Surfers Paradise

SO THE THREE MONTHS OF 50 TO 70 HOUR WORK WEEKS ENDS and you find yourself leaving normality to a city 1000 miles away for New Years Eve 2010.  This working holiday visa that I posses is now in full effect as I have 'worked' and now am going to 'holiday.'  I saved money to a point where I left Cairns with more money then when I landed in Brisbane 90 days ago.  You are scared financially though as things you buy here are twice as much as they would be at home.  I actually have forgotten what normal prices for things are.  I guess I am economically acclimating?  Is a bottle of water for $3.50 normal?  Is 2 fifths of Smirnoff vodka really on special for $60?  Is two games of bowling $28?  It doesn't matter though because you are doing things that most people read about in magazines.  You cope and find ways to save costs and shave excessive spending so you can survive and feel comfortable with your travels.

SURFERS PARADISE WAS THE DESTINATION FOR NEW YEARS EVE 2010.  The best way I can describe this city is Miami's South Beach combined with the touristy-niceness of Cancun Mexico type resorts/hotels in and on an area as large as and as expensive as Orange County's coast line in California.  It is a wannabe Las Vegas but more like a richer San Diego.  A pint of vodka was $24.  I only saw a couple of surfers with boards walking to the beach to hit the waves.  It wasn't as crowded as San Diego on a Memorial Day or Labor Day but was close.  Oh how the old nostalgic cities people talk and write about can become over commercialized through the years.  Still very fun though.  The group that Imke, my good German friend I had met when I first landed in Brisbane, met were awesome.  Omar, Aanus, Melissa, Lelit, Ruby and us had an exceptional time.  Tequila and Jaeger (thank you again Kiwis for the duty free purchase and serving us SHOTS! SHOTS! shot SHOTS SHOTS!) were a normal thing before going out dancing and everyone had smiles on their faces.  "For the Boys!" was common phrase that I can explain to you at another time.  We all got after it on New Years and rather than spending $50 to enter a club we just decided to make drinks in water bottles and pack backpacks and rally out of Surfers to a beach area to the north.  The fireworks were amazing and my New Years kiss was right on time :)  The next day went to a water park to hydrate and chill out.  I already miss out group and can't wait to see them in Auckland in August when my best friend and I head there to get bar work before the Rugby World Cup gets there in September.  Foora Boys!

YOU ARE BACK ON THE ROAD WITH NO DESTINATION when you leave your 'working life' on this visa.  Imke is headed to Sydney with a German girl she met, the Kiwis you just partied with are headed to Brisbane for a few nights; everyone is checking out of the city.  Where do you go?  You have a general idea of places you want to go but remember you are a traveler, not a tourist.  You don't have set dates on where and what you are going to do.  You don't use travel agents/bookers for booking your travels, you use them simply for information and benchmarking costs.  You simply find your way as it comes.  I found my next destination a day before I left Surfers on the internet and decided to call Dingos in Rainbow Beach to ask if I could do a famile trip (we have their brochure and book for them in Cairns).  They said when will you be here and I said "tomorrow??" and so there it was.  Bus station.  5 hour bus ticket north.  Hugs goodbye to your friends of 5 nights.  On to Fraser Island and a city called Rainbow Beach and you have know idea what to expect.  Right now as I type this, I am leaving in the morning for a 3 day 2 night beach camping safari with 7 other people in the 4x4 that I have never met out to the some of the most pristine and fresh water lakes and gorgeous scenery one can ever see on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.  The largest sandy island in the world.  Fraser Island.  While the island is amazing, it is also dangerous with numerous drownings, cars being towed out of quicksand/ocean, and helicopter airlifts every year.  This ought to be a good one.  Once again, GO TIME. RCM