Coffs Harbour to Surfers Paradise

Monday 22 October

A stroll at the beach, took some pictures and met other people of the group. Bought some groceries, water, juice and a sausage roll for the trip. Back in the coach, Paul decided to play a game to kill time.

First, the people who were sitting next to the pathway had to switch from seat with the other side. The coach was split into two teams, on the left we had the Spanking Monkeys and on the right the Lions! The game is quite funny. Each item must touch the back of the coach and brought to the front where Beth or Ciska has to give it to Paul.

In time items like passports, English pounds, sun glasses, flags, maps, Contiki logos, pictures, bras, credit cards and even people passed to front. What was really impressive, was that Russ crawled over lots of heads to get in front of the coach. Fast too!

4:00 PM. We arrived at the All Season Mermaid Water in Surfers Paradise. Here we would stay for two nights. In our room unpacked my stuff and went off to the pool for a nice refreshing dip. The water was freezing cold. After a while it's nice. Just relaxed and enjoying the beautiful place with the rest of the group.

After some time I went to my room to take a shower. Needed to do my laundry badly, before we went out for dinner. After the laundry, I used the dryer but it seemed it didn't dry my clothes very well. Not much time left, so I will do my laundry tomorrow.

Tonight we had two options, going to a seafood restaurant (optional dinner out) or if you don't like seafood eat somewhere else. Later in the evening we would meet each other at the HardRock Cafe. The group was split into two groups.

We went to Conrad Jupiters Casino, but no one wanted to gamble. We were starving and everyone was dying to get some food! it's also the first time Paul, Chris and us visiting this restaurant at the Watergate Hotel.

For just $ 25 AUD, all you can eat! It was a buffet with lots of seafood like prawns, oysters, crab, lobster, fish, etc. Yeah! My kind of food! No time to lose, so we dug in. Our plates were stacked with delicious seafood. Going for prawns and lobster. Tasted very good! Ate a bunch of them. The food was cold and I think when served warm I could eat more than usual. ;-)

Pretty stuffed we headed to the HardRock Cafe to meet the other group to have a couple of drinks. Later in the evening the group went to the Melba's, a local bar at Surfers Paradise. I didn't and went with a small group back to our accommodation.