Burleigh Heads, Australia

Not the title you were expecting, huh?

Once again I was hitch hiking. I got a ride from outside Brisband heading south. Byron Bay is only less than 2-3 hours away so making it in one day was not a concern. I got a ride from a guy named Jason, who is a street performer of sorts. He does all that kind of stuff (juggling, the tall unicycle, etc) on the streets but is also hired out for private events sometimes as the entertainment. He was a nice and interesting guy to talk with. He was only going as far as the Gold Coast, which is about an hour south from where I started. He offered me to sleep in his place for the night. I was planning on visiting the Gold Coast anyway on my way back north from Byron Bay so I figured doing so now instead was fine.

Jason did not live exactly in the the Gold Coast. Actually, he may have, the definition of "Gold Coast" in Australia is something that I do not completely understand. He lived with two roommates, and one of their mothers, in a town called Burleigh Heads, which is only 7km south of Surfers Paradise and 15km north of Coolangatta (which, to my understanding, is one of two twin towns that make up the Gold Coast). Burleigh Heads is not visited by many tourists because of the draws of those towns near by, plus Brisbane a bit more north and Byron Bay a bit more south. It is kind of stuck in between several different, bigger draws leaving it a kind of black sheep.

Jason's two roommates were also street performers that were part of a form group made up by the two of them and one of their girlfriends. They seemed to be more motivated than Jason as they had formed a legal company for their group, had a website and youtube videos, and professional photographs. In fact, when I was there they were packing up a car with all their equipment so that one of the group members could drive it to waaay south over the course of a few days where he would be joined by the other two members who were flying. I cannot imagine Jason going to such lengths for a gig. The roommates were cool and one of them and I got along well right away and talked a good amount.

An aside: the mother of one of the roommates was there because she had gotten evicted out of her place and decided to move closer to her son and was living there while trying to find a job in the area. She was kind of out of place in a house full of street performers but she seemed happy with her son's life decisions and was pretty cool in her own right.

Jason offered me the house bicycle to explore the town, which is pretty small. Going around was nice and an effective way to explore. There is not a ton to see or do in Burleigh Heads but it is pleasant still. There is a hike in a park that I could not do because I had the bike, which are not allowed, and no lock. In the end, going around town only took a few hours, including time getting lost, but was good.

I was certainly glad I decided to take Jason up on his offer to crash at his place for the night. In addition to seeing a place I probably would not have seen otherwise, and a nice place too, it was an experience that I am pleased to have under my belt.