Fun on the Goldie (Gold Coast)

We arrived on the Gold Coast. It is a huge very developed touristy stretch of coastline just south of Brisbane. We went straight to Surfers Paradise. It was like driving into Manhattan, so many sky scrapers and high rise apartments just across the road from the beach. Not really the Paradise the name suggests. Despite this the surf was good and we scored some fun waves. A local was convinced I (John), looked exactly like his brother. Yet another look alike. We had arranged to meet a friend we had made in Bali at the start of our trip. He was still working in Western Australia when we arrived so we stayed at a quiet town on the edge of a national park called Canungra. Whilst getting ready to cook tea one night a lady brought over 2 huge steaks. They had bought them in for tea but they found out they had just become GrandParents so were going out for dinner to celebrate. They insisted we take them and as Ruth is Veggie there was all the more for me. Nice! The Gold Coast has it all from Extremely developed tourist areas to beautiful mountains and national parks just a short drive away. As well as some of the best and most famous surf breaks in the world. We met our Friend Tom at his place in Palm Beach, just north of Kirra where we stayed for just less than a week. It was very nice, not as developed as Surfers Paradise. Tom and his flat mate, Adam took us straight to the Coolungatta Hotel where we saw a great band think it was Mason Bracks, and drank far too much. The surf was amazing whilst we were there, I even got Barrelled a few times!! We also got some important jobs done. To sell the van we had to reregister it with new Queensland plates. To do this we needed a Road Worthy Certificate and a Gas certificate (a bit like an MOT). Without having a Queensland address or at least having someone who lives there to vouch for you it would have been impossible to do. Tom was a great host and really generous. He took us to meet his dad who lived in the mountains next to Banana plantations. His dad was a Brit from Coventry. One evening Tom and Adam took us to a Harry-Krishna Vegetarian cafe, Ruth was in her element. The food was great! Yet again I was mistaken for another lookalike. We were just tucking into our food when a lady came over asking if I was called Phil. I told her that I wasn't, to start with she wasn't convinced but then after looking at my hands she realised it was her mistake. She was a 'Palm Reader' and my hands apparently looked nothing like Phils (one of her clients). We ended our trip with a day at Wet 'n' Wild Water Park – great fun!!