We flew up to the Gold Coast on New Years Day for a bit of R&R...
The famous Surfers Paradise sign.
70km of golden beaches make up the Gold Coast, the 6th largest 'city' in Australia. The Q1 'Skypoint' Tower dominates the skyline.
A view from the top of the tower looking north, past Surfers Paradise and Southport towards Brisbane.
A view from the top of the tower looking south, past Broadbeach towards Coolangatta.
We went on a BBQ Cruise around the waterways of the Gold Coast. There are 9 times as many waterways than in Venice! Where's Wally (Nick & Sarah) competition for those with a keen eye...
One for the photo album...
Many of the houses on the waterways cost in excess of $5m. Owners include Jackie Chan, Kylie Minogue, Ian Thorpe and a guy who designed a computer program and was paid $300m for it. He decided to buy a waterside house complete with a helicopter. Nice.
On Friday night our hotel held a seafood buffet dinner including spinner crab, smoked salmon, smoked mackrel, prawns, oysters and Moreton Bay bugs (like lobster).
The famous Gold Coast 'Meter Maids' collect donations and check car-parking tickets to prevent holidaymakers getting tickets by adding extra time to the meter. Definitely think Boris could do with introducing this in London - you can bet he's suggested it!!
The sun sets on Broadbeach and the moon shines brightly...
My wife and I are coming to Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Sydney in less than three months. We are really looking forward to it. She will want to take lots of photos. We are very glad to hear that the meter maids are doing well. They are an interesting icon for the Gold Coast.
ReplyDeleteWe did make the trip referred to above. Melbourne was wonderful ... hot and pleasant. We did the Upper Beaconsfield celebration, I did the 3.7 miles run there, we went to Ballarat for the gold mining experience, and Lorne to see the Great Ocean Road. We also rode Puffing Billy, which was one of the highlights of the trip.
ReplyDeleteSydney is Sydney. Nothing beats Sydney, to us. It is hard to compete with Sydney with the great shopping, ferry boats, Bondi Beach, Taronga Zoo and Darling Harbour. Every minute there was precious. To me, Sydney is the greatest city in the whole world.
Surfers Paradise was great and yes, the meter maids were the icing on the cake. I keep hearing that the Surfers Paradise Alliance wants to close them down, but what we saw there were dozens of delighted tourists who happily posed for pictures with the bikini girls and we did, too. They were wonderful. I wanted to and did buy their calendar for me and for a friend. It was all reasonable and enjoyable.
The shopping and eating in Surfers Paradise were excellent and the "Outback Spectacular" show was awesome. That was the best single experience of the whole delightful trip.
We continue to hope that the meter maids will continue to be there as an icon for the tourists. Believe me, the people want them there and don't mind paying for a photo and buying their nice calendar. In several more years we will return. For whatever it is worth, we hope and trust that cooler heads will prevail and the meter maids will still be there. If they are not, it will bum us out and diminish our trip.