The Gold Coast!

With out further delay I must tell you all about the trip to the Gold Coast; Coolangatta, Queensland to be exact. We left Sydney early Thursday (March 5th) morning and got to the Coolangatta Sands Hostel before anyone was even at the front desk to let us into our room. I will share more about the hostel in a bit, but if you are wondering... it was my first hostel stay, and will most likely be the last.

The city of Coolangatta only has about 4500 people - but when the Quiksilver Pro Tournament comes to town -- I would be willing to guess that the population shoots up to 15,000-20,000 people. There was hardly a vacancy in town (trust me, I would know - I tried to find somewhere else to stay after a few hours at the hostel) and the beaches were packed with surf fans and sun lovers alike to cheer on the men and women competing in the Quikie Pro. I will briefly explain that during these tournaments there is a waiting period, and in the case of the Quikie Pro at Snapper Rocks, it was about a 16 day waiting period - and the officials of the tourney are essentially waiting for the best waves to come through; if the waves are good the competition is on, if it's flat the entire operation is on hold. So that being said, the Men and Women were both off on Thursday, and then Men were off again on Friday....

Day 1:

We spent the majority of  Thursday morning walking around and checking out the city - we discovered very quickly that Coolangatta was quite a bit warmer than Sydney in March. It was nearly 85 degrees every day and hardly a cloud in the sky. While we were strolling around killing time before we could officially "check in" to our room we scouted out places for lunch. And after making a few laps of the town center we had found exactly what we had been searching for in Sydney -- and actual Mexican restaurant - you know the chips, salsa and margs...and after a long lunch full of margaritas we headed down to the beach to soak up an afternoon in the sun.

Later that day - back the lovely Sands Hotel (I think I have mentioned before that the word hotel is commonly used for a bar, and in this case it doubled for the name of the bar and the name of the hostel...slightly confusing if you don't know what you're getting in to) we quickly learned that the Sands Hotel was home to many, many nights of live music...and I suddenly realized I'm old. That's right. Old. The idea of live music blasting a floor below all night long was not my idea of a relaxing vacation at the beach. And come to find out there was to be live music for the duration of our trip...not to mention the beloved AC/DC cover band Acca Dacca, who played until the wee wee hours of Saturday morning. Any way after we decided we weren't going to find a better deal on a room we opted to stay at the Sands, and really it wasn't all bad, and I learned to fall asleep with the rage of a party going on beneath us. And by us I mean, me, Chris, and our two other random roommates - Mark from Wales and our other roomie was from Japan, she was a bit of an odd duck who had a strange love for avocados.

Day 2:

Like I mentioned the waves weren't quite up to par for the men to take on the waves on Friday, but the women were in full swing so we headed down to the beach to cheer them on.  After a full day of watching the 2nd and 3rd rounds at Duranbah we headed over toward the main event grounds at Snapper Rocks and checked out all that Quicksilver and its sponsors had to offer.  We made our way to the main beach and watched several free surfers...as we got closer to the shore we realized that one of the free surfers just happened to be the one and only..Kelly Slater. (If you are unaware who Mr. Kelly Slater is, shame on you. If you just need a bit of a refresher please visit www.kellyslater.com  thank you.) So he rode a few more waves right into the beach where I was anxiously awaiting to approach the legend. Like a crazy 10 year old seeing their favorite ball player, I tried to play it cool, but I was hopeless. Absolutely hopeless.

Chris was not about to be the one to make a fool out of himself, so I went ahead and took one for the team. With Chris's 2009 Quiksilver hat in hand I patiently waited for the actual 10 year olds to clear out and then walked up to him. All the things I could've said went rushing through my head but when I finally got face to face to with him all that I could sputter out was.....

Me: Hi

Kelly: Um Hey

Me: Hi

Kelly: (Giving me a look of....should I know who are you crazy girl?)

Me: I'm a big fan, a big big fan. Would you sign the hat?

Kelly: Sure.

Me: Thanks Kelly, goodluck.

Kelly: Thanks.

As I walked away all I could think was .... I am so lame. A big fan, I'm a real big fan? (Buzz your girlfriend woof.) Meanwhile Chris had ran up the beach and was hiding behind the biggest rock he could find, making sure no one on the beach knew he was with me. Oh but let me tell you - it was so worth it. With the autograph now safe in my possession Chris and I headed off to grab lunch - and wouldn't you know it Kelly Slater showed up where we were eating, so now not only had I creeped him out on the beach, but I would have the opportunity to creep him out all over again. What a day! 

That night back at the hostel...more live music!

Day 3 & 4:

Coming soon!

(I mean it Sara, I will have it posted soon!)