We woke up early today so we could make the most of the beach and sunbathe! So without wasting anytime we had our breakfast, packed our bags and checked out by 10pm and went straight over. The sky was cloudier this morning which made it feel a bit chilly but it was still pretty good for winter weather! I walked over towards the waves to test the temperature, it was cold! So we didn't bother getting in. By 11:45am Chris was bored so he went back to have a shower while I soaked up every ray I could for the next fifteen minutes, then we had a healthy fruit and yogurt lunch and were out by 1pm. 

We got into town an hour early so we could change our Fraser Island tour date. It wasn't until we booked the grey hound bus ticket the other day that we realised we would arrive into Hervey Bay too late to make it for the tour briefing. Luckily it was no problem to change it, there's no way we wanted to leave Surfers Paradise a day earlier after already paying for the apartment. 

The bus left at 2pm and only took an hour and twenty minutes, it wasn't busy so we were able to stretch out. The driver was a bit strange, he introduced himself over his mike and told us every detail of the journey which was fine, but then he went on about the leavers down the sides of the chairs and how to make ourselves comfy as if we were all retards! Oh well at least he was friendly lol. 

When we arrived into Surfers Paradise we went to the information desk to find out where we were staying. We had a bad feeling it was going to be miles away and we would have to pay for a taxi but to our surprise it was only a five minute walk around the corner, although it felt a lot further with our heavy bags on our backs, for some reason mine felt heavier than usual! I have to admit I did moan a lot and Chris's reply was "Stop buying more clothes then!"

The travel agent in Tribal Travel described Surfers as a bit of a dump, but from what we had seen so far it looked really nice! The streets were very clean, we walked past a big shopping mall and a few designer shops and there was plenty of stylish bars and restaurants lining the streets. Plus a lot of the sky scraping hotels towering above us were big expensive names like Hilton and Grosvenor!

When we found where we were staying we were confused to find the doors were locked and nobody was in reception. Chris pressed the buzzer and spoke to a woman who gave us a code to the safe to collect our keys and opened the doors for us. We were a bit worried when we opened the safe and there were no keys inside! I went back and spoke to the woman again, then she got someone to come and meet us with our keys to our apartment! Chris thought they were lazy, they literally lived on site and only had to open a connecting door to reception to give us our keys! 

We walked out of the reception and through the pool area. It looked quite nice except the pool had a glass barrier around it. Chris thinks it's there to stop young children falling in. Apparently Australia has the highest rate for children drowning in swimming pools. There was also a jacuzzi but that was empty. When we walked into our apartment we were amazed at how lovely it was! The guy that gave us our keys said the apartment had been damaged by a fire so it had just been refurbished. We had a nice bedroom with a double bed, a really nice bathroom and a utility room with a washing machine and tumble dryer. The kitchen was really nice too and we also had a dining table. The living area came with leather sofas and a huge plasma tv at least 40 inches, and finally we had a spacious balcony to sit out on with a view of the pool and fancy hotels. We couldn't believe the difference £5 made, it would have cost £38 to stay in a dorm at a hostel sharing a room with strangers but this only cost us £43 a night, it was well worth the extra £5 and we will probably save that by having a washing machine and dryer! We are both really excited about staying here. It's defiantly the best accommodation we have stayed in since we have been away. 

We both laid down on a leather sofa each and chilled out for a bit watching tv. I tidied all our stuff away and put the clothes into the wardrobe and draws, Chris couldn't be bothered!! After a while we went to the supermarket to get food for the next few days, we only spent $30 and that was enough for 8 meals each plus some juice and milk. We put all the shopping away then spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching tv in our gorgeous temporary home.

Charlotte & Chris