Bros. Movieworld studios and theme park. Five rides on the Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster, three on the Lethal Weapon ride, two tours around the Matrix sets and props exhibition (the films were filmed in Oz), the Police Academy stunt show as well as meeting Hollywood stars (well, people dressed up as Batman, Austin Powers and Yosemite Sam) all made for a fantastic day out - we nearly forgot we were backpacking the world on a budget!

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Photos

Lethal Weapon
Tim is in fifth car (foot sticking up)...Emma took this photo from the ground after chickening out of a third ride...