We drove to Surfers paradise with the car full to the brim with all our stuff, leaving barely any room for us. We had surfboards, body boards, camping gear which we didn’t even need over the next 10 days, and then all of our backpacks.Arriving at the Santana apartment complex we were all so excited. Just to be able to sleep in a bed, watch TV and cook in a kitchen was a luxury. You take so much for granted, such as having a bath, keeping food in a fridge, or having electricity for that matter!
First things first we unpacked. It was so nice to be able to take my clothes out of my backpack for the first time and hang them in a wardrobe, another luxury (I’m so easily pleased)!
Next was food shopping. We did a massive shop, buying proper food, a nice change from eating out of tins when we were camping. I was so happy that I didn’t even feel the need to go anywhere. We had a pool and BBQ facilities at the complex and were only a short walk from the town centre and beaches.
To make a nice change, the weather was great. How far we’d come from being in a tent in the rain, and we were only an hour or so away. This was our holiday within a holiday!
During the day we pretty much just made the most of the weather and enjoyed the sunshine at the beach. Thankfully the sea was warmer here too. Surfers is like a big party town, and can be compared to Miami. It's a bit like Marmite (or Vegemite as i'm in Australia) you either love it or you hate it. It's considerably tacky, but the shoppnig is brilliant and the beaches are good enough. It is quite commercial, with Starbucks and McDonalds on every corner, but at the same time it has everything you need. I loved everything about it, like how at night the whole place lit up with neon lights and became nightlife central. And then during the day it was a chill-out zone with people walking around in swimmers heading for another day of surfing at the beach.
To me, there wasn't anything else you could ask for of a beachside resort. It was far from idyllic, and any form of class goes right out the window, but it's good fun!
It did rain occasionally, and then it’d be really humid afterwards. In fact sometimes it was so humid it would be unbearable.
One day we went to one of Queensland’s many tourist attractions, the Wet
‘n Wild waterpark. It was great fun, and beat the one we went to in Vietnam, ‘Vin Pearl Land’, hands down! I felt like I was a kid again, getting excited and nervous queuing up for all the rides. Unfortunately, early afternoon, it started to piss it down again. And, believe it or not, they closed the rides down....at a waterpark!! What a joke, it makes no sense at all! More annoying though was that we’d just spent ages in a queue for a ride and it closed as we got to the front! So that was the end of that day out. After spending about 80 bucks on the tickets we probably only went on half the rides.
After we were home and dried off it was time to start thinking about the weekend ahead, and get ready for a night on the town. This was our first night out in ages, so i went to the effort of dressing up in the only nice clothes I had at the time and straightening my hair etc, only for the humidity to turn it into a giant frizz! What a waste of time that was.
Note to self – stick to curly hair in Queensland, it’s not worth the effort!
After some pre-drinks at the apartment, Paddy realised he had left his only shoes in our other car back in Byron, and only had flip flops. Surfers is really strict on dress code, so he couldn’t come out...which meant Keeley didn’t either. And so instead, quick change of plan, Me, Tom, and my frizzy hair got a taxi to Jupiters Casino. I’d never been in a casino before, apart from Vegas when I was too young to gamble. Australia has 21% of the world’s slot machines, they’re mad on it, and so the casino was packed, especially being a Friday night. There were lots of locals, tourists, and of course the Japanese spending big bucks. Cameras are banned in the casino, I’m sure the Jap would have struggled with not taking photos for a night!
I had a go and won 30 bucks first time with a $1 bet. That was enough to make me happy so I didn’t do anymore, i just got the drinks in while Tom gambled God knows how much on the roulette table. It was a funny night and we didn’t end up going to bed til 5 in the morning. Amazingly, I didn’t spend any more money on gambling, I did on wine though and I felt it the next day! I think it was 3pm by the time I dragged myself out of bed! I don’t think I’d stayed out so long or slept in that late since I was in Thailand!
For the next few days, the rain was on and off; so many a sunbathing session was cut short! One evening, once Paddy had bought shoes, we got ready for another night out. This time we went bowling, which I lost, as always.
It did rain occasionally, and then it’d be really humid afterwards. In fact sometimes it was so humid it would be unbearable.
One day we went to one of Queensland’s many tourist attractions, the Wet
‘n Wild waterpark. It was great fun, and beat the one we went to in Vietnam, ‘Vin Pearl Land’, hands down! I felt like I was a kid again, getting excited and nervous queuing up for all the rides. Unfortunately, early afternoon, it started to piss it down again. And, believe it or not, they closed the rides down....at a waterpark!! What a joke, it makes no sense at all! More annoying though was that we’d just spent ages in a queue for a ride and it closed as we got to the front! So that was the end of that day out. After spending about 80 bucks on the tickets we probably only went on half the rides.After we were home and dried off it was time to start thinking about the weekend ahead, and get ready for a night on the town. This was our first night out in ages, so i went to the effort of dressing up in the only nice clothes I had at the time and straightening my hair etc, only for the humidity to turn it into a giant frizz! What a waste of time that was.
Note to self – stick to curly hair in Queensland, it’s not worth the effort!After some pre-drinks at the apartment, Paddy realised he had left his only shoes in our other car back in Byron, and only had flip flops. Surfers is really strict on dress code, so he couldn’t come out...which meant Keeley didn’t either. And so instead, quick change of plan, Me, Tom, and my frizzy hair got a taxi to Jupiters Casino. I’d never been in a casino before, apart from Vegas when I was too young to gamble. Australia has 21% of the world’s slot machines, they’re mad on it, and so the casino was packed, especially being a Friday night. There were lots of locals, tourists, and of course the Japanese spending big bucks. Cameras are banned in the casino, I’m sure the Jap would have struggled with not taking photos for a night!
I had a go and won 30 bucks first time with a $1 bet. That was enough to make me happy so I didn’t do anymore, i just got the drinks in while Tom gambled God knows how much on the roulette table. It was a funny night and we didn’t end up going to bed til 5 in the morning. Amazingly, I didn’t spend any more money on gambling, I did on wine though and I felt it the next day! I think it was 3pm by the time I dragged myself out of bed! I don’t think I’d stayed out so long or slept in that late since I was in Thailand!
For the next few days, the rain was on and off; so many a sunbathing session was cut short! One evening, once Paddy had bought shoes, we got ready for another night out. This time we went bowling, which I lost, as always.
Then we went on to a cool bar called Melbas, which was always packed when we’d gone past it before, but was quiet for a Sunday night. It was good in here, good music and plenty of cocktails to sample. Another nice change from the $15 cartons of wine we’d been drinking, warm, when we were camping. As much as i loved camping it was so nice to be able to get ready in a bathroom, dress up, and get out and about amongst the night life.
After 10 days in our apartment, having cooked many a nice meal and watched many a crappy Australian TV programme, it was time to head back to Byron Bay to meet the others and put our tents back up. I was actually looking forward to getting back to basics after our brief stint with normality. I was just keeping my fingers crossed for no more rain!
After 10 days in our apartment, having cooked many a nice meal and watched many a crappy Australian TV programme, it was time to head back to Byron Bay to meet the others and put our tents back up. I was actually looking forward to getting back to basics after our brief stint with normality. I was just keeping my fingers crossed for no more rain!
