In this year of Covid restrictions we booked another getaway to the Gold Coast - 7 nights at Peppers Broadbeach.
Friday May 7, 2021
After a last minute scare that the border could close (2 new un-traced Covid cases in Sydney) we managed to get to Queensland. We left on Virgin at 9:20am on a fully packed flight. On arrival at the Gold Coast airport there was some very brief questioning of arrivals to determine if they had been to an exposure site - a YES answer would see you whisked off to hotel quarantine. Fortunately we had not (otherwise we would have never left Sydney) - we collected our hire car and drove to Peppers Broadbeach after a quick stop at Dan Murphy’s. We were able to check-in straightaway - and as luck would have it, we were upgraded to a 3-bedroom "sky home" on the 43rd floor - amazing - huge !!! We dropped our bags and headed out for a quick lunch and some grocery shopping - a Woolies is right next door - and the gigantic Pacific Fare Shopping center is 10 minutes walk away.
After shopping and unpacking we did a walk around - Broadbeach then returned for dinner at home.
Saturday May 8
It was a fine and sunny day - 17-25C. After brekkie we did a major beach walk then retuned home for lunch. After a rest - we showered and walked over to the Casino to check it out …. the new hotel, The Darling is very impressive - suites only, from $700 per night. We checked out the restaurants in the old Casino hotel as we had per-booked one for later in the week. We then went to the bar on the top (19th) floor of The Darling for a drink - it was already pretty busy - it has limited ocean views but is clearly a bit of a hang-out for the GC (Gold Coast) “in crowd” - fortunately we fit right in - after going native. Then it was back home - for another quiet evening - steak for dinner.
Sunday May 9 - Mother’s Day
It was a similar day weather-wise to the previous day - just a few more clouds. After brekkie we did another big walk - 8 K’s. After lunch at home we took a walk over to Pacific Fair (15 minutes away) for a mosey around - largest number of high end shops we had ever seen in Australia - looks like a Dubai mall. Then it was back home with a stop at the Surf Club - where we sat with some recent “immigrants” from Wollongong - we left after a quickie as they they were as boring as bat-shit (at least the wife was). We had dinner at MS Moneypenny - an excellent restaurant discovered on our previous trip to the GC - to our disappointment since it was Mother’s Day, they were only offering their set menu - which was excellent just not what we had in mind.
Monday May 10
It was another beautiful sunny day (mid-20’s) - we did a day trip by car to Byron Bay just over an hour away. We walked around then had lunch at Fisheads cafe overlooking the carpark and the ocean - it was a nice lunch - cheap and cheerful. While walking around we spotted a really nice breach front restaurant (Beach Restaurant) about 10 minutes from the center of town - it was fine dining with Sydney prices so we decided on the cafe instead - maybe next time.
Then it was back home for showers and dinner at home - pasta.
Tuesday May 11
In spite of a dire forecast it turned out to be an amazing day - sunny and warm. We drove to Burleigh Heads and surrounding area and did a few walks - 10 k’s in all - we stopped for lunch at the Burleigh Pavilion - a hip hop and happening ocean front Millennial hang-out:-
After lunch we drove to Coolangatta and walked around some more - with a final stop at Currumbin Vikings Surf Club before heading home for an evening at home. While sitting on our balcony for fives’ed we watched an amazing lightening show off the coast - it went on for about 45 minutes - quite mesmerising.
Wednesday May 12
The forecast was again quite dire - but even though it rained heavily overnight - the day was very cloudy in the morning - but only partly cloudy in the afternoon. We drove to a national park and did a short walk to a disused sawmill then home for lunch of cheese toasties (using the last of the leftovers). In the afternoon we did the Federation walk on the spit (just past Sea-world).
We had dinner at Cucino Vivo at the Casino which was cheap and cheerful particularly with our Entertainment Book coupon - it does not need a repeat visit in July, our next trip to Broadbeach.
Thursday May 13
Last full day - turned out to be a sunny and warm day - we did a big walk in a conservation area - saw many kangaroos of varying sizes and 2 koalas - excellent. We then drove to Sanctuary Cove for a walk around and lunch at a nice harbour front cafe - there were lots of restaurants - definitely worth a repeat visit for a “long” lunch at one of the better venues. We stayed home for our final dinner - steak again.
Friday May 14
Off home today - Dieter had the excellent idea of changing our flight home from 3:20pm to 1:20pm to save too much hanging around. We walked in the door at 3:45pm and were all unpacked by 5:00pm - we decided to stay home for sambos for dinner.
As an aside our car & driver home from the airport was an Audi A8 - pretty cool considering it’s about the same price as a shit-box taxi.