Surfers Lost

Surfers Paradise was only an hour away from Brisbane on the train but felt like a whole new country. It's a proper purpose built holiday resort area with the corporate feel of International Drive mixed with the tackiness of Magaluf and a little Bohemian chic thrown in for good measure. Just my kind of place!

I spent the early part of my day at an interview for a job that I don't think I got because there were lots of people there for the same position so I think they're more likely to hire someone local who can work for longer than six months at a time.

For lunch I went to the Hard Rock Cafe, of course! It's only tiny in there and there was hardly anyone in it but the food was really good as per usual so I left a happy bunny. Afterwards I wandered around the streets and shops a little until I ended up at the beach. It is so different to Bondi; the sand is whiter, the beach is way bigger and the waves are a lot smaller...which unfortunately meant less surfers (they should really change the name of the town!) but better paddling conditions. I was on the wrong coast to be able to watch the sun set behind the ocean but it still cast a really pretty pink and purple pattern over the sky. I wish I had a decent camera to show everyone how beautiful it was. After sun down there was a little night market on the promenade filled with the weirdest mix of souvenirs imaginable (koala shaped air fresheners next to graffitied trucker hats). There was even a massage stall where the first minute of your massage was free; very tempting!

Leaving Surfers was a lot harder than arriving. I figured that to leave I'd just go back to where the bus dropped me off but on the opposite side of the road, which is sensible, right? Wrong! Even though they're not one way streets, the buses operate on their own one way route so after ten minutes of wandering down the street wondering where all the bus stops were I had to turn back and follow the route around down a completely different street to find a bus stop. They should really warn people when they get off the bus about that. At least from my time wandering aimlessly around the streets I made an amazing discovery - Surfers has it's own Cold Rocks Ice Creamery so if I move there I wouldn't be missing out on my ice cream fix.

The next morning the manager made everyone in my room change rooms because there was a big group coming in that needed the room. One of the lads, Nicky, was going home that day after only a week because he was homesick and his mate, Dan, was moving hostels rather than bother with the hassle of moving rooms so it felt like our little group was breaking up which was quite sad. Luckily I had showtunes to cheer me up! Cabaret was showing at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and I had a ticket for the front row of the circle. It was opening night so I think the nerves were showing in the lead but the dancers and the choreography were amazing. The story was quite different to the movie but still had the same basic theme but the ending was so much more powerful than in the film. It was incredible, I just wish there had been a better Sally.

I had another job interview the next day, this time for a hotel here in Brissy. I think this one went a lot better so hopefully I'll soon be employed. Keep your fingers crossed for me! After the interview I popped into the office to do a little more job hunting and use the free wifi and I bumped into Bev. She was killing time until she had to go to the airport to meet her parents in Sydney who were visiting. I hadn't seen her since she'd left Sydney two weeks ago so we went to a cafe for a catch up over a muffin and a hot chocolate. She has meeting her friend, Ellen, for tea and invited me to go with them. We went to a place called Tinbilly's which is like a pub attached to a hostel with an awesome atmosphere. The place was heaving and there was gent with a guitar singing a medley of really good song on stage. I had the chciken schnitzel (mainly because I love saying the word schnitzel) and it was really, really nice and not expensive at all. Coincidentally I found out that Ellen is actually staying in my hostel so it's nice to know someone else staying here. We went on a little Woolies trip together to get dessert and I discovered that they sell gingerbread men there for 79 cents so I think I know what I'm going to be living off from now on! Mmmmmm gingerbread...