‘Such a joke’: Anger erupts over ‘crazy’ scenes at Schoolies
While booze and endless partying are major drawcards of the annual school leavers tradition, it turns out, there’s also a major downside.
It might be all wild parties and non-stop boozing, but Schoolies revellers are finding out there’s a downside to descending on a single city at the same time.
Roughly 15,000 school leavers hit Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast under the promise of good times and debauchery over the weekend.
But Airlie Beach in Queensland, Byron Bay in NSW and Victor Harbor in South Australia were also flooded with 17 and 18-year-olds, as were Dunsborough and Busselton for Western Australia’s “Leavers Week”.
As a result, the largely sold out event hit one major snag.
Footage shared on social media shows Schoolies attendees queuing to access a number of different attractions, including outside of several bars and nightclubs.
One video revealed the young partygoers even had to wait in line for the essential pass that enables them entry to multiple events and parties.
“Waiting two hours in line for our wristband,” said one disgruntled school leaver in Busselton.
As others vented online about standing in line to access Fabric, a popular nightclub on the Gold Coast, with some claiming to have been outside for more than an hour.
“Such a joke,” one raged on TikTok.
“Wasted too much time outside, but it was immaculate once we got in,” added another.
Callum Weatherall, co-founder of LINES, an app which shares real-time video updates of how busy venues are and the wait times to get in, said it can be tough to accommodate everyone during Schoolies.
“Sometimes lines are inevitable. For example, there’s 100 people trying to get into a venue at once, it may take 20-30 seconds to ID them and very quickly it can take 30 minutes to get in from the back of the queue,” he told news.com.au.
“Week 1 [of Schoolies] is tough because it’s a mix of under 18 and over 18. So venues are probably doing their due diligence to not break the law by letting in underage people.
“You also have a mix of schoolies and non-schoolies people going out, so the problem is exacerbated.”
While you might be wondering who on earth would hit Schoolies if they’re not a school leaver, Mr Weatherall’s not wrong.
The term “toolies” has been coined specifically to describe an adult who gatecrashes the celebrations, and weekend 1 was filled with them.
Several visitors to the Goldie also got an unexpected surprise when they realised their trip coincided with the weekend of carnage and mayhem.
“When you accidentally book your relaxing Gold Coast break when schoolies is on …” a video shared by the TikTok account A Couple Abroad was captioned.
“As a girl from Canada, I had no idea what this was and now I cannot stand the streets in surfers,” shared a woman named Nancy Ryckman in a separate clip.
The unfortunate holiday mistake garnered a lot of sympathy from others.
“We did the same thing,” stressed one.
“The worst time to be on the GC unfortunately,” shared someone else.
As another, perhaps unhelpfully, added: “Saddle up your in for a week of unruly teenagers.”
For those school leavers heading out to party this weekend, Mr Weatherall warned that the “crazy lines” shouldn’t put them off.
“It happens every year because people gravitate to the main clubs and are prepared to wait instead of trying other venues across the road or next door with little to no line that are just as good,” he explained.
In a bid to combat the issue of spending too long in a queue, Mr Weatherall and his business partner Josh Stewart have extended their app to include Schoolies hotspots as well as Australia’s major cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast.
“Waiting excessively long times to get into venues is never fun. Our recommendation is to check the Lines App for real time updates on where is busy and how long the line is.”
Videos on the brand’s “Schoolies Lines” TikTok page have left many in shock, especially among those who thought the annual tradition had “died”.
“Okkkk it’s not as bad as I would think,” replied one.
“Damn not Schoolies popping off again, thought it died to be honest,” agreed another.
Meanwhile there were some, largely those over 30, who claimed the annual event was “overhyped”.
“Not a chance you’d catch me waiting in line, so embarrassing,” suggested one.
“I’m way too old for that,” scoffed another.
