The fact I was staying in a 20 bed dorm last night made for a noisy night, and for the first time there were a few characters I didn't really trust. Luckily there were big lockers here unlike the previous two hostels. There was also live music outside my room, and the fans were so noisy. Also by 5am in the morning all these alarm clocks starting going off, not sure if they were intentional or not. The other major problem I've been having in hostels is charging my phone, because there is always a lack of chargers. I therefore this morning used the bathroom charger whilst people were sleeping, then took an extra long session in the bathroom to maximise the charge!
As I only had one full day here in Surfers Paradise I was on the go by half 6 in the morning! After a short walk round the Surfers area of the Gold Coast, passing many attractions like Slingshot, Vomatron, 7D cinema and the Wax Museum, the list could on, I opted for a buffet breakfast, although it was only bacon, eggs, tomatoes, beans, toast and cereals. I had to take advantage of this cheap deal and my plate was piled high on each occasion I went up! After finishing I went and booked my Australia Zoo ticket for a few days time.
The thing that I liked the look of here were all the tours of the city ranging from luxury river cruises to jetboating to the aquaduck which was a bus and boat combined. In the end I opted against gaining my paddle ducks driving license or whatever it as called, and booked a jetboating session for tomorrow.
For the such high range of the attractions on offer here I ended up doing the federation walk to the local coastal reserve to the end of this spit and back. Passing the Australian sand sculpting championships en route, I soon arrived in the next area of Southport, home to the famous Versace hotel which they use on I'm a celebrity get me out of here. Passing through these big sand dunes full of plants as part of a restoration project, I arrived at the spit and was presented with brilliant views of the Gold Coast skyline as looked back over where I had walked.
I then followed the road back round reserve getting views of the many sandy islands packed with wildlife, before heading past Sea World. This area is full of theme parks including Sea World, Dreamworld, Wet n Wild and WB Movie World. Most were out of town, but Sea World still had a couple of big coasters! I then soon arrived back in Surfers, this time following the river round before dropping down through a park back to the busy sandy beach. After about 4 hours of walking I finally arrived back in Surfers!
This nicely set me up for lunch, trying my first ever frozen coke in the process, why is this not UK?! I then headed to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum which I simply couldn't avoid missing. For me it was like opening up my Ripley's book and chucking it all into a museum. There were lots of interactive things to do, and also so many facts and things to see. I knew I was in for a good afternoon when the first exhibit was of the tallest ever man sitting down, then as I walked over he stood up! There was also these 'mirrors' which stated facts about rolling your tongue and stuff. I later realised that they were see through the other side and you could see the people trying all these silly things with their body!
Other exhibits included this revolving tunnel which made me feel really dizzy, loads of pictures and sculptures made of things like toast, hair and nail varnish, and these silly mirrors. My favourite part was this laser game where after picking a difficulty level you had to weave your way through this room hitting buttons whilst avoiding lasers to the other side! Towards the end there was a games room full of pinball machines, shooting area and this thing where you had to open a gate. It all finished with a dance room which illuminated your body on the screen.
To put things into perspective I was in there for over 3 hours as I had to look round 3 times just to make sure I had seen everything ranging from the worlds heaviest man to the farting man and everything in-between. I cant recall everything as there was so much! After leaving I went back to the timezone, the largest indoor amusements arcade in Australia, and it was massive. Anything ranging from bowling to dodgems, connect 4 to horse racing, it was there. It was then a quick look round the large amount of shops, before heading back to the hostel via Woolworths for food.
After getting myself sorted upon return, it was off to the Friday market selling local handicrafts and food. I also took advantage of the free WiFi here, as I keep taking benches outside places like McDonalds to get this service! After dinner by the river, finding a cache in the process at last, it was back through the darkness to the hostel. I feel as if I have seen so much of Surfers today and I kind of wish I had longer here, although all the attractions cost money!
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