Surfer's Paradise

Surfer's Paradise:

Sunset in Surfer's Paradise.

There was no problem catching the train to Negura, which was where the bus would pick us up to go to Surfer’s Paradise. The train had free wifi, which is always a bonus. I even gave a Facebook status to let the world know I was still alive. We caught the bus no problem and even got concession since we were students. And just like that we were in Surfer’s Paradise. I called up the hostel and it ended up being a five minute walk to our left. It was a little place called, “Backpackers in Paradise,” and its rates were reasonable enough.

Surfer’s Paradise is beautiful. Almost like a low key Miami. Amusement parks, clubs, restaurants, beach front, Ferris wheel, palm trees. It has it all. Hot guys. My god at the hot guys. What’s best. The weather was SUNNY. This first thing we did was change into our bathing suits and go to the beach.



First day on the beach.

When we checked in, we found out that they gave us a free upgrade to an eight person  room instead of a 20 person room. So we were paying 19 for the value of 26. She also gave us a discount on the local zoo and surf lessons. We were floating. There ended up being a guy and girl from Manchester in our room, an Asian guy who never talked and always watched Manga on his computer, and a big guy who slept a lot. The rest of the bunks were empty. There was a shared bathroom, but honestly the upkeep was quite nice. Really nice for what we’re paying. We were more than happy with it.

So we grabbed towels and books and headed for the beach. It was so beautiful, and in less than an hour I knew my way around the whole city. It’s all about landmarks and street names. We browsed through all the shops, happy not to have a schedule to meet or other people to worry about. Two is definitely the best travelling number. The beach was awesome.  An Indian guy ended up taking our picture together since we were struggling not to take selfies. It was handy until he started asking too many questions. Then we decided to trek it back to the hostel. I was convinced I’d left my phone on the beach but ended up finding it later under Shayna’s bunk bed. Oops. 

That night we ended up going to Hardrock café. I was so stoked. Besides the one in Sydney, which opened just last year, it’s the only one in Australia. So yes, I splurged. I got a mean grilled chicken focaccia with chips. It was awesome. I was just happy to be at Hardrock in Surfer’s Paradise. It reminded me of my Dad.  Anyway, after Hardrock, we made our way back to the hostel. We were going to walk on the beach, but it was super windy and we were in sleeveless shirts, so we decided to call it a night. Since we were pretty pooped at this point and we had a huge day planned ahead of us, we ended up just watching “Get Smart” on my laptop on Shayna’s bed. I bet the others in our room thought we were crazy laughing our heads off at a screen. We shared my earphones. It was so chill. It was kind of weird that everyone else went to bed so early. I swear people were lying around by 10 pm. They must’ve been travel weary, as well.

 I took a shower in the communal shower and was happy to see it wasn’t gross. The hostel actually had surprisingly good upkeep. The next morning I had my alarm set, so Shayna and I got up and got ready to surf. It was all arranged for the surf coaches to pick us up at 9:30 and for us to have a two hour lesson. I’ve never been so excited, nor more freaked out. You have to realize, it was my first time in the Australian ocean. The guy who picked us up was such a surfer. Meaning his accent was righteous and his jokes unparalleled. I never seen such driving maneuvers. Haha the van was even missing a mirror. But we got there and suited up in wet suits.

It ended up that we were surfing with an older guy named Les, and an Asian guy who I unfortunately can’t remember the name of. What I do remember is that his girlfriend came with him and that she had a huge camera. So I took the opportunity to hand her my camera to see if she could get some shots of us surfing. It was legit. I was so pumped.

The first thing they taught us was how to properly carry a surf board. Then we trucked it across the road and onto the beach. We had to do a few warm up exercises which reminded me of soccer. Anyway, our coach was legit with the best Aussie accent ever, and he was so energetic and happy to teach us about surfing. He’s been surfing since he was six. Kind of hard to imagine.

I learned all the different part sof the board: the fins, rails, bottom, nose and plank. Then we learned different positions like board control with both hands centered on the back of the board. I learned to push the back down to get the nose to lift up over waves. Timing was easy. After all, I’ve been boogie boarding and body surfing since I was little. It was the standing that got me. My pops were all wrong. I just couldn’t find my balance. But catching the waves was no problem. In the end, I ended up getting up about four times. Only two of those times did I ride the board all the way in. It was so awesome. That feeling you get when your feet are solid underneath you and the water just coasts you in, making it feel effortless, but your body knows different.

 Ah, the whole two hours made me want to chuck everything to the side and live here to pursue some kind of familiarity with a surf board. I think my next purchase will be a skateboard. And then I’ll start practicing my pops. Too bad we didn’t even get to turning! We then caught a quick KFC lunch, swung by the hostel, put on clothes and headed out for the Currumbin animal sanctuary. It took forever to get there, but we finally figured the bus routes out and ended up at the sanctuary, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere. The first thing we did was hold a koala. It was freaking awesome. Her name was Baby and she was born in another sanctuary. Apparently, she loves to cuddle, and if you don’t give her attention she’ll crawl up your leg for some.

