On Holiday: Gold Coast

We recently spent a week in Surfers Paradise. It's about 11 hours (driving) north of Sydney, just beyond the border of NSW. "Surfers Paradise" is actually the name of the town. Gold Coast is what they call this stretch of beaches, and it's at the south end of the state of Queensland. OK. Geography lesson over.

The kids have 6 weeks off school for summer holidays. We have spent most of it hanging out around Sydney. Since ALL schools are out, most pools, beaches, parks, etc are buzzing with kids. I have also found it crazy that many businesses are closed down for 4-6 weeks (between Christmas and Australia Day - Jan 26.) This includes our regular pizza place--the sign on the window says "We'll see you Jan 27" and it's been up there since before Christmas!
Anyway, back to our holiday. Thanks to Matt's Marriott points, he got us a week in Surfers. Woohoo! We were excited to see more of Australia, (especially Marriott-style). The road trip itself was interesting. We learned that the highway from here to there is 2-lane most of the way. As in one lane going up and one lane coming down. There are lots of bridges to cross, and so many towns along the way that left me wondering what people could possibly do there to make a living... The entire coast we travelled was very green and forest-like. Only not an evergreen forest, but gum tree forests. (sidenote: all I can think about as we drive through this lush green beauty is how many millions of possums live in these trees... I'm so SICK of possums! In case you thought maybe they had left us alone, NO. They haven't, and I still hate them.)

Here's some pics from the trip.

(Aubrye's blog goes day by day over the whole entire thing, so most of you have probably already seen some of these...)

I'm sure we exceeded our occupancy allowance... with a portacrib and a rollaway all lined up between the 2 queen beds--total slumber party every night, except the slumber party had to be more slumber less party once Taylor was down.

The salt water lagoon and the main pool, taken from our balcony. Behind our resort was the Broadwater bay. In the other direction about 200 metres is the real ocean.

Every morning we could watch the worker dude feed the fish. We all loved snorkelling in our own lagoon, complete with colorful fish and a waterfall. The sand was super coarse, and kinda painful, but the convenience of a beach at the hotel was awesome.

Bryson's morning snorkel. It was about 80 degrees at 9am and the water was just cool enough to be refreshing. aahhhh.

Each morning, the kids would color a picture during breakfast and post it on this board. The next day they would rush down to breakfast, not for the pancakes, but to see who was "Yesterdays Winner." Aubrye won the first day, and after that, the boys were more determined than ever to become the next "yesterdays winner." By the end of the week, Zach wasn't even eating breakfast. He just colored and colored. One morning he looked up at me and asked, "mom, do you really think I'll ever be yesterdays winner?"

Aquaduck, aquaschmuck! We took this tour bus thing ("amphibious vehicle" if you will). It drove around town and then drove right into the water. The kids each got a turn driving while we were in boat mode... It was actually so pathetic, although we were able to keep a smile on UNTIL... they sold $5 quack whistles and passed them out. We had to listen to kids honk those damn whistles in our ears the rest of the tour. But wait. It got worse. As we drove down Main St. people yelled and mocked us! Apparently the Aquaduck isn't what you'd call cool. Thanks for the recommendation Linda! LOL.

SEA WORLD

Gold Coast is where all the amusement parks of Australia are found. We decided on Sea World and Wet 'n Wild. Neither Matt nor I could've tolerated any more amusement than that. Besides the beating of the sun and constant re-applying of sunscreen, Sea World was fun. Not the case with W'nW. Don't get me wrong--I love the slides. But, I'll never go back. I always hated 7 Peaks and swore I'd never go back there either. This place was 10x more disgusting (heaps of fake green turf stained with old ketchup and unidentifiable grime.) The lines were SO long. I think I went on 2 rides. The kids, maybe 4. Matt, one. Just before we left, we took 2 pics of us in the wave pool. I think I'm struggling to smile. It's down below... First, here's Sea World fantastic dolphins. Don't feel obligated to watch the whole thing... I didn't take the time to cut it down :)

At Sea World, I had visions of Taylor scooting up to the stage, like the Elmo groupie that he is, but it wasn't meant to be. He was SO beyond tired we didn't even stay more than 5 minutes. Matt and the other kids weren't complaining about leaving early! We headed over to the Dolphin Show which was amazing. Dolphins have wicked core strength...

After a nap and some lunch, Tay was back to his happy self. He totally mastered the merry-go-round (and I loved it too because it had no line!) The other kids and I rode the Pirate ship that swings really high (in the pic, I have on a black hat, and the kids are practically all in my lap.) This ride is at Lagoon, too, and apparently the kids had remembered liking it. Matt remembered a little more accurately, and sat that one out, with Tay. I was cracking up the whole time while the kids were clenching their bellies and digging their nails into my arms. I don't think they'll ask to go on that one again anytime soon. We also went on the Corkscrew. Aubs and Bryson got a little beat up because their heads barely reached up into shoulder harness. Once was enough for them on that one, too. I loved it, as I love all roller coasters :)

Wet 'n ...ready to go home...

In the evening we'd walk downtown for dinner. We always walked past the Wax Museum, and this hideous guy. Matt told Zach that this is where he came from.

We took turns choosing where to eat. Matt's choice? Korean BBQ of course! The kids really loved the bulgogi and I had bi bim bop. (no clue how to spell those...) **Notice Matt's face? He had a run in with the rocks in the pool, but it looked like he got into a bar brawl.**

My dinner choice was Bumbles.

Linda had recommended it from when they stayed here last month (it made up for the Aquaduck recommendation.) We looked over the menu and loved it. Sadly, they turned us away because they only had this little round table, and didn't think 6 people could cram in there. We were devastated. We drove around in vain, looking for something else, contemplating how we could appear to be a smaller family, more suited to their quaint & petite preferences. Their menu kept running through my head. It was our last night in town and our last chance for Bumbles. Matt flipped the car around and we went back, tail between our legs and begging. "No worries. We'll just seat you here," they said. Huh? Well, ok. It did not disappoint. In fact, Aubrye wants to pattern her future restaurant on this one. It was absolutely adorable and the food was delicious. It reminded me of Sundance (the menu), Kneaders (the cafe style & bakery items) and Chef's Table (the prices) all rolled into one! We didn't have our camera at dinner, so after we got the boys home and in bed, she and I walked back to Bumbles to take a few pics :) I have no shame. It was stripped from me by the Aquaduck.

Driving home: the kids did a little sleeping, alot of DS playing and even some neck pillow activities. Can you believe we made it both ways with no DVD player??? Matt & I gave the "when we were kids on a road trip..." lecture a number of times :)