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Yo yo peeps, how's it going?
So with all the excitement of the Christmas and New Year festivities celebrated, Carly and I decided that we really needed a holiday to try and recover and give our livers some serious detoxing....well, that was the plan....
We headed off up the East Coast in Queensland to Surfers Paradise and then down to Byron Bay for 5 days. It was also our last little trip travelling together before Carly comes home to see you all in a couple of weeks - my word hasn't the time flown by!!!
Friday 4th January (the evening we left) was a very strange and emotional day for both of us. Firstly I had to say goodbye to my lovely friend Laura who has been such a wicked friend to me during my time in Sydney as she was heading to Thailand before going back home to blighty in a few weeks. I went to the airport with her and after a very tearful farewell I came back home to pack for our weekend away (miss you so much already babes!). Three of the guys that lived in the apartment below us were also leaving Sydney the next day to start their travelling along the East Coast, so before we left for the airport, we had our last dinner altogether in the local Italian place and then went to our local for our last drink. When it was time to say goodbye, Carly and I were sobbing (I know they wanted to shed a tear or two as well, but they managed to be real men and keep it together, ha ha!!) It was only goodbye for a couple of days afterall as we were meeting them in Byron Bay...
The weather had been shocking in Queensland all over Christmas and New year, they even had floods so you can imagine how much us sun babes were panicking about there being a severe lack of sun! As we landed on the Gold Coast they announced that we nearly had to be diverted to Brisbane as the weather was so bad. Thankfully we didn't and we arrived at our hostel later that night going to bed praying for the sun to come out.
The next morning, we got our wish, we woke up to a scorcher of a day and we headed straight for the beach where we pretty much stayed all day. On the way back, we could resist going into a few shops and making a few purchases before heading back to the hostel to get our glad rags on for a night on the town - yes I know we were detoxing but we were on holiday! Surfer's Paradise reminds me of Spain, it's the place everyone goes for their holidays and it is full of high rise buildings. It was a Saturday night and all the bars were full of people on bar crawls...very 18-30's! We decided to go to The Hard Rock Cafe for dinner as we heard they had a live band playing plus they had a good cocktail list! We had a really nice meal, washed down with some cocktails and then felt completely stuffed! The live band wasn't exactly 'upbeat' playing very depressing songs which wasn't really getting us in the mood to party so we left and went to a couple of bars.
The next day, was pretty much the same as the first, lying on the beach sunning ourselves, then shopping as it did start raining! In the evening we went for dinner and a few drinks.
On Monday morning, we got on a bus and headed just over an hour south to Byron Bay. Thankfully we took the good weather with us too. Byron Bay is gorgeous, the complete opposite from Surfer's and from the moment we arrived I loved it. After dropping our bags off at our hotel (yes we went up market and treated ourselves to stay in a nice hotel), we headed to the beach to meet the guys. We found them and they had hired boogie boards so we all had a laugh catching some waves (nearly lost my bikini a few times too as the waves were so strong). We spent the rest of the day sunbathing and relaxing.
In the evening, the guys came over to our place and we got stuck into some serious drinking of wine and goon,with the music blaring before we headed out. We went straight to Cheeky Monkey's, a well known backpacker bar. It was brilliant. They had this competition to win various prizes where members of the audience had to take various items of clothing off and give it to the contestants. When they requested a bra, Carly whipped her's off before I even realised she had done it, as part of the game she then had to give the audience a quick flash! She says it's cos it was strapless that she got it off so quickly, yeah yeah!!! ha ha, only joking babes, it was very funny. After that the whole place turns into a dance floor and everyone dances on the tables and on the stage. Me, Sean and Shane must have spent hours dancing, the music was so good, proper cheesy tunes and it was such a laugh. Not really sure what time we all crawled home to bed but it was probably one of the best nights out I've had since travelling!
The next day, we all took it pretty easy, not really doing much. The weather was cloudy so we watched some DVDs. It brightened up in the afternoon so we got to wander around the town a little more. That evening the guys were heading off up to Surfer's so we went out for dinner and then had to say goodbye again! This time was even sadder as we knew we wouldn't be seeing them again. Yep, Carly and I sobbed and again they managed to hold it together but I reckon they might have shed a tear after they left! Carly and I went for some drinks and then headed home.
Our last day in Byron was spent mainly shopping plus we also went to the gorgeous jewellery shop where you make everything yourself. We both got creative, I made a necklace and Carly made a bracelet.
After that, it was then time to leave and head to the airport, back 'home' to Sydney. It's strange as Sydney really does feel like home now. As we landed and then arrived back at our apartment, the other guys were there to meet us and we did feel like we were home!!! Don't worry parents, we are both still coming back though!!!
So that was mine and Carly's last bit of travelling together, sniff sniff!! We'll be back again soon to share our last few weeks here before Carly comes home and I head up the East Coast of Queensland. Until then......
Lots of love
Claire and Carly xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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