Today was our third day in Brisbane, and as we had spent a day and a half roaming the nearby streets, today we decided to hire a car and head south to the Gold Coast for the day.
After the rain of yesterday, today we were greeted with glorious sunshine and a top of 25 degrees. It was perfect!!
The drive to the Gold Coast only took an hour, totally uneventful.
Upon parking the car at Broadbeach, our favourite part of the Gold Coast we set out on foot to explore.
We were immediately struck by the amount of roadworks going on, and that so many streets were blocked. Normally these streets would be bustling with cars and people, but not today. The works are due to be completed by May next year, it must be killing the local businesses.
The view of the Broadbeach roadworks from the monorail which we went for a spin on.
We also went for an obligatory walk along the beach as the day was so brilliant, why wouldn't we if we were in sunny QLD?
But...it was incredibly hard to get to the beach due to the works that we're going on. As we lined up to look at it all, an old bloke sidled up beside me, and without my asking he just proceeded to rattle off what was happening and why. After getting the general picture, we escaped, because we could see ourselves getting stuck listening to him!!
As it turns out, they are building a massive rock wall beneath the sand near the surf club, as erosion is a major problem, and they are trying to have it all sorted before the Commonwealth Games that will be held here in a year or so.
Just part of the massive works occurring at Broadbeach.
And this is what it looks like not far from the beach works...
Beautiful blue skies in every direction. The water wasn't bad, too cold for me, but it was a perfect beach day.
Enjoying the sand between the toes.
And the typical pano shot capturing the full view.
After a good lunch we headed out of Broadbeach towards Harbour Town. For those who don't know, Harbour Town is basically a massive shopping centre of outlet shops for big brands. It is essentially full of Victorians on holidays!!!
Anyway, we went up and down EVERY street, I kid you not!! Some even more than once!
I can't complain though, because while Jen went into various shops I indulged in something I just love to do when I travel somewhere, 'People Watching'. This involves just watching the general population wander past. There is so much to see and hear, I love it. I managed to do a lot of it overseas this year, so I have really honed my skills lately!
And being dragged up and down each street wasn't all that bad in the end. I went into one shop and found a pair of shoes that I had been after, and pulled out the cash that I was given for my recent birthday. I'd had it tucked away in my wallet so that I wouldn't spend it, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was actually $200 instead of the $100 that I thought was there.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner !!!💰💰💰💰💰
And Jen picked up quite a few bargains too.
So now I have some extra coin to spend tomorrow on some other things I have my eye on.
Just after parking the car before we went shopping, I realised I had left my sock in the car that I was going to need as I was going to try on some shoes. I told Jen to wait a minute while I bolted back to the car to get it.
I mustn't have been concentrating that well, because after I pressed the unlock button I reached into the back seat to grab the sock the sock that I knew was there.
Imagine my surprise when I couldn't see it at all, and was also struck by how messy the back seat was. And where the hell did that baby seat come from???
Then it hit me. I was in someone else's car!!!! I had opened up the car that was beside ours, that had obviously been left unlocked.
You would never have seen someone move as fast as I did to close that door, get the sock out of our car next to it and bolt!!!
These people may as well have left a sign on their car inviting people to steal it, I nearly did!!!
When I told Jen, all she could do was roll her eyes as she had been noticing today that I have been 'off task' quite a bit!!
After being so lucky to have travelled overseas a few times in the past couple of years, I became quite adept at taking photos everywhere. It struck me lately that I don't take enough photos here in Australia, or even at home, so when I took off for a walk this afternoon when we got back to Brisbane, I made sure I took shots of what grabbed my attention.
The contrast between an old church being towered over by the growing number of skyscrapers in the city centre.
Just around the corner from our digs, people just lounging and taking in the late afternoon sun.
Crossing the bridge towards South Bank. It felt the same as crossing Westminster Bridge in London and seeing the London Eye on the banks of the Thames, my favourite spit in London, seen below.
The River Cat taxis continually criss cross the river.
Looking back towards the CBD from one of the many bridges as the sun starts to go down.
The reflection of the sun was moving from building to building. These shots were taken 5 mins apart.
The walking track along the river bank was a hive of activity. This photo just doesn't capture the atmosphere and energy that was everywhere.
The myriad of roads that bring the traffic into the CBD. I thought it looked confusing until we drove on it ourselves today, just so reliable.
The Square around the corner from us, being lit up at night. The crowds were really starting to build in the mild night air.
People just meeting in the square. A great gathering place.
Finally, we were only after a basic hire car, and after trying all of the main ones without success we stumbled across a smaller firm called Redspot, who just managed to find something for us. The bloke in the queue ahead of us yesterday was really rude to the woman on the desk, and in the end she just told him, "We have no cars available", and off he stormed. We joked to her about his rudeness and had some friendly banter with her, and before long she had found a car for us, and then upgraded us two levels for free. The benefits of being nice!!! In the end she could not do enough for us, we had a great chat throughout the entire booking process, she was lovely.
So, instead of getting a tiny two door, we scored a near brand new Kia about the size of a Commodore. All we had to do was not crash it, and return it with a full tank. This in itself became problematic, because as it was so good on the juice the needle hardly moved all day!!
We stopped at a servo on the way back into Brisbane and managed to squeeze $12 of juice into it. Not bad for a few hours of driving.
Tomorrow?
The retail side of things might need to take a back seat, so the plan is to go to a movie, something which we haven't done for so long. It looks like I struck out on the choice, so it's a chick flick. I hope it's good!!
So readers, until my next post...
Cheers 👍
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