The Gold Coast

My first two days on the Gold Coast were fairly uneventful. But that's okay.

I arrived at the Coolangatta Airport, around 8:30pm. I immediately booked my shuttle bus to the hostel, grabbed my big-ass bag and hopped on board. I actually turned my computer on just to see if I had internet, and I did. It was kind of cool.

As we drove down the Gold Coast Highway, I got a real feel for Miami. There were tall buildings everywhere, tons of lights and loads to do. The bus didn't drop me off right in front of my hostel, so I had to hobble my way to the hostel with 35 bags in tow. It was awesome. I felt pretty cool.

I checked into the hostel and my first impression wasn't the greatest. Although it was a Tuesday night, not much was going on. I went to my room and there were two girls from the UK watching tv. How fun.

I went into my room and there was an Asian girl sitting on the bunkbed just blankly staring into her laptop. Oh. Did I mention there was no air conditioning?

Awesome.

I pretty much put up my stuff then hobbled my way over to Bundall -- where I was going to meet a potential roommate. I was going to hop in a cab, but there just aren't any cabs just floating around. You pretty much have to call and book them. I figured, what the heck, the place isn't that far....

With a hurt ankle -- yes, it was that far. I walked across two bridges, through a residential area and then a shopping center just to get to this guy's place. He was nice, his place was nice -- very secure -- but it seemed hella far.

I took a cab back to the hostel. Cost me $10.

When I came back the girls were still watching TV, so I stopped and talked for a little bit. They were nice enough. Young. But nice. Then I went to bed. I had made plans to meet up with a girl in Helensvale around 9:30am.

That night, sleeping with no air conditioning, with crazy people screaming in the streets, I did not sleep. Not. At. All.

Got up in the morning dreading to take a shower -- this was definitely not the cleanest of bathrooms. Plus it was pretty gloomy out -- had rained off and on at night. But I hopped a bus to Helensvale and found myself pretty far out there. The cool thing was all the shops -- tons of potential jobs, etc. Only thing was once she picked me up, we drove for about 10 minutes to get to her place, which was not convenient at all.

Plus her place wasn't that great anyway.

I came back to the hostel where the cleaning ladies came in and literally changed the linens. The End.

No wonder the bathroom was so gross! They didn't do SHIT!

So I decided to walk around Surfers, get a feel for the place...found a boutique that was selling perfume for $5. I decided that I must go back there.

Afterwards, I met up with a guy I met from online. Yes. I do that when I know no one. He was very nice, drove an amazing Mercedes. I felt really special. He took me down to Broadbeach because it was a little less crazy than Surfers. And boy, was he right. We walked up and down the street until we found a good seafood place to try. It was pretty good -- I had steamed prawns (shrimp) with salad. Healthy, yes?

I left him for a hot minute because I was meeting up with a potential roommate. I went over to the guy's place in Broadbeach to see if I wanted to move in. The answer was YES. He literally lives in a prime location -- a block away from TONS of restaurants, etc -- you already know this from a previous post.

Anyway. I told him I was able to move in immediately and he said he wanted to sleep on it.

Then Eddie, the guy I met from the 'net, took me to The Spit. And WHOA. He delivered on that one. It was amazing. It's basically just a jetty that stretches out and the waves were just crashing like crazy! It was such a spectacular sight with the moon lighting the ocean, the waves crashing into the rocks and the sand blowing everywhere. Incredible.

Eddie dropped me off and I met two UK girls who were so friendly and nice. We both told each other of our romantic lives and said we couldn't wait to hear of the outcome -- like our stories were a romance novel. It was cute.

Anyway. I called up Paul -- the guy who lives way the H out there -- and told him I'd move in. I was getting nervous that the other guy, Todd, wanted to sleep on it. I was scared!

So I checked out of my hostel and moved over to Paul's place. But since I knew there was potential that Todd would say yes, I put my bag in a storage locker at the hostel -- so I wasn't moving it more than once.

And wouldn't you know, as I'm making the walk across Chevron Island to Bundall -- Todd calls me to tell me I can move in.

COM'ON PPL!

So. I make up my mind that I'll hang at Paul's for a little bit and see if I like it.

I did like it. But I didn't have internet there.

NEXT!

So I left my groceries at Paul's and dipped out to Broadbeach to see if I had internet there. Todd wasn't home -- he was at work -- so I just sat on the stairs and BAM. I had internet.

Decision made. Thank you very much.

So I hung out at the hostel for pretty much the whole day (bought myself a $5 bottle of delicious Christian Dior perfume) and met a girl from the States. She sucked.

Then, I took my bag and made my way over to Todd's to move in. He was very nice, super friendly.

But, I was off to go meet another guy I met from online. He invited me out to Bond University to hang at a pub on campus. I met him from couchsurfing.com -- a very cool website. Very handy.

So, I unpacked three things, put sheets on my bed (which is a mattress on the floor), took a shower and off I went to Bond!

But this post is long enough...so my adventures will have to wait for another time. Which I promise will be soon. I'm unemployed, remember? I ain't got nuffin to do!