Be Safe and Watch Your Mates

The 10 of us went to the Gold Coast for the weekend. We packed all of our things in a backpack and carried to school on Friday morning. Immediately after school we road the bus to the train station. For $11.20, we bought a bus ticket to the Gold Coast. The train ride was about an hour long. When we got dropped off at the train station in the Gold Coast, we caught a bus to our hotel that was located a block from the beach. By the time we arrived, it was about 7 'o clock. The hotel was very nice and we ended up getting an upgraded room.

We were all ready for a good meal so we rode in a taxi to a restaurant called Sage. The food was very expensive but it was so worth it. Kelsey and I, the two small town girls, needed our meat so we both ordered steak and mashed potatoes. The other girls ordered chicken or pasta as well as a bottle of wine.

The expectations of a waitress in Australia are so different than in the States. The tip is included in the bill so this leaves no reason for the waitress to be very courteous or overly helpful at your table. Also, restaurants cannot split the bill for you. So when our bill was given to us at Sage we all had to pay in cash. How hard is it to split the bill!? Gosh! Nevertheless, the meal was excellent and it was definitely worth it.

Then we went to a club to hangout. Deanna did not bring her ID so she had to stay outside while we all went inside. After a while, Kelsey and I went to find Deanna and we caught a taxi back to the hotel. By this time it was about 12:30 a.m. and we were exhausted! What a long day of traveling!

On Saturday, we had to be checked out of our room by 10:00 a.m.. The hotel held our bags while we walked to the beach. We were hungry so we stopped at the McDonald's on the beach and had breakfast. There were "heaps" (as an Australian would say) of shops near the beach so we walked along and shopped for clothes and souvenirs. We also did a lot of people watching. The fashion here is so interesting and different from the U.S..

Eventually, with our luck, a storm came along so we hurried back to the beach to take pictures of the water before it started to pour!

We ate lunch at a restaurant near the mall and left the Gold Coast at around 4 'o clock. We needed to have time to get back to the train station and go home to Brisbane. Also, we wanted to get out of the Gold Coast before the crazy Schoolies took over the beach!!!!