Loving Australia...and they like us too!

Hello to all,

Now that I am officially on vacation, it is time for me to pick up the slack and do some of the blogging and talk to our friends.  

We are great and having a wonderful time in Australia….REALLY like this place!  And our lungs thank us every day for coming here.  It is just so great to breath in clean, clear sea air.

Our first couple of days on the Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise is the actual area) included a lot of swimming, boogie boarding, long walks on the beach, and reading.  We hit a Casino one night (a first time for Lena) and played roulette (my favourite), some slots and Jerry and Lena played poker (actually it was pretty cool to see the two of them sitting at a Black Jack table).   I’m not a very swift or clever card player….so opt not to look like a dummy in front of strangers.  ‘You’ I might play with…but not strangers.

We had heard about a Billabong discount/warehouse store nearby so one day we hopped on a bus (actually turned out to be a couple and nearly an hour away) and spent the afternoon in the boonies….at a strip mall of discount stores.  Billabong,, Quicksilver….that kind of stuff.  Felt a bit like we were at 400 & 89 at the Cookstown discount mall.  And as some of you know well….NOT my best day. 

 

But soon it was all fun again.

We then headed about an hour north to Brisbane via train, and took a ferry to a nearby sand island (insert interesting fact here:  Moreton Island is actually the 3^rd largest ‘sand’ island in the world) where we spent 3 days snorkeling, ATV’ing, and fed wild blue-nose dolphins!!  That was very cool.

When we had told people here that we were going to Moreton Island, several had said.…’oh yeah, I know the place, Tangaloona Resort….great place, really laid back’.  After the third time hearing this I had to laugh.  Seriously, Surfers Paradise is not exactly a hustling, bustling metropolis.  I simply could not imagine MORE laid back that what we were already experiencing.  But as it turns out, Tangaloona Resort (maybe better described as a ‘cottage’ or ‘camp’ rather than a ‘resort’ was truly, truly laid back.  Just sun, beach and ocean and just about every kind of ‘fun’ activity that can be had…..with the sun, beach and ocean.

Because the resort is on the west side of the island, facing in towards Brisbane, the waters are calm and clear aqua - just magnificent – and very unlike the huge and constant waves along the rest of the coast.  But both are beautiful and Jerry and I think that the beaches here on the Gold Coast – 100 feel wide and longer than we could possibly walk, with so soft and clean sand, are the best we have ever seen.

So we are back again at Surfers Paradise and today we spent the morning on an outback tour and hiked in the mountain rainforest…was awesome.  Also stopped for tea and scones with jam & cream, and then later for a wine tasting at one of the local vineyard shops.  So as you can see…there was something for everyone!

And tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon Lena and I are taking a 2 hour surfing lesson!  Yippee.  We are sooo looking forward to this.

On Friday we depart and head to Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh/previously Saigon) for 4 days…then to Beijing for 4 days.

Don’t know who is still out there in the blog world reading this…. …but it was fun to think I was talking to some of you. 

Lots of love,  D