Wednesday, January 23, 2008

and more...

These are the final pictures of my holiday in Surfers Paradise.

The view from the front balcony of Surfers Paradise beach.

This is the amusement park as seen from my window.

I did enjoy living on the beach front for a week. Just being able to walk along it whenever I felt like it was a real novelty. Its really not safe for swimming so the people all crowd into the areas where lifeguards are on duty. Real good holiday vibes. I loved it.

This is Q1. Its the tallest residential tower in the world and the 20th tallest building in the world. It has 78 floors (really 77 because they never use number13). On the 77th floor is an observation deck with the most amazing views all round. It literally took my breath away when I stepped out of the elevator. The elevator only take 43 seconds to reach the top. Can hardly feel it either. Had trouble with my ears going down that fast though.

This is the view that greets you when you step from the elevator

I loved this Thai restaurant we went to. It had won a list of "best restaurant" awards and the food was to die for. I loved the decor. You could dine inside or outside and we decided to sit outside because they had these adorable little huts with grass roofs. Each hut was just big enough to house one wooden table and 2 benches. Some of the furniture was exotic chunky wooden pieces that were like sculptures in their own right. Some had beautiful carvings and my favourite chair still had all the branches from the tree as the back rest. The furniture had that waxy look like thousands of hands had touched it over the years. To top it all off the staff all wore traditional dress and were so polite that it made you feel very special indeed.

Here we are at the casino. I'm not a gambling chick (too boring) so my larger holiday stomach and I enjoyed a lovely frozen cocktail instead yummo. This one is called a fruit tingle and was very refreshing hic.

Anyway the frozen cocktails were so nice we tried a few more hehehe.

The day before we left we went headed for the hills to a place called Tamborine Mountain. It had that real rainforest feel with vines growing up trees and everything was moist and steamy. It was a real foggy day so we didn't get to see the advertised views of the Gold Coast but it was still a very beautiful place and worth the trip. Sitting in the car with the air conditioner on you forgot what the weather was like outside. It was foggy and raining so you naturally assume its chilly. But when you open the car door and step out into a hot steamy rainforest day it really plays with your mind.



These houses are what's called Queenslanders. They are constructed of timber and are on stilts which is a sensible response to the climate. Most of them have fabulous colour combinations and some are in bad repair with peeling paint and rusty lattice work ( a pleasure for the creative soul).

Heading to the airport we stopped and Burleigh Heads, another beach of the Gold Coast. Would love to go back and stay at Burleigh Heads. Its quieter than Surfers Paradise and there's a nice calm swimming area where the river goes into the sea. Anyway there in the distance we got our last glimpse of Surfers Paradise. Hehehe sounds like a corny romance novel. I'll go on; we turned and headed for the car filled with mixed feelings of sadness for leaving, for our adventure had come to an end and also happiness for going home and seeing our loved ones once again. LOL Mills and Boon eat your hearts out.

3 comments:

Laura said...

Uta,
Just so beautiful all the photo's you posted. Even the one with the fun loving lady having a fruit drink. The one of the tall building reminds me of the one painting Georgia O'keeffe did.

~v~

Anonymous said...

Looks like a holiday paradise, no wonder you felt sad to leave. Just to have that beach within walking distance... oooh I can feel the sand between me toes!
Julie (UK) x

april said...

What a fun time you had. Love your photos! What a nice journal of your time and what special memories.