This morning I chill at the hostel until I leave to catch the bus to Surfers Paradise. I watch some euroean football highlights in the movie room with Adam and the Czech guy. Even then I nearly fall asleep. Something about that room. I think it's just the heat and the fact that I'm watching tv makes me feel drowsy. I get Jules and Adams names so I can add them on Facebook as there could be a possibility of meeting up with them again on our travels in Australia. The bus journey takes a little over an hour. There are short spells of rain occasionally but by the time we reach Surfers Paradise it's sunny. As its midday and sunny, it is really hot carrying my stuff whilst looking for the hostel. It takes about 40 minutes to find. It's a pain not being able to use the maps function on the iPhone. One of the first things I notice are the birds. Winged birds. I see a couple of parrots in a tree making a heck of a noise. I think they're parrots anyway. Bright green coloured. There's the constant sound of exotic bird noises everywhere. The hostel looks a bit shabby but it's the cheapest. There's a few peeps around sunbathing and listening to music. I'm in a dorm with 4 bunk beds in, so 7 other peeps. I dump my stuff on my bed and head straight for the beach. I look for a shop that sells sun cream lotion but even that takes a while to find. Almost every shop is a 'bottle shop', selling just alcohol. This is definitely a bit of a party town. I see a massive bird with wings shaped like a bat. But surely its not a bat. Its too big. I notice the tallest building is called skyview and you can go to the top. I'll check that out tomorrow. I also pass a burger parlour that sells kangaroo burgers and crocodile burgers. I'll have me one of them tomorrow too! Right now I just want to get to the beach. It's easy to find. The beach here is several miles long. Dotted with lifeguard posts and red and yellow flags all the way up it. It's beautiful. I want to go for swim but can't really leave my bag so just settle for walking up the beach in the sea. It's a lovely temperature. Come 6pm most of the beach is in shadow from the high rise buildings. I make my way back to the hostel, stopping off in various shops on the way. All surfy shops in these here parts. When I get back to the hostel I'm invited to watch a film with a few of the other people staying. There's 4 from Hertfordshire, a Vietnamese, a German and a chunky lesbian couple. The film is probably the worst type of film for me to watch though. It's about a bloke who gets done over by a woman who goes off and marries someone else leaving him heartbroken. Great. I've started to get munched on by some sort of small winged blood sucking thing in the last couple of days. I've got a few bites in various places. There's 2 Australian girls here who are living in hostels to save money. They are from Melbourne but now living and working in Surfers Paradise. They invite me out with them for a couple of drinks so I head out and sample the gold coast nightlife. On the way I see that massive bat thing again and the girls confirm it is in fact a bat. It's absolutely huge! I'm not overly impressed with the nightlife. A couple of the more relaxed bars are really nice but a couple of the places we went to just aren't my kind of thing. Cheesy commercial music and lots of pretentious people looking as glamorous as possible. If your not wearing Armani or Gucci clothing or look like you have spent half an hour on shaping your hair or spent most if your life in a gym then you probably don't get accepted. One barman whom the girls know shows us a Polish bottle of vodka thats 95% alcohol. We each dip our fingers in the shot he pours of it. It burns the finger. Surely nobody could possibly enjoy drinking the stuff. There's a bum competition in one of the bars. Women parading up and down a stage in bikinis then eventually a winner gets announced. She wins $500 cash. I figure that if any girl is going to get mugged and raped tonight in this town, it's going to be her. The girls I'm with enjoy the show more than I do. The highlight of the night was the chicken and cheese toastie I gobble up on the way home. I'm in bed at 1:30am.