Surfers paradise - gold coast trip

  Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia
Saturday, January 10, 2009

G got his first pay check last week and decided instead of putting the money towards buying a car this week, we would rent one for the weekend and get out of Brisbane for a bit. It was under $200 (£100 now because of the awful exchange rates at the moment!) to rent a car (Toyota Corolla)  from Thursday morning until Sunday night so it worked out worth it.

On Thursday afternoon I had a job interview so was able to get a lift, which turned out to be a good thing because the place was pretty far away :-( (that bit wasnt such a great thing) Thats the one bad thing about Brisbane - well Australia in general - its so big so can be a bit awkward getting places if you dont have a car ! The public transport is good but obviously doesnt cover everywhere. Ive lost count of the amount of jobs ive gone for that turns out to be miles away from a bus or train route. G is lucky that the factory he works in is near to a station, aparently there arnt many.

So when walking out of my interview on Thursday my phone rang and I ended up having a phone interview (for an Advertising and Marketing agency- yay) the job isnt until February and he said I probably wont have my second interview until Late Jan / Early Feb but it went really well and for the first time he said it didnt matter that I was on a temporary visa (Seriously thats a first). I didnt think I even had a slight chance of getting a job related to my degree whilst we where over here so just having an interview was a nice surprise.

Thursday night we went back up to Mt Coot-tha to see the sunset and the city lights at night. It was so busy I was surprised ! The view is amazing though, and its so relaxing up there!

On Friday we drove to Surfers Paradise, when we drove through it in the campervan that was the start of the storm that made us drive for hours and hours and have to sleep at the side of the road .. so we prayed for some sunny weather this time. Its only about an hours drive from Brisbane but totally different. Surfers paradise itself is reallly commercialized and focuses a lot on tourism. I couldnt think of a word to describe it but my mum found the perfect word - Brash ! Brash isnt necessarily a bad thing, but would be a bit much all the time.Though you drive to one of the other beaches just up the road and the atmosphere totally changes! We spent a safe amount of time looking around anyway (before it got too annoying ! ) and went for some Lunch in the Hard Rock Cafe ! Then went south along to a few more of the beaches. We didnt spend too long on them, as there was a bit of a breeze the sand felt a bit like little bits of glass as it went past your legs, and thats not really the nicest feeling !!!

further south ... surfers in the background

relaxed

We did stop off at a place though which was about 20 minutes past Surfers, and I think is the 'real' surfers paradise. We stood up on one of the lookouts and there must have been about 50 people bobbing about in the ocean with their boards.

surfers

Its a pretty funny sight, because they all look small and the same when they are waiting for a wave, then occasionally one will stand up and surf and literally stand out amongst them all. I wish I could Surf, its gotta be one of the most chilled out sports out there.
G was in awe of a guy stood by us, he must have been about 60 and had just been surfing. Hes decided thats his aim for when hes 60 ... first he has to learn to surf, but then he plans to be still doing it in 30 years.

g's 60 year old idol

On our way back we somehow ended up crossing the New South Wales border getting back to the highway. This freaked us out a bit, because its just on a normal road full of houses and shops, and theres an hour difference between the two states. It must be a bit of a pain if you live nearby.

Id rememered reading about a drive in cinema that was inbetween Surfers and Brisbane, and after finding it on the sat-nav we decided to go check it out. When we got there, there was queue of cars forming so we decided to just go see whatever was on. I remembered reading madagascar and the day the earth stood were showing (there are 2 screens!) so when we pulled up to the kiosk G just asked for 2 for the 'earth one'. She said yeah sure, gave us 4 tickets and said we were at screen one. We where a bit confused but parked up and went and got some popcorn and drinks from the 1950's style diner thats in the middle of the carpark then waited for the queue to go down so it would start. Looking around us there where a lot of kids about and it got us wondering if she had directed us to the wrong screen, so I had a look on my phone at the website and discovered at 7pm - the time we were there, it was either Bedtime stories or Bolt.  At 9pm it was madagascar or the day the earth stood still. We went to see Bedtime stories last week so you can guess what film was on at the screen we were parked at ... !

Anyway we figured you must stay for both films, it made sense then why she gave us 4 tickets. We watched Adam Sandler in Bedtime stories ( the kids film ... ) again ... then watched The day the earth stood still at 9pm. As random as the whole situation was we had such a good time, and it really does make you feel like your in a movie set in america 60 years ago !! Its funny tuning the sound for the film in through your car radio  !

Now we just need to buy a car so we can go more often !