Blogs from Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 3

When we had our second surf lesson, at 11.30 pm we had a challenge to wait for the perfect wave and then stay at the board all the way into the beach. So I paddled out and was waiting for the perfect wave, just as our teacher told us to do. Somehow I am got into a strong current that pulled me away from the beach. When I noticed what was going on it was already too late. I started to panic when I saw my friends at the beach as small dots in the distance. I remember the first day when Mark told us the rules and quickly pulled my hand up in the air, as he told us to do if we were in danger. I pushed my minds of what possibly could be ... read more

On the 19th June we left Byron Bay and drove up the coast towards Surfer’s Paradise, where we had booked a one bedroom apartment for 13 nights at ‘The Shore Apartments’, a high rise building (as a lot of the buildings are in the Gold Coast), right opposite the ocean. However, as the drive was only just over an hour (crossing the barrier from New South Wales into Queensland!), we decided that we would make the most of the day and spend the day at Dreamworld theme park! We arrived just before the park opened and got into the short queue that had formed. Our tickets that we had bought and printed out were scanned and we were told to later go to the pass centre to pick up our passes with our photos on them. ... read more

After much anticipation we arrived in Byron Bay. Byron was a place we were all looking particularly forward to but unfortunately Cyclone Oswald hit there and we were stuck inside for days! Initially we were meant to camp in our tent but we were given a site underneath a large tree. Having decided this was just a tad precarious we booked into a cabin in the hope we wouldn't drown or get hit by falling trees. A decision well made as the following morning we had a look at our allocated site and the said tree had toppled over! We all counted our blessings that morning! Byron wasnt even hit as bad as some other places but we experienced black outs, flooding and debris all over the roads. The supermarkets even lost power and had to ... read more

Et nous voilà arrivés dans la ville du surf ! SURFERS PARADISE attention ! Ville prisée par la fête, les gros building et les australiens blindés, bodybuildés et tatoués. Pas le top du top de l’Australie mais un super moyen de trouver du travail de décembre à février (été). Appartement trouvé (Surfers plaza resort), on le partage à six.. méga économie dans cette ville où l'argent règne. Nouvel objectif : trouver un travail ! Un numéro de taxe ( TAX FILE NUMBER ) vous sera demandé pour bosser en Australie, ce dernier est à réclamer au gouvernement australien. C'est chose faite, on imprime les cv et on part postuler !! Coup de bol, un resto admiratif du travail français nous met à l'essai. Easy, le lendemain nous étions pris !! (Charlie's restaurant) Nous voilà donc serveur(se) ... read more

So off to Brisbane we went and Steve and Jenni said you should go to the South Bank as it is really nice. So off we pop with quite a few wrong turns even though we had the Sat Nav. Yes it was still my fault when we went wrong even though the Sat Nav Ozzie lady was telling Mike where to go - how does that work!!! Simple really, Mike says, you’ve got the pictures haha. So we get a pass for the Cat and take a 2 hour ride along the river as I always think you can see a lot of a city going on the river. Whilst on the river boat it started to get really chilly and windy well 25 degrees - I can tell you we sounded like moaning poms ... read more