GOLD COAST
Day 42 - 26th October 2015
BRISBANE TO THE GOLD COAST
After a lazy breakfast, a coffee from round the corner and a lazy moment waiting for our sheets to dry it was time to finally leave Brisbane. Rich, Carol and Whitey had been such ace hosts that we were sad to be saying farewell to these guys and this city, and their flat mates bed.
We hit the road round midday and followed the highway south. Helen's auntie Gill had put us in touch with some old friends of her's called Liz and Peter. They live in a town called Nerang about fifteen minutes inland from Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. We drove for just over an hour stopping off for a cheeky tuna wrap and browse around IKEA on route. It was so nice arriving at their place which was a lovely bungalow down a quiet leafy street. Within moments of arriving we were chatting away with beers in hand overlooking their pretty terrace and garden. This was followed by more beer, wine and a BBQ of homemade burgers and marinaded chicken. It was damn good.
Day 43 - 27th October 2015
WET'n'WILD
Helen woke up very excited today, I was unsure if she slept at all as we had planned to visit the Gold Coast's biggest water park Wet'n'Wild. We were treated to an epic breakfast of homemade muesli and fresh fruit salad, followed by poached eggs, avocado and smoked salmon on homemade toasted bread. We were in heaven. Both Liz and Peter are bird fanatics and feed the local cockatoos, magpies, parakeets, and various other brightly coloured birds. One cocky cockatoo called One Toe often arrives before breakfast time and knocks his beak on the bedroom window until he is fed some seeds. It was lovely having brekkie surrounded by various tropical birds. Once One Toe had got his morning fix a friendly magpie called Hopperty hopped over and sat on Pete's chair. He was really tame probably because they feed him bits of meat to help the little guy out.
We arrived at Wet'n'Wild round 11 and were blown away by the size of the place as massive brightly coloured tubes rose up from the side of the Pacific Highway. Just as we were about to enter two girls came over and gave us some spare tickets they had accidentally bought, saving us $150. This really was shaping up to be a good day. We stayed at the waterpark till three after hurtling down hundreds of meters of various shoots and whirlpools. Being out of school holidays it wasn't too busy but there was a good holiday vibe to the place.
We spent the late afternoon exploring the nearby coastline. South of Brisbane and north of the Gold Coast is South Stradbrook Island, Straddie if you're from round these parts. There is a small channel between the two headlands called The Spit, where many people go fishing, big fishing boats travel out to the open sea, and many sharks hang out. The southern eastern corner of Straddie boasts a good right hand point break and many Gold Coast surfers make the long paddle across The Spit negotiating the various hazards. I decided against it and we went for a walk along the point to the lighthouse which revealed a great view of Surfers Paradise to the south.
Apparently Surfers Paradise used to be a simple little beach town called Elston, nothing special, with not much going on. Then the local council decided to change the name to Surfers Paradise and the money, developers, tourists, fake boobs, big cars, fancy clubs and high rise apartments started arriving. Funnily enough the better surf spots the Gold Coast is famous for are further to the south. From a distance it looked like someone had plonked central Manhattan on the beach. Pretty much everyone we spoke to advised us to avoid it as it was such a trashy place. We opted to driver through the tropical concrete jungle and see what all the fuss was about. There had recently been a V8 supercar street rally through the town and many of the concrete barriers and crowd stands were still in place. We put Vanny in a low gear to make more noise started humming Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain' and pretended we were in a racing game. Due to the remains of the event I don't think we saw Surfers Paradise in all it's trashy glory but it was interesting to drive through and soak up what we could.
We arrived back at Liz and Pete's to be greeted with homemade sweat and sour fish with an Asian crunchy salad. Washed down with beer and wine, we both could get very used to this.
Day 44 - 28th October 2015
THE HINTERLANDS
Today Liz and Peter wanted to show us the other side of the Gold Coast which mainly consists of the hinterlands, rolling countryside, tumble down farms, waterfalls, valleys and national parks make up this pretty slice of Australia. After another lazy morning on the terrace, our first port of call was a place called the Natural Bridge. A beautiful waterfall that cascades through a gap in the roof of a small cave. On this particular visit a large tree trunk had fallen in and got lodged after a recent storm creating quite the water feature.
We walked the rest of the forest path and made for the Red Rattlers Gallery. A quirky little place made from two converted train carriages, similar to the Dalat Station Cafe we frequented in Vietnam. After a nose around the eclectic bric-à-brac that was on sale we hopped back in the car to Fingal Head for lunch. I recently made the connection that "head" means "headland".
We spent a couple of hours at the Sheoak Gallery Cafe for lunch overlooking the river Tweed. Unfortunately we had picked the worst day of the year to be touring the hinterlands as it never really stopped drizzling and up until this point they had been enjoying endless sunny days. Being British the drizzly countryside reminded us of home and didn't really bother us much. After lunch we walked to Fingal Head lighthouse with views up and down the coast. Deserted, windswept beaches ran away from us in both directions being battered by a menacing blown out swell charging in from the Pacific.
Down the road from Fingal we did a small board walk that twisted its way rough a thick web of mangrove trees whose roots point up out of a saltwater swamp. Nervy little black crabs with bright red pincers were scuttling about in between the roots and would dart into holes if we came too close.
Heading home we drove up the costal road past numerous famous point breaks. Many of which host regular competitions and are often appearing in many surf films and magazines. It's not hard to see why some of the worlds best surfers came from here such as Mick Fanning and Stephanie Gillmore.
Dinner was a melt in your mouth brisket of salt beef that had been cooking slowly for six hours. It put the brick lane salt beef bagel shops to shame.
