Surfer’s Paradise Blog And The Miss Supercar V8 Girls

The Party Blogger’s Australian Adventure Continues In The Gold Coast

After two days in Sydney, I’ve now arrived for a week in Surfer’s Paradise, and at first glance I know I’ll love this place.

In fact, I knew that as soon as the plane broke through the clouds to reveal a beach lined with high-rises and lush vegetation behind it, the latter reminding me of the Caribbean. This, I figured, must be a civilized Caribbean. Everything around the beach was immaculate; the roads were perfectly paved and looked as if they had just been built yesterday.

Upon landing, when my mate picked me and a friend up at the airport, things began to take on the look of a different place. With canals everywhere, houses with boat docks on canals and water everywhere, it reminded me of Florida. Ft. Lauderdale specifically. Thant makes more sense than the Caribbean with all the high-rise hotels on the beach.

The only part of Surfer’s Paradise that I saw from the ground was from inside a limo. Soon after arriving my mate took us to be in a parade to launch a week’s worth of activities for the V8 Supercars race taking place this weekend in Surfer’s Paradise. He’s made me part of his Procon Leisure team and, as almost any Aussie knows, Procon Leisure puts on the Miss V8 Supercars pageant.

 

 

The reigning winner – and good mate – Casey Boonstra was part of the parade. So, too, were several girls dressed in throwback grid suits representing the great history of Procon Leisure pageant girls associated with car races in Surfer’s Paradise.

So a few of us, led by my mate Rosko who runs Procon Leisure, got into a stretch Hummer limo, one that does Vegas-style nightclub tours in the Gold Coast, and rode through town. Casey was standing out of the sunroof, waving to the crowd, while the rest of us were inside. The limo was pumping with dance music and full of that dry ice smoke. It was like being in a Vegas limo!

The parade route was four- and five-deep with people and I got a look at the ocean and a lot of the shops, restaurants and bars of Surfer’s Paradise, the latter of which I’ll be sure to give further inspection up close and personal.

 

That evening, my mate Rosko then took me to a place for dinner right on the water down the coast a bit. It’s called The Surf Club Kurrawa, and it’s kind of like the Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki Beach in that it’s a private club with a water theme (lifeguards as opposed to outrigger canoeing).  It’s also more of a relaxed and family kind of place than Outrigger and it’s beers are only $6. Plus, it has pokies, the Aussie slot machines that are so prevalent in bars in this country.

Up next is checking out Surfer’s Paradise on foot. Tuesday, the Miss V8 Supercar finalists arrive from all over Australia, and that starts a full week of activities.

Check back for details and photos!

Cheers!