James Weir recaps the first weekend of Schoolies 2024 on the Gold Coast
Schoolies has been raging for 48-hours – with James Weir on the inside. These are the antics and pictures you won’t see anywhere else.
Schoolies Week marks a special moment in a young person’s life where they can finally get a taste of what their future will be like as an upstanding citizen who contributes meaningfully to society – and what better way to celebrate than by getting a botched Drake lyric tattooed to your butt cheek?
This is the scene that’s playing out during the first weekend of the annual post-high school party in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, as 20,000 grads swarm the iconic beachside town.
“I have been thinking about this tattoo for months now,” insists Holly Rees from Hervey Bay.
She’s standing at a late-night tattoo parlour on the Glitter Strip as the clock strikes midnight after shelling out $120 for a memento that she’ll hopefully cherish for a lifetime.
“I got this tattoo on my bum,” she says. “It says: WANTS AND DREAMZ – with a Z. Wants and Needs is a song by Drake and Wet Dreamz is a song by J. Cole – so I put them both together because that’s me and my boyfriend’s favourite songs.”
What a romantic tale. Romeo and Juliet did the exact same thing.
“I got it done tonight because I was drunk enough,” she says. “But I’ve been thinking about it for months, so I’m not stressed.”
And why should she be stressed? We can’t imagine any world in which a person would regret such a choice.
Holly says her boyfriend is going to get inked with a matching version of the tatt. It’s the kind of relationship we all pine for. One that involves his-and-hers butt tattoos.
Had she always planned on getting the special inscription on her ass cheek?
“No. But now that I have it there, I couldn’t imagine getting it any other place,” she says. “And the only person who sees my butt cheek is my boyfriend.”
She then lifts her skirt to show off said butt cheek to everyone in the vicinity.
Next to Holly are two best friends who are also getting matching tattoos.
Lacey Thomas and Jessica Berthelsen are in sync on every level. They even talk in unison while explaining their tatt choices.
“We’re gonna get it on our ribs, near our boob!”
The design? “2-2-4.”
They proceed to decipher the code.
“It means ‘today, tomorrow, forever’. Because we’re always gonna be best friends.”
The declaration is sweet but maybe improbable. The only thing that’s guaranteed? Death, taxes, and possibly regret after late-night numerical tattoos.
Outside the tattoo parlour, police patrol the party zone and frogmarch a shouty young fellow down Cavill Ave.
Later, authorities will report four Schoolies and eight non-Schoolies have been arrested for a total of 17 offences including drug possession and public nuisance while a total of 60 patients were assessed within the Emergency Treatment Centre, with two being transferred to hospital.
There is no suggestion any of the people pictured in this story were involved in any illegal behaviour or wrongdoing.
Looking on are old people and young families who all accidentally booked their dream vacations on the same weekend the city is swarmed by partying teens.
“We arrived today,” says Adelaide mum Jess Gricks as she rocks her newborn baby near an ice creamery.
What went through her head when she realised her family had unknowingly parachuted into Schoolies?
“We’re going to Brisbane tomorrow to escape,” she says firmly.
Lining the streets are official signs from event organisers that warn Schoolies: A PHOTO CAN RUIN YOUR FUTURE. Not everyone’s convinced.
“Nup. Not my future,” declares Redcliffe grad Jordan Holden.
“I’m taking over my dad’s concrete business, so I’m sweet.”
He’s not the only one who insists on focusing on the present moment.
Nearby, Brisbane teen Calvin is thinking about his future and how he’s going to afford the $1600 fine he just copped.
“I was walking along the pathway and then some police officers came up to me and were like, ‘Oi, you look like you’re pissing!’ And I was like, ‘I’m just spitting on the floor!’,” he says.
“And then f**k-face constable was like, ‘Oi, that looks like urine to me.’ And they gave me a $1600 fine.”
The most pressing question: How does spit look like a puddle of pee?
“It was a lot of spit. I was just spitting,” Calvin insists.
Yeah. Maybe in his dreamz.
Facebook: @hellojamesweir
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