Social media reveals Victorian schoolies partying harder than ever
Many pledge that “what happens on schoolies stays on schoolies” but social media shows students are partying harder than ever, despite some reports they’re opting for smoothies over spirits.
Education
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Schoolies are bragging on social media about having full fridges packed with booze, pre-loading at 9am and enjoying “drunk dinners”.
Social media posts show many Victorian and interstate schoolies partying harder than ever, despite some reports that they are choosing lattes over lagers, and smoothies over spirits.
An estimated 4000 schoolies from Victoria are in Byron Bay this week, many of them from private schools. Thousands of others went to Rye and Lorne, with the Gold Coast also popular along with Fiji and Bali.
Despite many pledging that “what happens on schoolies stays on schoolies”, some have spoken publicly about “going on a bender” and “drinking a s--t tonne”
Bottle shops report strong sales, with Hard Solo and Smirnoff Ice Double Blacks popular choices.
There were a number of hospitalisations with alcohol poisoning, with one student bragging about drinking “half a bottle of vodka in an hour”. “RIP my liver” says another.
One clip which has been viewed one million times on TikTok shows a kitchen entirely filled with empty bottles and cans.
“That’s not much for a schoolies, where’s the other 800 beer bottles you should have gone through?” one commentator posted.
“If it doesn’t look like this we are not doing it right,” said another.
Other clips show girls sculling alcohol and “trying to get drunk on the last night of schoolies” and trying to cook and eat dinner while intoxicated.
Other clips show the aftermath of schoolies on the Gold Coast, with apartments littered with clothing, rubbish, bottles and cans.
Another clip liked 95,000 times and watched 700,000 times shows “the essentials” which is a fridge packed with Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniels premixed drinks.
Despite the continued heavy drinking culture, authorities in Queensland and Victoria report few major incidents, with one cop giving them an A+ for week one only leading to 17 arrests on the Gold Coast.
Michael Lyon, mayor of Byron Bay Council, praised schoolies revellers: “Everything is going well so far and there have been no major incidents and everyone was well behaved.”
This has been attributed in part to a higher police presence than in recent years, although some officers know how to have fun on the job, with one caught having a bop at an 80s party in Mornington this week.
Colin Thomas, Victorian director of Red Frogs, a Christian student support charity, said the binge drinking culture still existed in a small minority but was less prominent than in previous years.
He said Red Frogs so far had received 1561 calls from Victorian schoolies for help, including requests for walks home and morning pancakes and a small number of incidents and assaults.
“They’ve been pretty good, very healthy,” he said.
In South Australia the death of Charlie Stevens last week affected many, with some school leavers choosing to go home early rather than stay home and party.
In WA a couple caught on video having sex were forced to leave a public outdoor schoolies event.
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