We heard Surfers Paradise was Australia's answer to Blackpool or Benidorm in Spain, tacky with bright lights and a bustling night life so most people turn their noses up but as we like blackpool we were quite looking forward to it. We arrived during the evening and it was dark, so all the buildings were lit up, however the bus station was a bit of a walk to the hostel so with our bags strapped to our backs we started the walk. Once arriving we were welcome to a small but friendly hostel, which made a change from Byron, we checked into our dorm and met two young British girls had a little chat then went down the common area which was actually outside and a local surf coach was doing a promotional free BBQ which was only sausages in bread but it's free so you can't turn it down, after grabbing two we walked into the centre to get some more food, didn't bother with much so just had a mcdonalds, which consisted of a quarter pounder burger with a big wedge of pineapple in it and a spicy salsa which was Banging! We had a little wonder round the shops watched abit of street entertainment then walked back to the hostel with a big ice cream cup to share.
The next day we woke early, the British girls were checking out and the hostel had free breakfast so again being a backpacker it would be silly to turn down free food. We ate as much as we could then armed with factor 30 and 50 we headed for a day down surfers beach, but first I needed to get myself a cheap beach towel as I didn't bother to bring mine from Sydney, we looked in a few shops selling towels for $50AUD but then managed to find one for 10 RESULT! it was very warm in Surfers, the hottest since we started east coast, when we got to the beach we noticed how golden and long it was, the water was crystal clear with crashing waves everywhere. However not many surfers despite its name, we had heard though that although it's called Surfers Paradise not many people like to surf here at all, but never the less the setting was nice long golden beach with a city backdrop. We laid in the sun for a few hours then went to find food, there was a Greek sandwich bar opposite the beach selling some really nice wraps so we both had one each and shared some chips, it filled us up nicely but I still had space for an ice cream, which mcdonalds was selling for 30cents a cone, which in Australia is an absolute bargain so couldn't resist. Once we finished those off we headed back to the beach to sunbath a few more hours! on the way back to hostel that afternoon we picked up some stubby rekorderlig ciders and went back for a shower.
As we had spent the last couple days budgeting, we thought our last night in Surfers we would treat ourselvest to a nice meal, we heard a resturant called 'Hurricanes' was a really good and Surfers had one so we headed there. We arrived and was shown to our seats but once looking at the menu we soon realised that maybe it was abit too expensive and couldn't really afford to be buying a rack of ribs for $50AUD. So instead we walked out and went to Vapiano's an Italian we like from home and spent half the amount. We went back to the hostel after to pack away our bits then get some sleep, there wasn't a lot of activity going on in the hostel so was never much point staying up late, the next day we was catching a greyhound to Brisbane for a very short 1 night stay.
Looking back at Surfers I enjoyed it but without spending a lot of money there isn't much to do other than lay on the beach, it's known for Australia's biggest theme parks but they were very pricey and a fair while out of the city. The night life was suppose to be lively but we never bothered looking because of money. But we enjoyed the beach and was a nice stop in general, another place ticked off the list.
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