A lesson in how NOT to go to the gold coast.

So with a fairly light week behind us and a lighter week ahead of us, we decided to head to the beach.

We decided that we’d take public transit out to surfers’ as it should only take us about 1.5 hours. Boy, were we ever wrong.

We started boarding the bus from uni at 9am. As the bus made its way to the city it picked up all of our friends along the way. Well, at least it was SUPPOSED to pick everyone up. The bus was so packed by the time it got to the bus stop where 2 of our friends were waiting, it just kept driving. So we continued into the city and decided we’d meet the other 2 at the train station. When everyone finally got to the train station it was just after 10am. We had missed the express train to the gold coast. it left at 9:57am. The next one was at 10:27.

So we get on the 10:27 train. We’re about ¼ of the way there when the speakers over our heads crackle and come to life: “due to track work between station X and station Y, this train will be out of service at the next stop. Please board buses are outside of station X to connect to station Y. thank you.”

“What?!?!?”



So we get off the train, and board the bus.
We then get off the bus and back on the train.

The rest of the journey went along quite smoothly. We took the train into the gold coast and then took one last bus ride into surfers. We finally got there just before 1pm. What was supposed to be a 1.5 hour ride turned into one just under 4 hours!

But we were all in good spirits. The sun was out, the sand was soft and the surf was roaring.

After about 4 hours of roasting in the sun mixed in with some swimming and some surfing… That’s right! SURFING! ...



We decided to grab a bite to eat and then head home. We knew we had a long way to go. So we go back to where we got off the bus thinking that we’d just cross the street and catch the bus in the opposite direction to get back to the station. *shakes head* you didn’t think it’d be THAT easy did you???

After lots of walking and some seriously confused faces we found the bus that took us back to the train. Little did we know that this bus would be the longest bus ride EVER! I think we made about 12 right turns and about 47 left turns. lets just say that, it was not the express/direct bus to the station!

We get to the station and we jump on the train.



We get off the train at station Y and jump on the bus.
We take the bus from station Y to station X.
Jump off the bus and get back on the train at station X.
But wait, the bus driver drove too slow! So we missed the train from station X into the city and had to wait until the NEXT train.
We finally get into the city just after 9pm and catch the bus home. I finally got home just before 10pm. What was supposed to be a quick day at the beach turned out into a 13 hour affair. Whew!

But it wasn’t all bad though.
We had a great time at the beach, learned a few things and made some good friends...
1. next time, rent a car. It’s only about $39 to rent a car here in oz. split that 5 ways and you get $8/person. Round trip on public transit cost us $7.40. I think it’s definitely worth the extra 60 cents!
2. surfing is definitely not as easy as it seems.
3. despite the long unexpected delays and the frustration, at the end of the day, everyone had a smile on their faces and took it all in stride. Surprise, surprise… they were all Canadians!