Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast
Dec 9-22
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| From Queensland, A… |
After our adventures in the Whitsundays and Fraser Island, we were ready to chill out for a while. We spent the next few weeks working our way down the Queensland to Brisbane and then on to Surfers Paradise. Along the way we stopped to enjoy the beaches at Rainbow Beach, Noosa (loved Noosa!) and Caloundra before bidding farewell to Queensland and heading into New South Wales. The further south we went, the more densely populated and commercial it got (and prices started rising, too). Just before Brisbane, we spent the day at the famous Australia Zoo, founded by the late Steve Irwin and his wife, Terry. Photos and touching tributes to Steve were everywhere and it was almost like he was there in spirit. Alexa and Simon were in love with his daughter, Bindi, who is all over the media in Australia. They were devastated by the news of her father’s death and talked about it endlessly.
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| From Australia Zoo |
They loved their day at the zoo, especially when they got to pet and feed the kangaroos and koalas and finally got to see a real live dingo. Personally, my favourite was the Tasmanian Devil.
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| From Australia Zoo |
When we reached Brisbane, Claude realized that he had left his running shoes at the holiday park in Caloundra and had to make the 3 hour return trip back to get them. In the meantime, I spent the morning with the kids in Brisbane. Like all the other East Coast towns, Brisbane has a huge artificial lagoon and waterpark.
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| From The Gold Coast |
My plan was to hang out there for the morning, but the kids were acting up and I threatened that we would go to a museum instead if they didn’t settle down. Simon’s immediate response was an enthusiastic, “Ooh, can we go to the museum, too?” How can you say no to that? We spent two hours at the museum where the kids learned all about Australia’s history, aboriginal people and unique animals. I had to force them to leave to go meet Claude at the lagoon for lunch.
Next, it was on to the Gold Coast and the neon glitz of Surfers Paradise where we splurged and took the kids to Warner Bros Movie World for the day.
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| From The Gold Coast |
It was just like MGM at Disney World and we all had a great time. By the time we reached Byron Bay, we were ready to settle down in one spot for a few days and just relax (and hopefully stop hemorrhaging money). We found a great holiday park in nearby Ballina and ended up staying there for five days. I did some last-minute Christmas shopping and Claude rented a surfboard so we could all practice our surfing skills on the perfect waves of Byron Bay.
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| From The Gold Coast |
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| From The Gold Coast |
As Christmas neared, it was time to pack up and head for Sydney where we would spend the holidays. We had a few panicked days when we discovered that the holiday park where we were supposed to stay had lost our reservation and was fully booked (as were most of the parks around Sydney). Luckily, we were able to find a cabin in Dural, about 25km from Sydney where we could stay until after the New Year. Now all we had to do was get there in time for Christmas.
Tags: Australia, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Surfer's Paradise, Travel
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