Day 45 - 29th October 2015
GOLD COAST
After another perfect ten breakfast me and H went on a wave hunt. We ended up checking most of the Gold Coast surf spots as the swell had dropped off and a fairly strong wind had picked up. In the end I got in with what looked like the rest of the Gold Coast surfers at a sheltered spot called Dbar. It is probably the last spot you can surf until you cross the boarder into New South Wales. The waves were pretty good round chest high and peeling away from the southern point. However they were super crowded and catching a wave for yourself required a lot of good fortune. Luckily fortune was on my side and I did manage to bag a few good rides.
I followed the sounds of ukulele back to Vanwell parked on the cliff overlooking the break. I grabbed a quick coffee to get some energy back and we drove off in search of Paramount climbing wall. I belayed for Helen whilst she tackled a range of three story high routes. Unfortunately there are no epic climbing photos as that would constitute irresponsible belaying. On the way home we discovered Coles ultimate chocolate chip cookies which claim to be 40% chocolate chip, they instantly became worlds best biscuit, hands down. Back at our Gold Coast home we were presented with more wine and a juicy lamp shank with proper crispy roast potatoes, how we have missed them.
Day 46 - 30th October 2015
GOLD COAST
I rose just before five and headed for a dawn surf at Burleigh Heads, another of the Gold Coasts famous right hand points. Burleigh Heads is another forest covered headland like a mini Noosa however when you look out over the break, Surfers Paradise rises up out of the beach in the distance. Luckily it wasn't too crowded, unluckily the swell was pretty small. Every now and then the odd long peeler swept down the reef, you just had to be in the right position to catch it. The atmosphere in the water was pretty friendly and I got talking to a Canadian traveler who has just settled here for a while. Unexpectedly I caught quite a few rides, enough to give me a big smile for the rest of the day. I had a quick coffee on the cliff top overlooking the break before heading back for another five star gourmet breakfast.
In the afternoon we headed back south to Snapper Rocks, I have surfed this spot on a computer game so really wanted to catch a few waves in the real world. The swell and wind wasn't the best and the take off area was dangerously close to the rocks. Sometimes the backwash off the rocks would hit the incoming wave and surfer exploding the rider and water straight up vertically. It took a while to get confident enough to go for the bigger ones, plus the locals had the place dialled. I did however manage to bag a couple of the bigger sets until the schools kicked out. Suddenly the water was full of shit hot, knee high kids popping ariels and 360s. It was time for me to leave.
Helen was too hungover for climbing after our many evenings of guzzling wine and beer so we unsuccessfully went secondhand board shopping. After no luck with the secondhand board racks we headed home for a big roast chicken again with amazing crispy roasties plus a dish of sweet potatoes and carrot cooked in date syrup. Delicious doesn't come close.
Day 47 - Halloween 2015
GOLD COAST
Went for another dawn surf at Burleigh Heads. The waves were a tad smaller and being the weekend there were more people to share them with. I ended up surfing next to a cheery bunch of long boarders probably in their fifties. I had a handful of small rides, nothing special then suddenly out of nowhere a perfect shoulder reader up behind me. I was in such a good position no one bothered paddling for it and with almost no effort I locked my rail into the slightly overhead face that was racing down the boulders towards the beach. The glassy turquoise wall was steep and long meaning I had to pump and carve my way past the various white horses that tried to jump on me. I raced past a fair few other surfers whooping down the line, luckily no-one tried to drop in on me. Eventually I ran out of wave in the shallows as one of the white horses caught up and galloped over me, throwing me down into surprisingly shallow sand, good job I made it past all the boulders. Completely stoked I paddled back out and a local chap shouted "What a rippa, looks like you bagged the wave of the day there mate". That really made my day, as I hadn't fucked up the one good wave in front of all the locals. To add the cherry on top to a already good session a dolphin rolled it's back through the water about a meter or so away from me. After a few more rides I made the long paddle round the point back in for a morning coffee on the cliff.
Back at home we had our last amazing breakfast, said good by to all the birds especially One Toe and Hopperty, loaded up Vanwell and hit the road. If you are reading Liz and Peter, thank you so much for putting us up or is that putting up with us. We had a lovely stay and we are already missing our lazy mornings on the terrace with you two, One Toe and Hopperty.
We headed straight to the climbing wall as Helen had unfinished business with one of the routes. She nailed it first time, then conquered a few others. Another surf was off the cards as the swell had dropped off even more so we visited the Surfing Museum in Currimbin. The nice chap running it let us in for free which was another stroke of luck. We wondered around the range of exhibits showing how surfing had grown up here through the decades. A number of world champions grew up on the Gold Coast and you could tell the community were seriously proud of their surfing heritage. Amongst the retro posters, banged up boards and little cinema, was a beautiful collection of vintage ukuleles which caught Helen's eye.
On recommendation from Pete and Liz we took the Tweed Valley Way south through the rolling countryside via the spotty cow print inspired town of Mooball. We made for a free camping spot just outside Brunswick Heads about 20mins from Byron Bay. We opted to travel an extra twenty minutes past Sleepy Hollow camping ground as we didn't fancy spending the night there on Halloween. Unfortunately being in the middle of nowhere the Aus Vs NZ rugby final we had planned to watch was out of the question as it started at three in the morning, so we settled for a veg curry and early bed. We got talking to a French chap who had been sleeping in his van at this rest stop every night for the last two months and working as a life guard in Byron. He must have been raking it in with a full time job and no rent, it got us thinking...
We forgot to mention that Liz and Pete have a massive collection of teddy bears, so as a little thank you we sent them this little guy.
