Surfers

Tuesday 15th May

We drove away from Brisbane this morning. Ella had fallen asleep before we got to the Gabba cricket ground, so as we couldn't stop the car, that might have been the closest we get to actually seeing it.

The drive to to Gold Coast took about an hour and a quarter. After checking into our (gorgeous) apartment we had lunch at the restaurant downstairs then headed out to Surfer's Paradise, which is probably the most famous of the beaches on this stretch of the coast. In typical Aussie style, they just call it "Surfer's". For years I thought there were a whole bunch of Aussies who referred to their hometown as "surface" because it was, well, on some big flat surface.

And here it is. Love it or loathe it. Actually, it's bloody awful, like Blackpool without all the tatooed half-wits and grotty hotels. But the weather's better and the sea snd sand are just fabulous.

Still, it is what it is and if you don't like it, you shouldn't come. We kicked the ball around for a while and Ella had a whale of a time. Nobody told her it's not a nudist beach. The pictures are funny but we can't post them for obvious reasons, so we'll save them 'til her eighteenth birthday and project them onto the wall for you.

Yes, that's right, for you. This week, I'm not emigrating.