05:30 am this morning. Why do you wake up so early when you don't have too. I thought that I may as well head to the gym which opened at six. It was a bit basic but I still managed a hybrid workout. Great views but the TV didn't work so there was no music. Just a tad strange. Timing wise being up this early was working well as the pool area opened up at 07:00am. Though being the first one in I had to turn the steam room on. I couldn't work out how to start the sauna until I was ready to leave. It took 30mins to heat up anyway.
I had a bought bacon for breakfast as the studio had its own kitchen. I forgot cooking oil though. Plus buying some for three days would have been a bit daft. Luckily where there is a microwave there is a way! 8minutes later breakfast, avec green tea and orange juice was ready. A very productive start to the day.
Day kinda stalled after this.
I spent an hour or so online trying to decide what to do with the day due to the cloud cover. By the time I had done that I was tired so grabbed a 15minute nap.
As I was due to meet my friend in the afternoon I decided to take a walk around Macintosh park. This small park has a couple of lakes supporting local wildlife and also has the estuary of the Nerang river.
Back at the hotel Ami had to work so I needed to come up with a new plan for the afternoon. I tried to make a boat cruise but the only one that said it departed from nearby never arrived.
One of the lads from Byron was on the beach so I joined him for a pint in an Irish bar before taking a walk around the main area of surfers paradise. This is a lot busier than where I am staying, but sill not massively busy as I had been led to believe.
On returning to the hotel I had a few more beers on the rooftop and then in the lounge area. I briefly popped down to use the now warm sauna, before setting off on a much larger walk around town for the evening time in search of somewhere for dinner and an explore.
There are numerous shops around should you be that way inclined. After an hour and a half of walking I came across a large bar overlooking on of the squares. The chap behind the bar at Steampunk was very helpful as he pointed out that for $1.50 more than the price of a pint I could have s pitcher. Result! Luckily the square had wi fi as I took my time over what worked out to be just shy of three pints. This was a very relaxing place to hang out and a good find.
I had narrowed down dinner to one of two locations. One looking out over the river & one looking out over the ocean. I opted for the ocean even though it was slightly more expensive it was a relaxing venue. The fish and chips were slightly different to ones I had tried before and with my glass of Sangria I could have been in Spain. It did cross my mind to ask for a spoon to eat the fruit out of the Sangria but it was a small venue and I didn't want to lower the tone.
Feeling full and tired I headed back. Only to be revitalised by the magic of air con. Wine, Netflix, with a great view finished the night off well.