Surfers Paradise

Surfers stands at the centre of the Gold Coast and earns its name as a giant, tacky, tourist development area consisting of endless shopping malls, theme parks, high rise hotels and miles and miles of bars, having said that, Surfers has some excellent beaches and a few quieter areas.

And due to one reason or another, we managed to stay is one of these quieter areas outside Surfers for the first night, called Nerang. Bit of a hicksville, it gave my parents a look at the ‘real’ Australia, but by the end we were all looking forward to getting back to the other end of the scale and getting a bit of excitement.

Didn’t have too far to look as the next night we found ourselves in Jupiter’s Casino in the centre of town. Its easy to see why they say that the Aussies are one of the biggest gamblers in the world. This area has more ‘pokies’ than all of Las Vegas. Its by far the biggest place of this kind ive been in, multiple levels of pure gambling craziness. Needless to say, its good we don’t go in these things too often.

My mum and Servane looking thouroughly bored

The beach had some excellent surfing breaks along with pure white sands, but of course you had to share this with about 200 other people.

Onto Hervey Bay.