The Gold Coast

Our last day in Queensland we went to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast, south-east of Brisbane. Back in the 50's the area was an almost unknown part of Australia, when someone had the brilliant idea to change the name of their town to Surfer's Paradise, and the rest is history. Now it is one of the most developed coasts in the world. I don't know how a country so small supports such a large vacation area.  They must have millions of tourists every year. It is mile after mile of high rise hotels, condos, and apartments.  There are a few theme parks in the area, including Sea World, Warner Bros. Studios, Wet-n-Wild, and Dream World.

We arrived south of the main part of Surfer's Paradise after a long train and bus ride and walked along the beach watching a kite surfer and an occasional regular surfer. Swimming in Australia is only allowed in certain areas of the beach, and the rest is reserved for surfers and boogie boarders. The lifeguards focus on the swimming areas, and there is a large volunteer surf-watch group that watches both the swimmers and the surfers, but mostly the surfers.  Not many folks were out, it was still early, and the weather was not very good, windy with rain on-and-off.

We had lunch at a local surf club.  I'd describe it as a country club for the water sport set.  The dining room was open to visitors, with a 10% surcharge over member prices.  It was interesting to eat with the locals, and the view of the ocean was awesome.  While we ate lunch the sun came out, so after lunch we enjoyed a nice walk up to the main part of Surfer's Paradise, and then a promenade with lots of shops and cafes.  We finished at a large inlet, part of a bay with a large wharf, and walked along it to Beach Rd. to catch our bus back to the train station.  The train on the way back had WiFi, so I checked my email and Facebook and finished homeschool for the day with Misa. Despite the poor weather and not being able to go for a swim, it was a good day.

We made it back to Sydney on Sunday early in the afternoon.  After unpacking I headed to a mall with a K-Mart to buy a mattress topper for our beds.  One thing I have noticed that was also true on our first visit, Australian hotels (and our apartment) have hard beds.  I think our bedss are actually just bricks covered with a few layers of cloth.  Even after adding the one mattress topper I bought today I might have to go back for another one or two.