B has not been to the Gold Coast so we want to hit the highlights of the area.
Our first stop is Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Yeah, it is kinda zoo like, but I love it there. We spend three hours wandering the paths peering at capybaras, red pandas, wombats, an emu, kangaroos, a salt water crocodile, birds of all descriptions and, of course, koalas.
Since we are in the south end of the Gold Coast, we hit Kirra Beach also. Kirra Beach is sheltered so it is a spot on the coast where the waves are not so daunting. We all swim and frolic in the water, which is refreshing after the walking in Currumbin. Our lunch stop is a bakery where we munch down beef pies. The bakeries here serve these pies and they are a favourite for the locals for lunch. Hot and tasty, they satisfy our hunger.
Shopping. The next day we spend the morning at a huge dive shop (no one bought anything) and then at the Speedo outlet store in Harbourtown Outlet Mall. We attempt to buy swim suits for some ladies we swim with but the selection isn’t wonderful, after all it is an outlet store, and we only get two of five.
HOTA, the Gold Coast’s Home of the Arts is our destination the following day. It is free and very accessible for all ages. We wander the exhibits on the three levels of the gallery. From there we walk across Chevron Island to reach Surfers Paradise. A trip to the Gold Coast would not be complete without a trip to Surfers (and a walk past the Condom store). We do a loop down Main Street, which is shops and more shops, and then down the beach. The water rolling up the beach washing over our feet is relaxing and cool. I could walk for miles. But, it is time to go as we are driving back to Brisbane to deposit the rental vehicle and then B at the airport hotel as she flies out in the morning.
We have been navigating using the GPS in the vehicle and it has worked quite well. We only take one wrong turn and it is easily corrected. I have done all the driving in Australia and am glad to arrive safely at the airport and hand over the vehicle. Phew!
Since it is earlier (4:00pm) than we planned, Murray and I head back to the Gold Coast. The plan is to take the heavy rail train, like we always do.
Murray writes…..
We planned to take the train back to Robina to continue our visit with our family. Seems the train route is being worked on and it is only operating between the airport and south Brisbane. We rode the train for two stops and were then shunted to a bus to take us most of the way south. The bus started out on ‘normal’ roads and then ducked into a secret road system. Buses only. I have never seen anything like that before. Soon we were underground and only buses were in sight. No cars, no peds, no buildings, only buses. It was, to say the least, weird and very eerie. It was like being in an alien land. We soon popped out onto the surface but still buses only. This went on paralleling the M1 for miles to the south. We finally joined the real world and the bumper to bumper traffic on the M1 as we hit the outskirts of Brisbane. We expected to get back on the train at Helensvale but instead an express bus was waiting. It only stopped at the regular train stops so the trip was relatively short. It still took us 4 hours for a 1.5 hour train trip. We finally arrived at our son’s place exhausted after a busy day.