Surfers Paradise

Unfortunately Base hostels that we are staying with do not have an affiliated hostel in Byron Bay so we only stayed around for a few hours before jumping on the Greyhound bus to Surfers Paradise. Byron seemed like a really nice place and I think If I get to go back to Oz then I will have to go there. Arriving at Surfers and it was clearly a different place to Byron, with its tall buildings, bright lights and confusingly even a different time zone to where we left in the morning.

We stayed at Aquarius Backpackers Hostel just out of the main area in Southport. This was good, free internet (always a bonus) nice room mate, a French guy travelling south, and friendly staff although none of which were Aussie. The room was good although with no air con and the curtains open I continually woke up at about 5.30 as soon as the sun rose, it seems everyone here wakes up much earlier than home and go to bed super early.

The first morning we made plans and went to Dreamworld (http://www.dreamworld.com.au/)

We only arrived at 11.30 so with 5 hours until the buses stopped and a lot of things we wanted to see or go on we ran everywhere, fortunately it was a Thursday so there were no queues!

Becky finally fulfilled her plans for the trip and was able to cuddle a Koala and then found an even bigger one for her to have as a friend.

Koalas seen and stroked it was time to find a nice Kangaroo to belly rub and pull it's tale. After checking and seeing a few sleeping I am now almost 100% sure that patch is related to them, this one seemed like he wanted a new profile picture.

These were some grey kangaroos, we later saw larger red kangaroos, wombats and dingos but you couldn't go in any of their pens.

Animals seen and time to fall 34 stories on the vertical drop ride, go backwards on a roller-coaster, a standard roller-coaster a few water slides in the water park all of which were epic and then a hydro coaster. These area crazy, you are in an inflatable dinghy and which starts like a normal water slide before you then shoot up again on what I assume must be a hidden conveyor belt but I'm really not sure, then round some corners and back down a slide so it really does feel like a standard roller-coaster but you aren't fixed in and get sprayed with water.

Just as we left the rain came but all in all a great day, back at the hostel pasta and sauce for dinner and booking the coaches before heading to bed.

Spot X Surf Camp

Up and a quick but big breakfast and straight into the surf lesson. The standard safetly briefing about rip currents, waves and of course the sun; so after a covering of suncream it was time for a paddle on the land before we are given boards and off into the water. Fortunately they had a couple of smaller boards so I didn't have to use a foamie which was nice although the waves weren't huge, so a big board could have been good.

 We had met a brother and sister on our coach who had surfed before so it was good to have someone that I could paddle out back with however it meant that we were quite away from the others out surfing, but we still all had a great time.





Surfing over and time for lunch, a quick look at the photos of everyone surfing and then back on the coach and off to Byron Bay. Sonic back in charge again and heading north along the coast, we stopped at a few places including Lennox head which had an amazing view over the point break below. It was rocks on the side with a footpath all the way to the point, on big wave days the break is meant to continue all the way from the point to the middle of the beach, about 500m away.

After around 2 hours, quite a lot of which many people slept and the rest of the time sonic gave us a lot more information, we arrived in Byron.

(Surfers at Lennox head on the point break)

Oz Experience - Sonic – Sydney to Spot X

5.30 and not a time I had planned on seeing a lot on the travels but something that was seeming to be not uncommon. We woke and quietly packed away anything which had been missed in the dark the night before and snuck off to the coach station fortunately just across the road. On arrival we found many half awake young backpackers all waiting for the bus to start their endeavour north, a just as happy Ozzie tried to sort everyone out for when the coaches arrived. A small bus with a box trailer in tow then pulled up and our new driver Sonic stepped out, we have now found that all the Oz experience staff have nicknames given to them for some reason or another however this a secret kept within the team and they will not divulge to the public, which makes you ever more curious. All loaded on and a quick introduction where Sonic explains the trip on the call phone style headset, while picking tunes on his Ipod, checking paperwork and occasionally swerving when really not being able to do all that and answer our questions at once; from the start you know it's going to be a fun journey :) 

We are informed about all the stops and the good and bad parts of most places from someone that has clear understanding of what we are looking for, fun times but on the cheap, we are even privy to a short history lesson on most places we pass through before making a stop at a Koala Sanctuary.

(Spot the Koala)

After some stops for lunch then off to Spot X surf camp. Everyone on the coach seemed to be having a wicked time while we saw loads of oz as we continued on, on arrival we were showed our digs and all the areas around the camp. All food was provided although there was a local charge of $50 so that pretty much covers all the costs anyway, fortunately Sonic said about the prices being expensive in camp so we had stopped off at the supermarket on the way to pick up snacks and drinks. A few drinks in the evening and off to bed ready to be up and early for surfing.