In Brisbane

This article was written 17 years ago in 2006 when I was 21, so I ask you not to judge the writing too harshly! The text is as it was originally published.

So the past few days have been spent searching for the best breaks on the Gold Coast. Okay, well maybe we're not that pro at surfing yet, but the day after the skydive/surf lesson we booked in for a second session of tuition, this time on Tallow(s) Beach, and it proved a little more successful than my first day. This was despite the hangover we managed to acquire while experiencing the bars of Byron Bay the night before.

After some really good Italian food at a place called Sea'n'Earth we took the advice of the people running the surf school and went for drinks at the Beach Hotel, where there was rugby league, Wimbledon and live music.

After a while we moved on to Cheeky Monkey's, the local club. Despite being warned that you needed to be very drunk upon arrival to find the place enjoyable, we had a great time getting drunk while inside, and spent the next morning vainly trying polish the stamp off the inside of our wrists before our second surf lesson.

We dried off and took the second bus (we missed the first) to Surfer's Paradise, where we booked into a hostel, grabbed some pizza and caught up with the sleep lost from the days before. The next morning it was checkout at 10am, so Heather and I went and hired out boards to practise our technique on the main beach (92km long) while James went to meet with Cassy (Oli's ex). Despite the initial promise to meet at 10am, she didn't actually arrive until 2.30pm, by which time Heather and myself were already out of the water and eating lunch. After a stroll down the beach we went back to the bus station where we met up with James, Cassy and Larnie, before boarding the next coach to Brisbane.

Some confusion regarding where and when Andrew would be meeting us in Brisbane occurred, and after arriving at his flat and trying to get his housemate's attention for over two hours, we eventually checked into the hotel next door. Not unlike in Whistler, upon opening the room door we found that the place had not been vacated by the previous occupants and so got a free upgrade. No worries.

This morning we packed up shop and headed to the city to catch the number 445 to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. After some issues with the public transport we eventually made it there, and the result is this wonderful picture of me and a very smelly koala.

We are now back in Brisbane, on the final attempt to reunite with Andrew (who may well still be in Fiji) before heading off in our hired campervan tomorrow. Looking forward to it, although we're now on a pretty tight schedule...

This post was first published on Mon Jul 03 2006 originally on justbeyondthebridge.co.uk, my former personal blog

The author

My name is Andy Higgs and I am a founder, designer, occassional surfer and travel enthusiast based in the UK.

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