saturday 5th- mardi gras! the bus journey was a tad different to what we expected...the bus was called the magic bus and broke down several times before we left byron bay-it took some magic to get us there in one piece! after a s***ty drive up there we were greeted by some interesting sights, but hey it's mardi gras. we got some cookies from the cookie monster (dont worry family mine only cost 50c so i doubt it was real!)and had a few beers listening to a band called the spliffmasters! pretty much just sat around, eat food and enjoyed the atmosphere! there was a museum which was basically a meetin ground for ppl sellin all types of stuff- the general mantra was "weed, pills, coke...whatever u want i'll get it for you!!" we decided not to test that promise!

 sunday 6th- bus towards surfers paradise, we all left in drabs cos the canadians had to get the greyhound north. and we ran into victoria and naivasha in the transit centre, persuaded them to stay another few days and went back to the hostel. in the eve we went out for a few drinks, which turned into an organised bar crawl round the bars...4 hrs later and $100 we all crashed into our hostel and chilled till the small hours.

monday 7th- not much really, potted about, sunbathed and then gave victoria a bday cake and again chilled in the hostel. this one was ok, but cos it had a licensed bar it was pretty hard to get any wine in, we didnt try but we couldnt be arsed with the hassle tbh.

tuesday 8th-said goodbyes to katy, victoria and naivasha and then went up the Q1 the world's largest residental block, there were so awesome views both north and south along the gold coast. acc to the signs you could see some many miles but i think it was all lies! by the by thou it was designed upon the olympic flame and sydney opera house..and danny i think u would have liked it! again sunbathed and pissed about in the sea- i could live here and just kick back...maybe a nice holiday home or emigrate. oh and i managed to mangle my toe playin basketball shoeless so it's pretty hard to walk now- doh!

weds 9th-with the heavy night of drinking planned for a 4pm start i was conversative and sorted s*** out and (surprise, surprise) sat by the pool! rocked up to the hard rock for 4, forgot passport so had to get back...returned to free food and free booze and a boozy nite followed! had fun, not as much as sunday but hey ho. also in the final bar there was a beauty contest which managed to keep the guys entertained for the maj of the nite. went home and after a few hrs was greeted by the canadians coming in covered in blood, after being in a fight but they won so its ok! missed the utd game cos i was knackered and couldnt face the walk into town (2 miles) but after reading the report i think i made the right choice.