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Our Holiday Diary |
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Day 1: September 30th 2002:
Damo, D'Olly, Phil and Jacko, arrive in Brisbane airport and get a rather expensive transfer bus to our hostel (YHA Brisbane). We join the YHA for a sum of $32 and pay for our rooms. We are informed that, because we did not book ahead, we will have to stay in a 10-man dorm for the night. We arrive at our room and are greeted by a hippie with a beard that has been stylishly plaited (or so Olly thinks, anyway) and a Northern guy who seems to think this particular hostel is "a lot like prison". A guy with three inch thick glasses peers at us above his Star Wars book, makes sure his locker is locked and gets back into bed. At that point we all strapped as many personal belongings as was physically possible to our bodies and got out explaining that the trip had made us quite hungry. We left the hostel and decided to check out Brisbane's thriving night-life (or lack thereof). For what has been labelled "The Sunshine Capital", Brisbane is quite possibly the most boring place all four of us have ever been to. We decided that the first night demanded something special but all we could find was a small Hungry Jacks restaurant (a cheap imitation of Burger King). With a few chips inside us, we made our way eventually back to the hostel, relieved that we would only be spending one night in Brisbane. We aimed to stay up watching tv that night for as long as possible; any excuse for not going back to our dorm. That night we slept with our phones, wallets, money and our passports. |
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Day 2: October 1st: We left Brisbane as early as possible and got a bus down to Byron Bay. There, we met Bria and booked ourselves into J's hostel. We were again in a dorm but this time it was slightly more spacious. From there we rented body boards and travelled a short distance to the main beach. We spent the day there and eventually headed out to a great classy establishment called Cheeky Monkeys. We ate there at about 8.30 pm. At about 9pm, we were all given raffle tickets and were promised that a few prizes were up for grabs that night. Jack immediately won a free jug of beer when his ticket was called out. When the MC asked for 6 volunteers, Damo couldn't resist so he volunteered Bria. Bria was teamed up with a "simply lovely" Swedish boy named Lars. Brai simply had to sprint from the back of the pub to the bar, skull a drink and tag her Swedish partner. He then daintily ran to the back of the pub and was ordered to drink a shot of Gatorade (Gappies 2002 would now kindly like to take this opportunity to thank Gatorade -The Thirst Quencher - for the kind use of thier name on our most humble website) and to eat three Cream Crackers. After showing that there were no more morsels of cracker in his mouth (and also hiding the 1 and a half crackers he ad already spilled on the ground), Lars and Bria were declared winners and bothe received a $140 voucher for a Fraser Island trip. We then met up with a sunburnt Conor, Frank and Terry and stayed there until 2am, where we crashed into our beds and woke to sweet sound of snoring the following morning. |
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Day 3: October 2nd: Olly awoke as planned at 7.30 am and sprinted off to the beach and each of us followed at different intervals. He bought a huge tub of suncream and a frisbee that only works when the wind isn't blowing. But we made the most of the day body-boarding and eating in some of Byron's more trendier spots. We spent all day on the beach and at 6.30pm, we decided to treat ourselves to the discount Italian restaurant across the road from our hostel. After a very insubstantial meal, we made our way to the (now famous) Beach Hotel. What is it with Australian bouncers not being able to understand that a Garda ID card is for the sole purpose of proving that the holder of the card is, in fact, eligible to drink? We spent an hour and a half there and made our way back to the now-packed Cheeky Monkeys. Apparently the crowd had heard the Gappies would be returning that night and who are we to disappoint a multitude of adoring fans? We left 2 mins later. An early night.... |
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Day 4: October 3rd: We awoke bright and early to pack and get ready to leave for the infamous Surfer's Paradise, the Australian Ibiza. We had already arranged to meet Mic Ryan there and so we decided to book our hostel in advance. The Brit(t)ish Arms Tavern was a very interesting place. We were met by a Dilly who spoke Dilly to Bria and then intorduced us to another Dilly posing as a lager lout. But they did give us free vouchers to use at the bar, which they owned also. Our room was bare but it was warm and comfortable. Although, we don't think the concrete in the walls has set just yet. We were dumped in a 6-man room and were told that a lovely Canadian girl was a room-mate. And lovely she was indeed! She got us tickets to get free entry into the Sugar Shack and gave us the hot (and not-so-hot) destinations of Surfer's Paradise. We had already planned that day to go and see Movieworld, but were told that we would need a full day to visit so on the spot we decided to go Parasailing (for $40 incl. tax). We were taken out on a small speed boat and were hooked into our harnesses. Jack and D'Olly went first. They were both very brave. Damo (even braver) and Bria went next and Phil had to go on his own due to lack of numbers. It was a great experience. We got back to our hostel soon after and got in contact with Mic Ryan and his mates Sam and Steve/Edward. We had been told by the guys at the Parasailing place that a place called The Sugar Shack which sold $1 beers(that's about Eur0.55). |
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