No surfing in paradise

We arrive in the "Vegas" city of Surfers Paradise. Huge sky scrapers litter the skyline and cast huge shadows on the beach and sea. Ironically the waves here arw quite volatile so little surfing takes place on the main beach.

We check into our hostel which randomly is the same one I stayed in the last time I was here!  Not a lot had changed. But the pool was open this time!

Not a lot to see and so here. Again filled with schoolies so our nights out were packed!  The pub crawls all booked up!

A day spent on the beach and a bit of shopping keeps us occupied before my suprise Xmas present for Sam...

My xmas present was amazing. Cj, gave me a present to unwrap which was a big turtle made out of a coconut shell. It was a clue to my experience present. 

Whilst we were in Asia it was actually turtle nesting season, so the perfect time to see turtles. We only found this out towards the end so i was really gutted that we didn't see any. I can't remember how i found out but it then came to my attention that it's turtle nesting season in Australia whilst we are here, so i was desperate to see some turtles. 

My experience meant getting up at 5am the next day and getting a bus to a place called Coolagatta. We were going to get on a boat and go snorkelling at a little island called Cook island. This island is protected and has many resident turtles. 

Cj and I got into the cold (freezing) sea an followed our snorkel guide around the water. Within 10minutes we saw our first green sea turtle, it was such an exciting feeling. In total we saw 3 or 4 sea turtles. Including a huge loggerhead that i swam over as it came to the surface. It was the same size as me. Cj also found one green sea turtle on his own.

We also saw many tropical fish and a Wobbegong shark that just laid on the sand. 

We were so lucky to see so many turtles and pretty much got a private snorkel tour as the other guys on the boat were too scared of the water to come in (it was very odd). 

Unfortunately, we didn't have an under water camera to capture this amazing tour so we decided to invest in a cheap 'go pro' style camera and we were going to find more turtles along the coast to swim with, also, it was an amazing experience we wanted to do again. (so, i think the obsession started here).