 It was surreal having that thing latch onto me. Almost like I was carrying a baby, hence the name. It was like I was her momma and she would love me forever. And we got a professional picture made. How cool is that? I kept thinking that the girls would have loved it. I wish they could’ve been there. Then we went around and explored the rest of the zoo seeing things like wombats, albino dingoes and lizards that had free range and would skirt under your feet. They were huge too, mind you. We then got to pet kangaroos. We didn’t have money for the feed they were giving the roos, but we made do anyway, psyching the roos out when we offered them imaginary food. They’re so cute!

 We then looked at the crocs. It was funny that they only had the fresh water kind because the salt water crocs are just that dangerous. They’re too aggressive to even consider keeping in a zoo. Then we got to see an aboriginal dance. It wasn’t that special except for the emu dance. I liked that one. It so exactly replicated the movement of the large bird that I was surprised the dancer didn’t end up sprouting feathers right there. We then swung by and picked up our photos and caught a bus back to Surfer’s Paradise. By this point, we were pretty tired and a little achy from surfing that morning, so we decided to cook some pasta for dinner instead of going out. The hostel had a free cooking facility and cookware.

As we were cooking, we met a few guys who coordinate events. They told us about a 10 dollar special that got you into this club called Vanity, gave you a free drink at the hostel, a free drink at the night club and then a discount on any of the other drinks you ordered that night. For someone who likes to drink, it was a prime opportunity. So of course Shayna was all over that. But before we did any going out, I wanted to hit the night markets. As we were walking out, there was a big group of Aussie guys who were also staying at the hostel, heading out to the city. They ended up being footy players from Geelong. I walked next to a guy named Dessi, who was totally hitting me up. He was quite a bit older than me, probably by three or four years and he was handsome in a rugged sort of way.

Anyway, before we split off for the markets he got my number just like the other dude got Shayna’s, and we told them we might meet up with them later that night at the club. Obviously, in my head, I was like there was no way. Basically, when we got to the market, there was a whole row of white tents that line up on Friday nights and sell all sorts of handmade goodies. We explored for around an hour and I found lots of cool gifts for everyone back home. There was this one girl who hand spray painted coasters and postcards on canvas and then allowed you to customize a message on the back. I thought it was an awesome idea. Then Shayna and I got Swiss ice cream. I got cappuccino flavor. It was superb.

 We then went back to the hostel and decided we would go out with the hostel group that night. We changed. I showered then we went downstairs to play some pool. I wasn’t too thrilled about spending ten buck to get into some club, since I wouldn’t be drinking. But Shayna has done everything I’ve wanted to do so far, so it was only fair that I allowed her this one instance for me to do something she wanted to. We ended up watching a few guys play pool and before I knew it, we were invited to play doubles. I was so thankful for those pool lessons from Bangladesh guy. Because the first one I hit was a hard shot, and I totally pocketed it.

 Shayna did well, too. I think we surprised the boys. The tall blonde Australian guy with curly hair was from Perth and he chose Shayna to be on his team. Our team ended up winning even though Kyle, the Aussie I was playing with, was totally pissed (drunk). I had the chance to win it but totally missed. Oh well. I don’t think he cared since he won it for us. I tried the Aussies’ favorite brand of beer for the first time, XXXX Gold. It was pretty crap. I really have no idea why the Australians like it so much.

Anyway, since I’d only taken a few sips from it, I gave it to Mitch, and he decided to chug it right there in front of us. I was highly entertained, especially in his suddenly exuberant demeanor. We all walked to the club together and for the most part, Mitch was all chatty. We got to go in a special line, showed our IDs, and before I knew it we were heading down red stairs to a night club in Surfer’s Paradise. Man, it was fancy. About what I expected, really. The first thing Mitch did was maneuver us toward the bar so we could use our free drink vouchers. I didn’t want anything though and Shayna got a rum coke. I tried a sip, and it was so strong. I’m never tasted rum before, but I don’t like it. A bit too overpowering for me.

I was kind of bobbing my head to the music and Mitch had been hopping up and down since we got there so when he caught my eye, he’s like, “Want to go to the dance floor?” I figured it would be like another paint and glow thing, so I agreed and all three of us headed toward the dance floor. I just danced like I usually do and before I knew it Mitch had my hand in his. I was trying to dance with him and Shayna, but by this point Shayna had some Brazilian all over her. So there I was dancing with Mitch and Shayna and Brazilian guy to my left and just like all raves you get close and end up bumping into the people you're around. I couldn’t help but noticed when Mitch put his hand on my waist and was a little closer than I expected, but it was totally fine. He wasn’t pushing any barriers or anything we were just dancing and having fun and as time went on he kept trying to get me to dance solely with him and put my arms on his shoulders. But I really didn’t want to kiss him or get intimate so I kept breaking away.

