Mermaid Beach and Surfers Paradise
Upon arriving at my Auntie Lib's we met her husband Tim (who I'd never met) and thier friend who was over from the US. We all went down to the local surf club where we me my cousins fiancé Jonny and had a fantastic meal. Paddy and I followed Lib's advice and went for the Seafood Lasagne which was jam packed full of prawns and fish and was delicious! There was also so much I couldn't finish it and Paddy had to help me out!
The next day Paddy and I were treated to an early morning surf with Jonny! We went to the beach before 7am and I'm sure I almost died several times! The sea was so rough and swimming was very difficult. I was slightly worried when Jonny shouted to me "go to the bottom and protect your neck!". The board was a proper one and not covered in the grippy foam we had learnt on so we were a bit rubbish! Paddy managed to stand up and I managed to do the splits on it! Maybe I should make a new sport... It was a great was to start the day though!
Later we borrowed my cousins car (as she's away) to drive down to Byron Bay. We had a look around the shops, walked on the beach, had fish and chips and got a parking ticket for $75. Lovely. It was great to see Byron Bay though; it's got a very pretty beach.
The next day Paddy and I walked all the way along the beach up to Surfers Paradise which took a good hour or so. When we got there we did some shopping in the surf shops and had some lunch. It's quite the mini Vegas with lots of neon lights - not quite what we were expecting... though I don't know what we expected! We went up the Q1 tower (the tallest residential tower in the world) and looked out across the city in all directions. The tower also boasts having one of the fastest lifts in the world... my ears popped 3 times on the way up!
The next day Paddy and I played mini golf at the Mermaid Beach Putt Putt course! We played on all three courses. I won the first, Ed the second and we were evens on the last. A total of 23 over par so we aren't quite pro crazy-golfers yet!
We caught the 6pm bus from Surfers to Sydney. Lib, Tim and Missy (their cute, cute dog!) all took us to the bus station to say farewell. Was a pity we couldn't stay longer as it was lovely there and it was great seeing Auntie Lib again and finally meeting Tim. It was great to be able to relax after our hectic journey down the coast!
We have arrived in Sydney this morning after 15.5 hours on the bus. Wasn't too bad but the vibrations on the buses seem to give me really bad tooth ache... bizarre. Tomorrow we are booked onto a tour of the blue mountains, a winery, a wildlife park and cruise on the sydney harbour. Wow... an action packed day!