On our way to Australia

Our views from the 8th floor of Surfers Paradise




We have family and friends in Australia, all in the hot tropical north of Queensland, so we were easily seduced by the advertised cheap fares. It was cheaper to book a 7-night trip to Surfers Paradise and go on up to Townsville for another week, than to just fly to Brisbane and handle our own accommodation. So we were happy to have 7 lovely days in Surfers paradise, I have not stayed there for over 40 years so I expected plenty of changes and I certainly found them! Back then, it was just a small town of single story buildings, I stayed in a small motel beside to beach, but that’s long gone.
Surfers now is: just a tourist haven, a concrete jungle, Theme parked to extinction, a jumble of highrises that block the sun, full of beach bunnies and topless at that, yes its all of that, though we didn’t see too much topless bathing as it was too cool, but Surfers is more than that. There is some great cafes, a beaut Casino, apartments for all at every price range, some of the biggest shopping centers I have ever seen, and ofcause the great beach, it also has still got the wonderful squeaky to walk on sand that I can remember loving so long ago, plus a lovely climate and lots of friendly relaxed people,; not all of whom are tourists, about half of them are fellow Kiwis who have made the big shift to Auzzie, to the warmer weather and the better pay that can be had over there. A few years ago we might well have upped -camp and moved over too, but now we are retired and happily settled in Picton, also a tourist town! Tourists are happy people.
We left Picton on the Bluebridge ferry and stayed overnight in Wellington, our Capital city. I had only just booked into the hotel when the leather strap on my handbag pulled away from the bag! Lovely, at 7pm at night and leaving on the 4am plane! But this is our biggest city, the receptionist told me to go to the railway station and look for a little Indian mans leatherwork and bag repair shop. I didn’t think it would be open still, but it was and he was more than happy to repair the bag while I waited and only charged me about $5.50 for his work, which was just perfect, I can’t tell where the repair was made now, so as I was delighted with the job I actually gave him a tip! Not like me who doesn’t believe in tipping ever, but I gave him $10 and told him to keep the change. He gave me a big smile and wished me a happy holiday.
Getting up and out to the airport by 4am was hard but we managed it and had a good flight to Brisbane, it didn’t take long and we were on land again, but Erle’s library book was not, he left it in the pocket of the plane!
Its still there, if you find it send it back to us!


The bus took us to our accommodation, in a 12 story highrise! Half of which is cheap back packers and our half is much more expensive fully self contained 2 bedroom units with a balcony and a wonderful view. A trifle shabby and rundown, a good lick of paint would not go amiss, but still it was comfortable enough for a weeks stay. And there was a great big spa freely available to us, which we put to good use.
We were quickly unpacked and back out on the street wandering down to the beach, it was too chilly to go in for a swim but it was nice just to get out feet wet and squeak the sand as we walked along snapping photos.





Views from the beach on an overcast windy day, still plenty of people on the sand and in the water.