Now you have to realize, Mitch was super sweet and the whole night had proved over and over again that he was a decent guy. But when he tried to kiss me a little later on into the night, I realized it was time to scram. Geez. I’m getting good at this. I ducked my head and said something to the effect of, “Not tonight.”

After that, Shayna and I sdacned for another thirty mintues or so. I danced with Mitch a bit more and then we left. I felt rotten. It probably wasn’t the safest thing to do to walk back alone, but I knew exactly where we were. Surfer’s Paradise isn’t big. Anyway as we’re walking, out of nowhere this guy from Dubai starts asking me if I knew where he can buy cigarettes, and I told him no and then he starts asking questions about me. At this point, I knew exactly where his intentions lie and told him he should probably check Woolworth for the cigs, which was the total opposite direction from where we were heading. He asked me if I would walk with him to get them. That’s when the steely look came in my eye, and I replied with a clipped response, "I’m not going that way." Then he’s like, then I’ll walk with you. To which I said, I don’t think so. He was like, oh so that’s how you’re going to be. I shrugged and turned around with Shayna to listen to a street musician who was playing guitar. I waited until I was sure he’s walked away before we headed off for our hostel again. I think Shayna said something like, did you shake him off yet? Haha.

Yes. Why yes I did.

As we’re walking back, Dessi and Jordi start texting us about getting together that night since they were heading back, too. This was around 12. I didn’t respond because I had no interest. Shayna talked a little with Jordi over text but told him she was crashing early. Basically, I got no less than two calls and a text from Dessi wanting to meet up. It kind of made me laugh, since I wasn’t the slightest bit interested. After Mitch’s rejection, I was a bit sick of guys at the moment. So, I put my phone on vibrate so it wouldn’t wake anyone else and quickly fell asleep.

Woke up the next morning surprised yet again that I’d slept like a baby.  I honestly thing that hostel is the best place I’ve slept in a while, and it was a bunk bed; the top bunk at that. Shayna and I checked out, stripped our sheets and packed up yet again. But we weren’t in a real hurry to leave Surfer’s Paradise so we decided to dress in our bathing suits and go lay out on the beach again. And lay out we did. It was so chill. The waves were beautiful, the beach was beautiful and I was at peace. I even finished the book Ben gave me. We lay out until 12 or so and decided it was time to grab something to eat.

At this point, I had a small tan and Shayna was burnt. Yus…. SUN! We then tried this little breakfast joint Shayna had had her eye on since we got there. I just got fish and chips. It was five bucks, so there. Cheap. It was so sunny and nice and hot guys were walking past with no shirts and tattoos and our cokes came in slim cans that made us feel fancy, and we decided in that moment that we never wanted to leave and that living in a place called paradise is about as good as life can get. But alas, we had to leave and get to our Brisbane hostel.

We caught a bus from a stop near our hostel. Carrying around our stuff wasn’t the best idea for our already finicky backs, but I swear I’ve got the biggest calf muscles in the world now. I got a frappe too just for good measure simply because it was sunny and I felt like splurging. Oh, and interestingly enough, even though everything else at Mackers is more expensive here, their mocha frap is the only exception. It’s cheaper. What now.

We then hopped on a train at the bus station and before we knew it we were at a train station in Brisbane. It was cool. While we were waiting on the platform, sun coming in on our legs, a little lorikeet just like the ones we’d previously seen in the zoo the other day, just came up and landed on the tree in front of us. I don’t know why, but it made me so happy.

Once we were on the train with wifi, we were able to update everything online again and get the numbers for the hostels we were going to be travelling to as well as google-mapping how to get there. When we got to our stop, we were all packed up and ready to get off the train, so we stood at the doors. We waited for a good minute and the stupid doors never opened. We were so confused. The train started moving and before we knew it we had missed our stop. But never fear. Apparently, all you have to do is push a yellow button that conveniently says “Open Door." Who would've guessed. None of the other transportation we’d taken this far had buttons so we were a little confused. But we got squared away fast enough. We got off at the next stop which was super close and hopped on a train back to the stop we had missed. Easy as pie. Then I navigated our way to the hostel, only having to call them when the directions Google gave us didn’t add up. Before we knew it, we were safely at Brisbane’s Bunk hostel. And just like that, we had signed in, got our room keys and happily deposited our hefty bags on the bunks.

But our adventures in Brisbane will have to wait for another time!!
Catch you guys later J