Had the longest sleep of my vacation thus far. Still got up relatively early, and headed into Chinatown to find some breakfast. There was a small market setup, so I roamed around there for a bit as well. Headed back to the hostel and had them arrange a place for me to stay at Surfers Paradise.
Caught a 2 hour bus to Surfers Paradise and waited around for the shuttle to take me to the hostel. Checked in, then walked along the boardwalk to the city centre. I’m short a couple of shirts since two of them seem to let UV rays through, leading to some burning, and the third seems to have acquired some sort of permastain on the arm – kinda like a bleach mark, but it’s red. Anyhow, I went looking for some shirts, but didn’t have much luck.
Loads of people in the city centre – as Australia Day has sucked them all in. Tons of people in Australian flag tattoos and attire.
Headed back to the hostel and talked to one of my roommates, Jenny from Vancouver Island. She was heading to Byron Bay the next day, which was also my destination, and she said she thought her hostel had some room available, so she let me use her phone and book a room. Booked my room for the next day and got roped into a ticket for an Australia Day pub crawl.
Headed back into town to get some groceries, this time I took off my flip flops and walked along the beach. There was a female beach volleyball tournament underway, which I was, for some strange reason, compelled to watch. Watched a set or two of some very fit girls playing volleyball, then went to the grocery store, which was now closed.
The pub crawl was as one would imagine. There are two other Canadian’s in the room – Fiona and Mark, a couple from Mississauga. Also met a Burlingtonite on the tour, Tom. Witnessed a fair bit of debauchery, but no sign of the free pizza I was waiting for most of the night. Didn’t get to bed until about 3:30, with a 10:20am bus to catch.