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The next stop on our journey was one which we 'umm'd and are'd' about alot before finally deciding to visit, Surfers Paradise. We were unsure on whether to stop off here or not as we had heard that it was very tacky and somewhere you just went to go and get drunk until the early hours of the morning. After our 2 near enough sleepless nights in Brisbane this was something neither of us fancied. However, with plenty of time left in Australia we decided we would go and check it out for ourselves if only to break up our journey and potentially stay for one night.
After arriving and deciding which hostel to stay at, a free courtsey limo (it was not as fancy as it sounds!) picked us up from the bus station. When we arrived we found out that the hostel had an offer on if you stayed for three nights. The hostel itself looked pretty quiet and was made up of self contained flats with 8 people per flat, we risked it and commited to three nights.
It was late afternoon by the time we had checked into our room, a four person dorm room which was off a communal open plan kitchen and lounge, complete with sofa's and a TV. It was a nice little set up, it almost felt like a break from huge hostels. We needed some food and wanted to familiarise ourselves with the place.
A 10 minute walk into town and we found both town and the beach. The perfect sand and turqouise sea was pretty similar to all the other imaculate beaches we had visited but this was different as instead of a quite costal road and palm trees lining the beach, it was high rise buildings, office and apartments. This is probably what some people hate about Surfers Paradise but this is one thing which actually made it interesting to us, unique in its own way. People had also told us to expect 'Blackpool', now we have both been to Blackpool and we actually both enjoyed it (not that we wanted to find it in Aus) but Surfers Paradise was far from it, there was not a donkey in site.
After a quiet night and some much needed sleep in a noiseless apartment (apart from the man in the bunk under me sleep talking) we awoke to a beautiful sunny day so we did the standard drill and checked out the beach. Being half way round the world, I decided it would be rude not to have a swim in the famous Surfers Paradise waves. You could see where they got the name from as the waves were pretty big and (I would imagine) would be decent for surfing. Just before I left Belle lapping up the sun on the beach there had been a warning of some 'Marine Stingers' being washed up from the surf, this wasn't going to stop me though and I wadded out. The current was really quite strong and there was a danger of 'rip tides' so you have to swim fairly close to beach anyway. I say swim, you get battered and chucked around by the current and the waves, but it was fun none the less. Sufficiently pummelled I returned to the beach to dry off. It was only now that the back drop of high rise, snazzy apartments became annoying, as the sun started to drop behind them leaving a big shadows across the beach. On this note we decided to go for a stroll round town before heading back for dinner and another quiet evening.
On our third and final day at Surfers we were unsure what to do with our day. It again was a beautiful day, which made the decision on what to do even harder. There are several theme parks around Surfers Paradise but they are around $80 per person, not including a bus there and back, there was also the oppotunity to go whale watching, again around $80 per person, we decided against both of these and opted for a cheaper alternative, crazy golf. 18 holes of crazy golf followed by an ice cream was much better than whales and roller coasters. I say this in all honesty as well, as one of our room mates had been to all the theme parks around Surfers and his in depth review of them went something along these line "it was alright". As for the whales there would be more opportunities to see them, if not in Aus, then in New Zealand.
That evening we headed down to the sea front again this time for the night markets. These were ok, no where near as good as the ones in Asia (you can't beat them) but better than the ones in Cairns. Either way it got us out of the hostel for the evening, if only for an hour or so.
So that was it, we arrived in Surfers Paradise expecting donkeys, trams and the Pepsi Max but we didn't find any of these. What we found was a nice beach with a different backdrop, a quiet hostel and three relaxed days on the gold coast. Yes there was some 'tat' about and in some parts you could see where the tacky reputation came from, there are also places where you can drink until the small hours of the morning, but this is not all that is on offer. I think it is fair to say we did exactly the opposite of what everyone else goes to Surfers Paradise for, but it great and we are definitely glad we gambled on it.
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