Eager to be in Byron Bay for Saturday night, we decided to opt for the overnight Greyhound from Sydney. However, with 4 drunken Irish inconsiderate beings sitting behind us, we were both cursing under our breaths, praying for a good night's sleep. Once clambering off the bus around 9 am the next morning, we were thrilled to find that the Irish we heading to the same hostel as us- Main Beach Backpackers, but on arrival they weren’t in our dorm: result! Anyhow, we had a quick nose at the beach before heading to bedfordshire for an hour or so. The rest of the afternoon we meandered around town and did some desperately urgent washing. At 7pm it was time to enjoy a B.B.Q. laid on by the hostel which included a sausage, burger, salad and jacket potato- it felt like forever since we had had a decent filling meal. To quench our thirst we headed out to the Beach Hotel for a drink on the veranda followed by a stroll through town enjoying the live music blaring from each drinking establishment. We then settled on an icecream in Baskin31Robbins instead of another drink (expensive, but Jess was still dreaming of it 2 days later!), taking a pew on the grassy bank overlooking the sea.
Sleeping Inn was actually our favorite hostel so far. It is a converted motel so each dorm is actually like an apartment with its our kitchen, t.v and bathroom. We met great people while staying in our apartment, including Hugo and Ryan who, after a quick whizz around the supermarket, we then sampled Surfers night life with. The hostel had arranged for free entry, first free drink, free food (well you sort of had to fight for a piece of pizza) and cheap drinks until midnight at a club called Crazy Monkeys. After drinking our way through a tad too many vodka cranberries, we went next door to a shooters bar, decked out in wooden paneling, saloon style. Armelle climbed onto the podium, a compulsory activity when a few drinks have been consumed! It then took us a while to get home as after a pizza stop we came across a street busker. We then joined in, much to the musicians delight, and questionably sung our little hearts out to old classic such as Hotel California and American Pie. 
We then continued on our way and got talking to a guy who apparently knows Armelle's brother Francois and got very excited about it- someone from Chilgrove or Chidham or something beginning with 'C' called Jack! Jess tends to get a little tiddly very quickly whereas Armelle takes a while longer for the alcohol to take effect, meaning that one of us normally wakes up with a severe hangover as the other gets away scotts free due to being sober by bed time! The next day, we gently strolled around the gleaming clean, palm tree lined town centre before grabbing our beach stuff and descending on the beach with Hugo and Ryan. 
That evening we undeniably ate the best value for money dinner ever! This meal for just over 2 pounds involved all you can eat Dominos pizza, around 60 pizza boxes carted in, enough leftovers for breaky! Our apartment crew then watched Blades of Glory- a brilliant pirated film which hasn’t yet been released in OZ! At an ungodly hour the next morning Jess hauled herself out of bed to take some photos of the sunrise. It was quite a monumental effort, but was worth it in the end: the pictures speak for themselves.
The next day we read the morning away and then decided to walk to the most easterly point of Australia- the light house. Well, this semi happened, as by the time we reached the end of the beach and climbed a rocky outcrop to watch the surfers we decided that the light house could not possibly be any more easterly compared to where we were standing. This judgment may be slightly swayed by the fact that you had to climb to the top of a substantial hill to reach the light house! As we walked back to town, it decided to rain. We turned this disappointing change in the weather into a productive (if very long!) spell on the internet, bringing the blog reasonably up to date. The next morning, Armelle ran to join a yoga class in a studio right on the beach. This 90 minute dose of exercise and meditation was greatly appreciated by a rather weary body! During that time, Jess browsed the shops and sorted out some internet banking issues. We then absorbed the rays on the beach before heading back to the Greyhound stop to catch our 2.50 pm bus to Surfer's Paradise. As the sun set, the high rised buildings of Surfer's Paradise dominated the horizon. The view conjured up excitement and mild disgust at the colossal eyesore. As described by the Lonely Planet: ‘like a big, tacky, wild ride, the Gold Coast welcomes you with a blinding and unapologetic smack of tourist development’. This statement was instantly turned into a reality when a LIMO picked us up from the bus stop to escort us to Sleeping Inn Surfers hostel a whole 500 meters down the road!
Sleeping Inn was actually our favorite hostel so far. It is a converted motel so each dorm is actually like an apartment with its our kitchen, t.v and bathroom. We met great people while staying in our apartment, including Hugo and Ryan who, after a quick whizz around the supermarket, we then sampled Surfers night life with. The hostel had arranged for free entry, first free drink, free food (well you sort of had to fight for a piece of pizza) and cheap drinks until midnight at a club called Crazy Monkeys. After drinking our way through a tad too many vodka cranberries, we went next door to a shooters bar, decked out in wooden paneling, saloon style. Armelle climbed onto the podium, a compulsory activity when a few drinks have been consumed! It then took us a while to get home as after a pizza stop we came across a street busker. We then joined in, much to the musicians delight, and questionably sung our little hearts out to old classic such as Hotel California and American Pie. We then continued on our way and got talking to a guy who apparently knows Armelle's brother Francois and got very excited about it- someone from Chilgrove or Chidham or something beginning with 'C' called Jack! Jess tends to get a little tiddly very quickly whereas Armelle takes a while longer for the alcohol to take effect, meaning that one of us normally wakes up with a severe hangover as the other gets away scotts free due to being sober by bed time! The next day, we gently strolled around the gleaming clean, palm tree lined town centre before grabbing our beach stuff and descending on the beach with Hugo and Ryan. That evening we undeniably ate the best value for money dinner ever! This meal for just over 2 pounds involved all you can eat Dominos pizza, around 60 pizza boxes carted in, enough leftovers for breaky! Our apartment crew then watched Blades of Glory- a brilliant pirated film which hasn’t yet been released in OZ! At an ungodly hour the next morning Jess hauled herself out of bed to take some photos of the sunrise. It was quite a monumental effort, but was worth it in the end: the pictures speak for themselves.
At a slightly more reasonable hour that morning, it was already time to move onto our next destination, Brisbane, an hour and a half north.
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