Schoolies 2014: Drunk on life after exams HE beer bong is loaded with a Bacardi Breezer. A schoolie jams the funnel into his mouth and releases the valve. But before he manages to finish it, he collapses in a heap on the grimy carpet, the remainder of the pre-mixer spilling on the floor. There's a moment of panic but he soon splutters and coughs to life before he starts laughing. His mates chastise him for not finishing the drink. Welcome to the Islander hotel, a notorious Surfers Paradise hot spot for schoolies who want to party hard. GALLERY: What have the Schoolies been up to this year? This week The Courier-Mail was smuggled inside some of the Gold Coast's most popular hotels for a revealing look at what teenagers get up to behind closed doors. In the hallway on the ninth floor of the Islander, about 10 revellers are chanting as they load beer bongs, one after another. One schoolie says this is the first time she has ever done one. Schoolies 2014: Many nights end like this one. Picture: Marc Robertson "I could only get halfway through it," she says. But it was really awesome. Even though I feel sick, I'd do it again. The time is just after 11pm and everyone seems heavily intoxicated. One reveller tells The Courier-Mail he defecated into a cup a few days earlier and threw it off the balcony into the pool at the Mantra. He shows his Schoolies identification. This is me. Put my name down," he insists. It's hard to tell if he's serious. Empty drinks are scattered over the worn carpet in the hotel. The concrete stairwells smell of festering urine mixed with another dank odour that's hard to place. A teen drinks from a beer bong: Picture: Tom Snowden The whole hotel feels like it's in the suburban wild. A throng of teenagers are gathered inside a doorway along the narrow hall. One of their friends is sitting on the toilet while another beer bong is being loaded. "We're like one big family here," Rachel Grace says. Everyone wants to come and join the party. Another reveller tells The Courier-Mail ecstasy is really popular at this year's festival. He says his own Schoolies celebration was last year, but he came down from the Sunshine Coast to visit friends who graduated this year. "Last year, everyone was smoking heaps of pot," he says. This year, it's all about the pingas (ecstasy). Cameron Darben cuts him off. He insists Schoolies isn't about drugs. He says they've all worked hard during high school and deserve to blow off a bit of steam. Schoolies party at The Islander. Picture Glenn Hampson "It's just about getting some time off to get blind with your mates," he says, adding that he wants to study law at university next year. Others chime in. They want to study journalism, PR, business, economics. They start discussing their predicted OPs. The Islander isn't the only place where teenagers are blowing off a lot of steam. It's reportedly happening across the board at most of the Schoolies hotels. Similar scenes have been witnessed at the Outrigger, the Mantra, and the Crown, with plenty of stories having emerged from many others. Despite this, the schoolies seem relatively well behaved this year. Local business owners agree they've all been "pretty good" compared with a lot of last year's ratbag bunch. Police, paramedics and organisers have largely praised them too. There has been lots of drunkenness, some violence, some drug busts - including a 20-year-old Brisbane man caught in the heart of the party district allegedly holding 38 ecstasy tablets. As of yesterday afternoon, 102 schoolies had been arrested during the week. Although close to the 106 busted last year, it's a drop in the ocean considering almost 20,000 schoolies are jammed into a few square kilometres. It's all about the booze at Schoolies. Picture: Mike Batterham The time is now about 1am. A schoolie stumbles from one of the rooms. His eyes are glazed and red. He's sipping from a water bottle. He asks his friends if someone can take him back to his hotel. The Courier-Mail offers to walk him but it's all the way up at Main Beach. "It's OK, I'll call the Red Frogs," one of his friends say. "Every hotel gets their own Red Frog team," she explains. They're really awesome. She arranges to meet them downstairs in a few minutes. A few teenagers help their struggling friend into the lift. As the door closes, he leans on one of them for support before they disappear from view. It's the close of another typical Schoolies night.