Royal Pines Resort Ashmore

... the plants were very just the same as we grow in UK but without the extremes of weather they can also grow sub tropicals. This made the interesting sight of a typically English style garden with daisies, lavender, etc juxtaposed with bougainvillea and bromeliads and shaded by mango trees. Have I mentioned the mango trees in Queensland? They are everywhere growing almost wild along the sides of the roads, in parks, gardens and lining the streets in ...

... enough to feed all of us.Paul made a really yummy batter for the fish. It was crispy as. We had chips and salad too.<br><br>On the Friday Michelle and the boys took mum and us to WHITE WATER WORLD and Dreamworld.We had loads of fun,especially with the weather really warm.We had a two day ticket so on Monday,Michelle and the boys took dad and us to the same places.But this time it wasn't as sunny and the sun kept fading away behind the clouds ...

... and of course City Hall. We even got to ride in an antique looking elevator up to the top of the clock tower at City Hall! After that our hunger got the best of us and we hopped a train home. Later that night we met up with our usual Thursday night dinner group at the German Club which is over by "The Gabba" cricket grounds. The boys got gutsy with some of their beer choices... Matt ordered a bacon flavored beer (which has turned me off bacon for a while!) and later a 12 ...

With the winter beginning to approach, the over-commercialised and over-hyped Gold Coast was far from appealing. The high-rise concrete facade of Surfers Paradise with the wind whipping off the ocean held our attention for all of an hour. Instead we made our way inland to the mountain range known as the Gold Coast Hinterland. Sophie splurted her ...

... a BBQ to eat for lunch - chicken, chicken wings, lamb chops, sasuages and prawns aswell as a garden salad, rice salad and potato salad. Lunch was absoultey delecious! After lunch everyone got their bathers on to have a go on the kiyak. Dad went first with Noah and then Nikita. I went after her and it is actually suprisingly harder than it looks. You also get really wet becasue the water from the paddle runs down it and drops on to you as ...

... was a huge casino hotel called Conrad Jupiters. It was a bit odd staying in a casino hotel, but unlike in Las Vegas one doesn't have to walk through the casino to get to the hotel, so it was alright. Also, apparently, in the Gold Coast, casino goers are all pensioners (retirees). So, it was a bit weird, but it was fine all the same. We got down to the Gold Coast by train and a bus, taking about 2 hours altogether. We were able to check in to the hotel early ...

... through Surfers and into the next suburb of Southport but nothing looks as nice as Kirra Beach so we head back there. It's quieter, less tacky and generally nicer than anywhere else we have passed through. We arrive back in Kirra around 2pm and get a camping pitch at the Kirra Beach Holiday Park, it's busy with campervans and mobile homes but the camping only section is virtually empty so we can camp where we want. It's a huge, grassy site covered with palm trees and other ...

... other large group of kids waiting for the tube to go on the ride! We intended to stay at the park until the end as the rides were great but as we were literally starting to hurt from the cold we thought we better call it a day. Luckily we found a campsite just across the road from the water park and as we were setting up the tent all of a sudden the sky went black, we looked up to see thousands of bats flying overhead, it was pretty amazing to see.

... hour, which I did. I was finished by 5, I gave the parents a call to catch up on what had been happening back home and also managed to give the grandparents a ring, which I don't think I'll be doing again after receiving a load of loutish abuse off my nan for supporting the Blues. After stuffing my face at work all day I didn't feel like eating anything for the rest of the night. I grabbed a couple of tall bottled beers from the bottle shop and spent the rest of the night on the balcony ...

... not sure yet if they're the same this summer. anyways ocean world was pretty touristy but was still cool to see ocean life...saw quite a few sharks...they had this moving walkway thing with a huge tank surrounding you on each side as you moved through the exhibit. was pretty cool...also had HUGE HUGE sting rays. now i know why people were upset last summer when they saw our tiny, tiny sting rays! after ocean world we walked along the beach a little bit, then he showed me the ...