Hello Melbourne!

 What a weird journey to the airport, where we drove in and out of Queensland via NSW in 10 minutes

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Jetstar didn’t live up to its reputation and we had a great flight.  A slight mishap with Uber saw us left at the roadside in the wrong Collins Street in the wrong district of Melbourne (Dawn thinks this is her fault but Tim is very chivalrously blaming Uber). Uber driver number two and $60 more later we arrived at the correct Collins Street. Phew! What a fab apartment (thanks again Donna and Mark).

Great breakfast recommendation at Groovy Mama’s and we’re ready to hit Melbourne!

Saying goodbye to the GC

 

We’ve had a great week on the Gold Coast, Tim’s photo composition is improving and we’re feeling very rested.

Dawn’s camera’s not quite as good but managed to capture this moment when a glorious full arc rainbow appeared above the sea.

Said goodbye to Broadbeach with a delicious meal at The Langham and a glass of champers.

Tambourine Mountain, vineyards and The Great Divide

 

Spent the day being driven around the vineyards of Tambourine Mountain, very different to the coast and very different to other vineyard tours we’ve done in Italy (basically you just drink wine we only saw 1 vine grove!) Our driver was very friendly and taught us some great Aussie phrases, such as, “as black as King Billy’s bum” and jankey (scroat/bogen).😆

Was very envious of the Jasmine at Witches Falls Winery.

Lovely day.

The one and only vine, pretty place.

We also stopped off to look out to The Great Divide a range of mountains that run from Queensland to New South Wales. 

Cheers to Tambourine Mountain, our driver and fellow guests especially the girls from Melbourne. 

Snapper Rocks Feeding Frenzy

 https://youtu.be/4g4EXRhumQQ?si=c3Btr90MpwGL9RiB

Just round the corner from our hotel 🤯 

Bin Chickens

 

Fascinated by this very ugly bird which if I didn’t already know it would be living proof that birds are the nearest relative to dinosaurs. Had to laugh at a guy telling his kids to watch our for the “bin chicken” which says it all really. Aunty Lynne would’ve freaked! 

Chillin’ “down the Goldie”

 We’ve spent the last three days swimming in the pool

playing in the surf

walking on the beach

shopping (a bit), beach markets at Surfer’s and Pacific Fair, where Dawn got lost and Tim said it would’ve been easier to find a wrongly released immigrant in London 😅😆

and eating and drinking in the life saving clubs which we love for the cheap food and drinks, decent playlists (no mention in the lyrics of your mother 🙄🙄)and the really friendly people.

We’ve watched the life saving teams practice at dusk and seen how competitive they are.

It’s set to rain for the next few days which will give us a very different view of life in the GC.

Gold Coast and the Looney Langham

 Lugging 3 cases each on a train, a tram and finally a taxi to our holiday within a holiday was interesting.

Our home for the next week…

Great views from our apartment but the best part for Tim is this

For Dawn it’s this

And this

Lots of luxury at The Langham hotel next door

Including a Porsche Macan afternoon tea 🤷

And a very floral telephone box 🤷🤷

The sun rising on another Aussie adventure day

The Sky Deck at sunset

 Tim didn’t tell me that the sky deck had a glass viewing platform.

Needed a stiff drink to step onto it.

Got braver and eventually let go of the hand rail.

The views of the city and the sun as it set were awesome.

The sky deck is part of a hotel complex where two of the towers are connected by sky bridges, it’s like something from a science fiction movie.

It’s funny how your perspective of a city can change at night.

Cheers to being a tiny bit braver and to Brisbane!

Brisvegas (Brisbane) or bust!

 We’ve left Noosa and our trusty Mitsubishi behind now and are in Brisbane for a couple of days.

It’s been a bit of a culture shock being in a city again there are some impressive buildings on Brisbane’s skyline and along the river.

There are some lovely open spaces too.

Remember this one Carter? 

Tim’s been impressed with the architecture. Tonight we’re hitting the sky deck on The Star ‘s 34th floor, overlooking the river, for cocktails and dinner.