Gold Coast / Surfers Paradise, Queensland. The names are to conjure with. We are spending a month in a canal enclave called Runaway Bay - and, a bit like Queenstown, it's the first time I've actually lived in Queensland for any length of time. Live? Well, living it up. We are housesitting a beautiful canal side home with two adorable mini-schnauzers called Coco & Lily. Their mama is off on a cruise in Europe and it's a joy to care for the girls. Though it would be more of a joy if they weren't hard-wired to wake up at 5.30-6 am. The options for wake-up calls are endless - the jump on the belly approach... the sneeze in the face approach.... the waggle ears and scratch until the neighbours can hear you approach, the lick-to-death approach. We've tried ignoring them. We've tried booting them out and shutting the door (and ignoring them). We've tried placating and remonstrating. To be honest, we're now trying the 'get up at 6 am and read the paper until sensible walking time at 8 am' approach. Humans can be trained so easily. We arrived on the night of Tuesday the 27th, got stuck into hand over and airport drive on the 28th and because we had just so much energy (and phenomenal value tickets via bookme - $10 vs. $99) we went whale-watching on the 29th of June... bit of a bucket list item for me. The whales were initially very shy - a few tail flips and water spouts and so forth - but initially disappointing... So the captain got on the blower with another whale watching vessel... and we motored over to where their whales were pirouetting and flipping and breaching. Then they all 'dived! dived! dived!' So then we headed back to Surfers and tripped over some amazing whale displays - even a massive breach right next to the boat (missed it... whale photography harder than one might imagine). Even saw dolphins on the cruise back to Surfers Paradise - so all up a fab outing - especially at $10 per head and not $99! Sunday 2 July was the Gold Coast Marathon - and with typical Hardie savoir faire, we tootled down to walk the dogs and managed to see the race leaders, then again a few minutes later after the turn around point - only 13 minutes out from the finish. Felt incredibly fit after watching the marathon. Speaking of fitness, having our two adorable mini-schnauzers to keep us company is fab - we've been out walking almost every day and taking in 5-6 km of waterfront views along the stunning, sun drenched Broadwater... the day we didn't walk it was raining torrentially just for something different... so it was an awesome chance to run around the house, up and down the stairs, chucking the balls/Ratty/Bunny/Tigger etc and all the gang - to rapturous effect. We're great fans of the saying "We don't mind spending money... but we do mind wasting it". So we are great fans of Groupon/Living Social/Bookme and their ilk... used judiciously for great deals. But sometimes through a bit of easy research (and the fact it's at the half way point of our walk) we just find a great deal - like the Budget Cooked Brekkie for $3.90 at a Labrador joint called Beach Cafe - Two eggs, bacon and a piece of toast - with ocean views no less. We share a large coffee of course and only visit every 2-3 days - but us and the furballs are now regulars. We've definitely been looking forward to some of the social bargains on the coast and one in particular is seafood - so instead of spending close to a fortune on fresh seafood (this isn't Spain after-all...) we got a brilliant End-of-Financial-Year deal (discount on a discount with Groupon) and went to a lunchtime seafood buffet at the Gold Coast's Revolving restaurant on the 26th floor of the Crowne Plaza hotel. Something we've not seen anywhere else is the additional wine buffet... which just sounded like the most perfect accompaniment for an extra $10 a head. The prawn stocks of the Gold Coast may never be the same... nor may the Crowne Plaza's supply of Tatachilla sparkling wine which was a bit too yummy actually. Well that is us - getting fitter by the day with our 6 km walks. The doggies are also getting fitter which means the walks may have to get even longer by the end of the month. Meanwhile 'Winter' proceeds apace here on the Gold Coast - another 23 degree day is about to begin.