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Published: April 7th 2009
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Surfers Paradise
We made it to the coast! After getting our cash for 2 weeks work on the farm, we were out of there and excited to be headed for the coast. Chris and Ferdy (aka Munich Boys) had the day off so we borrowed a car and all drove down to the Gold Coast. We stopped at a beach just south of Surfers Paradise for our first Australia beach experience and boy was it ever glorious! The sand was bright white and very fine and the waves were pretty big for such a nice summer day. Despite only being a half hour drive from the farm, the coast is a lot milder. It's about 5 degrees cooler during the day and in the evening there's a nice breeze that comes off the water.
We stayed at the beach playing in the waves for a few hours before deciding to head into Surfers to look for food and accommodation. We found a hostel, dropped off our gear and then headed for a pub to fuel up on nachos. After lunch we walked up the main boulevard and peeked into the expensive shops and real estate showrooms. It's amazing how built up Surfers is with massive condo buildings that
Surfers Paradise
mmmm, delicious backpacker breakfast of diced bacon. are empty for most of the year. That night we said goodbye to the Munich Boys as they had to go back to the farm. We did promise to meet up sometime in our future travels though.
We decided to spend 2 nights in Surfers before heading up the coast as the following day was Australia Day. We got up early and had one thing on our mind ... the beach. The people here are absolutely crazy when it comes to their national day. Aussie flags come out everywhere and people paint their faces in patriotic colours while spending the entire day playing footy or cricket and getting smashed. To celebrate the day, we bought ourselves Australia flag beach towels and sat at the beach the whole day watching the mayhem unfold. That night we seemed to be the only ones not partying as our budget is now pretty tight, but we did walk around the city to watch the drunken happy mood change to a drunken riotous mood as all the families went home and the night clubs opened up.
The next day we were headed north to Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast to check out a hostel where we were offered jobs. We arrived in the afternoon and were immediately impressed with the place. It has a nice pool, free surfboards, small dorm rooms and plenty of planned activities to enjoy. Plus it's only a 5 minute walk to the beach and a 2 minute walk to the river. After only one night here we've decided that this is where we're going to settle down for a few months. Jay has a cleaning job doing 3 days a week for free accommodation and I have a night security job where I work from 10pm-4am 5 days a week for accommodation plus some spending cash. With the cheap meal deals they have here at the hostel we can basically live for free now without seeing our funds slowly disappear day by day like when we're travelling. We're also hoping to find part-time jobs in the town for some extra cash as well.
Finally we can lay back and enjoy the true Australian lifestyle. The biggest daily decision we need to make now is whether to swim in the ocean or the pool.
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