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Katie's Travels
Arrived in Surfers Paradise after an hour and half drive from Byron. Checked in alongside Amanda to the Islander Backpackers Resort, in the heart of Surfers. We were in this cool little mini apartment type thing, with our own patio and gate, kitchen, bathroom, couch and tv and two 4 bed dorms. Set our bags down and then decided to go for a wee wander around. Amanda was quick to exclaim how similar Surfers was to Miami - just on a smaller scale and it has to be said, I no longer felt like I was in Australia. It had a real feel of Florida about it - which at first, I found rather unsettling and didn't really like. Decided instantly that I would no longer need to stay my planned 4 nights, but would shorten it to 3 and head to Brisbane a day earlier.
Anyway, we went outside and decided we were hungry. Tried the hotel restaurant first - 'Vegas in Paradise' (how cheesy!) but upon walking in the door, we were greeted by some geriatric birthday party on which we didn't want to intrude. So instead, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe as Amanda said she felt like a proper american style salad. Turns out she had been doing an internship in Sydney for the last 3 months although had been in Sydney 3 years earlier as well. She leaves in September to start a new job in advertising in Chicago.
Anyway, after dinner we stopped by the local SPAR - yes people, SPAR - the first one I've seen in the southern hemisphere! and bought some milk and fruit for the morning. We then went back to our pad and watched Lost (it's nearing the end so don't want to miss anything vital!). Decided there and then that the next day, we would just chill out and laze on the beach all day. Excellent!
Woke up to yet more torrential rain. And I mean torrential. Our patio had turned into a swimming pool, which we actually had to wade through to get out the gate! So our plans for lying on the beach all day soaking up the rays were now destroyed. Nor, could we really do anything else that involved being outside. So instead, we headed to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum round the corner, which was actually quite interesting and a good way to spend 2 hours undercover. Then we had some lunch at Muffin Break and headed back to watch some trashy american soap operas. At 3pm, Amanda left for the airport to catch her flight back to Sydney. All the normal shuttle transport had been booked up, so she had no choice but to book a big white stretch limo - was hilarious to see!
I continued to watch tv all day, while it carried on pouring outside :-(
Next day, it was back to normal (ie. glorious sunshine and a balmy 25 degrees!). I headed off early and caught the bus out to Dreamworld - one of the Gold Coast's 4 theme parks. Spent a lovely, relaxing day cuddling koalas, feeding kangaroos, riding river rapids and suffering heart failure on the Cyclone - tallest roller coaster in the souther hemisphere and The Giant Drop - tallest (120m) free fall in the World!
Next day, I got up early and checked out. Then nipped down to the beach again to take some photos of Surfers in the sunshine. Then headed back to the bus station nearby and caught my bus to my next port of call.... Brisbane!
All in all, Surfers Paradise is pretty much what I had expected of the Gold Coast. I also managed to spend a hell of a lot of money here without even trying, so came to the conclusion that it's really a place to come to with plenty of dosh in hand!
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