havecarryonwilltravel

The Gold Coast is the part of the country everyone comes to for a beach vacation. Surfer’s Paradise has long been the summer mecca for Australians and foreigners. I was here in 1986 and although it was not as developed as it is now, it was still busy. The thing that hasn’t changed too much is the beach. I remember this 50M wide beach that literally went on for miles, so far in each direction you could not see the end and it was definitely too far to walk. Today our adventure consists of taking the tram to Surfer’s and walking the 5kms back to the apartment.

It is a beautiful day for a walk. The sky is clear, the sun is not too intense and there is a bit of a breeze to keep things cool. This time of year, fall, and the time of day, 10am, we are here and the crowds are minimal. All the shops are opening up but the walk down the side walk is casual. No ducking and weaving.

We stop occasionally to window shop and see what is up. There is a real estate office with pics of some super nice properties and they are not that expensive. A 2100 sq ft house is about $600,000Aus. A house of that type would cost the same in Edmonton and we don’t have a world class beach in the area.

M and Debbie walking the beach earlier in the week.

My guess is there would be close to 365 bike rideable days here. Maybe a few of the torrential downpours would be a deterrent, and I am sure it would not be great on a +35C day but other than that bike riding would, in my opinion, be preferable to car transport. Very few folks ride here. I find that odd. There are bike lanes on every major street and plenty of side streets to stay safe but hardly any bikes. The other weird thing, and of interest to me because Edmonton just spent copious amounts of money on bike lanes, is the lanes here are not used. The only people I have seen in the bike lanes are the ones that know how to ride a bike and would most likely would be on the road anyway. Everyone else, including the riders of electric bikes and electric scooters, ride on the sidewalks. That being the case, I think the bike lanes are useless and a great waste of money.

Of the people I have seen on bikes a good percentage of the the bikes are electric. Not quite half but close. Good transport but not much on the fitness part. But as I mentioned they ride these things on the sidewalks and at speed. I find it rather dangerous, maybe there have not been enough collisions to make it much of a big deal???

The Sunday Market

Other than a short walk on the beach the other day, today was our first “beach day” since we got here. Weather has been rather crappy for that so we have found other entertainment. Today the sun was out and even though the wind on the beach was a bit excessive, when we laid down we had the beginnings of a dune build up on our windward side, it was a good day to do it. The waves were big and the rip was quite strong, but the water was really warm and amazingly clear. Debbie and I have been swimming the estuary and the water is cold and murky, the ocean side is totally different and if not for the huge waves it would be good to swim in the ocean. I did swim a few strokes into the rip, which was running parallel to the beach, and made zero progress.

One of the tourist businesses that is running strong and by our calculations making a pit full of money is the helicopter ride along the beach. There is a non stop stream of heli’s plying the air from the harbour south along the beach and a constant line of Asian tourists lined up for the next ride. Every heli has a full load, the round trip takes about 20 mins. (our estimate), there are 5 or 6 heli’s flying in rotation, as one takes off another lands, and they do this 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. At $200 per rider they are making a killing.

The last odd ball piece of info has nothing at all to do with the tourist industry but is another observation of Aussie oddness. I go into a store and see something, today it was a specifically sized package of rosemary, I pick it up wanting to know the price. Nada, no price is on the tag or on the bin it came from. Nor are there prices on any of the other adjacent items. This is not always the case, it is just that it is not unusual. I’m guessing the idea is that it is either so expensive the prices is not justifiable or that anyone wanting rosemary is going to buy it anyway. Can’t say really, but I ask M and he says it is just one of the things about Aus that is a bit strange.

One of the hardest things to get used to is to look right first before crossing the road. Debbie and I have been taking care of each other and have called out more than once when the head of the other is looking left and a car or bike or bus or tram is approaching on the right. I have taken to looking both ways and still mess up.

Australia is an extremely easy place to travel in, but there are still things that shake up ones complacency. One of the reasons for travel is to make sure you realize the systems within which you live are not the only ones and not necessarily the correct ones. Every time you experience a different way of doing something, you should reflect on the way you have learned it and try to adjust your thoughts and actions to suit the best aspect of all the ways you have experienced. This is what travel is all about.

