Surfers Paradise

From Byron Bay, I headed to a place called Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast right over the QLD border where I was absolutely flabbergasted by the skyline that lie against the water…the only really good picture I got of the “sight” (quite unsightly mind you) was this blurry photo taken from the bus in-between buildings and trees:

Surfers Paradise reminded me of a cross between Miami, Los Angeles and maybe Las Vegas. Flashing and colorful neons signs adorning the main-streets, sky-scraping condos being erected in each direction along the water’s edge. I was completely stunned by what was unfolding before me, especially after having spent such mellow days in Byron Bay amongst the laid-back hippies at the artsfactory lodge!!



I stayed at the Surf and Sun hostel for two nights as they were offered to me through my east-coast tour package. To my surprise, it was a “catered” and “organized” affair with evenings of drinking games (some kind of concoction of “punch” that I dared not even touch) and all kinds of nightly pub-crawls. Being that I was there on a Fri/Sat night, I witnessed quite a “hip-happening” place with beautiful people decked out to the hilt, going out to have a good time! And given that the full-moon was rising on Friday night, I could only anticipate the crowds and the “scene”!
(As a side note: there unbelievable amounts of Japanese, South-Asians and Middle-Eastern folks EVERYWHERE?!?! I guess this is where they come on vacation??? Go figure!)

Luckily though, even on such a strip of debauchery and “sin”…it was nice to know that someone was still looking out for me (Jesus). I suppose I was going to need it especially when I went out on Sat night at 2:30 in the morning for some dancing at a recommended joint by the name of ELSEWHERE—a place that turned out to be filled with great dancers old and young…vibing together and having a damn good time! I did not sleep that night as I had another beautiful day to enjoy on the beach and I was moving onto Noosa that evening—plenty of time to sleep once on the bus!