Murray, M and I walk through the Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area this afternoon for some exercise and fresh air since it is too windy to go to the beach.

Almost immediately we see wallabies. They are smaller than kangaroos, but look like them. Moms were carrying their young. This youngster had his feet sticking out and looked all scrunched up. I wonder if he is comfortable.

We meet some folks and they tell us they spotted two koalas in some trees down the path. We are given directions and after some hunting and lots of looking up, we spy this fellow snoozing. We could not locate his friend.

We wander the paths and marvel at the lush, green vegetation and all the wallabies, who seem mostly unafraid of us. I can’t help chuckling and saying “boing” “boing” each time one hops by.

I have travelled to both New Zealand and Australia. When people ask the difference I tell them NZ is more like Canada and Australia is closer to the US. It is maybe somewhere between the US and Canada. Since M & D moved to Australia we have been here a few more times I expected to, so I have had a bit more exposure and observed and noted a few oddities.

Things like the signage. “Illegal dumping prohibited”, seems a waste of paint, if the dumping is illegal it is by definition prohibited. Just sayin’.

It has taken a while, and meeting quite a few Australian couples, but Aussy men treat their wives quite different then we do in Canada. It seems to me that the idea of wife as a chattel has never left this country. They treat women in rather a demeaning fashion. It seems to work with them but I cringe when I notice it.

They have ‘City Bike’ here in the Gold Coast. The system seems odd to me. Most cities have designated pick up and drop off racks for their city bikes. Payment systems differ but if you have a bike you can use it all you want but you have to deposit it at a rack. Here the bikes have GPS chips and can be hired by swiping a UPC code with your cell phone. The bikes are scattered all over the city at random locations. If you are finished riding, you get off, scan the UPC and leave the bike where ever on a street corner or on someone’s front lawn or the middle of a park or at the entrance to a shopping mall. The scanning of the UPC activates (or inactivates) a u-lock on the back tire and where you drop the bike is where it sits until some walks by and wants to ride somewhere. Very weird.

Today I ordered a mushroom burger for lunch and odd as this might seem I got a burger of mushrooms. Not a meat patty with mushrooms on it, the burger was some sort of deep fried batter that contained the sliced mushrooms and melted cheese. There was no meat involved. Should have expected that I guess, but I had the North American model in mind and it was a bit of a disappointment. It was edible though.

Australians are know for their beer drinking but I did not realize they were such gamblers. Driving about Edmonton I am always a bit amazed at how many casinos and such there are, wondering how many people must go there and piss away copious amounts of cash. Here there are gambling opportunities at every street corner. Pokies (VLT’s), off track betting and the like everywhere. I guess Australians make too much money.

Alcohol is readily available at corner stores, burger joints, and other establishments that you could not get it in Canada. Maybe contributes or services Australia’s love of booze, not sure which, but it is things like this is why I say it is more like the US.

Australia is an easy place to travel even though some things amaze me.

We are back in the city. Traffic. Tall buildings. Huge grocery stores. People. M&D, our kids. Wearing street clothes and deodorant.

Our flight from Fiji to Brisbane was very comfortable in Business Class. We thank the Fijian Gods. We rode the train from the airport to Helensvale and then the G:link tram to the Southport South station just around the corner from our Airbnb apartment and about five blocks from the kids’ condo.

The apartment is very small, slightly used but comfy enough for our 10 days here. Our biggest challenge was to unpack all our stuff and where to store it. We bought some groceries and are able to make breakfast and lunch.

We are spending time mostly with M as D is doing her surgery rotation, reviewing cases and writing a medical ethics paper. We chat over supper then she disappears into the study to work. We are enjoying the bits of time spent with D, learning about her days in the hospital. M, Murray and I played a board game called Pandemic this evening. It is a cooperative game and is very well thought out.

We spent this afternoon solving diving gear issues. We solved Murray’s BCD problem and know how we are going to solve my fin issue, just have to go back to one of the dive shops to buy some straps.

We swam today in the ocean in a netted off area for swimmers just near the Aquatic Centre. We think we swam about 1200 meters. It was a great swim and neither of us feel tired from it. The driving around to dive shops is exhausting though.

You may not hear from us everyday as life here isn’t terribly exciting or different. Goodnight!