Hey Guys,

As promised this is our blog from the Gold Coast, sitting and waiting to board our next flight down to Melbourne.

So, 'interesting' last 4 days up here to say the least, and definitely an experience that wel take away from this trip.

The Gold Coast is beautiful: 40km + of white sandy beach and gorgeous yet ridiculously strong seas, which we only found out after surfing (open quotation, close quotation..) which ultimately lead to two snapped boards. We both agreed that its alot different to where we have ever been before, and probably very similar to somewhere like Miami - one beach, and lots and lots of high rise buildings of which most are hotels. Surfers Paradise has lots of cool shops, restaurants and bars as well, and there is a real nice and chilled atmosphere about the place. We did discover that there is another side to this place, and constantly being harrased to buy tickets to (and we quote) 'get totally wasted' did give us a little sour taste (its not classy, trust us!).

We had a mixed bag with weather. First two days - awful: stormy, wet, windy and muggy. Not helped by a less than ideal situation with our first accomodation which led us to having to pay for an alternative place to stay (immensly annoying, considering we were lugging our bags around the whole town!). We also realised that Australia does in fact have nasty devil bugs - yes we saw our first giant spider, and my god did i (Ash) scream like a girl. We also made the most of the rainy day by spending the morning playing arcade games, including PAC-MAN air hockey which involved tens of pucks which we basically smashed around all over the place (a lot of fun!).

After finally settling down we lucked out with the Weather Weds and Thurs - stunningly hot, and it really did bring out the best of this place. We spent the days boarding in the sea (staying closer in than at least one person, so as not to get eaten by the sharks of course) and walking around and checking the place out. The boarding was a massive success, although we both got flipped 360 at least once by the rips - they are immensly powerful and you will literally go from waist to head height in one wave. A lot of fun though, especially when we caught the same wave, and caught it in equal measures to the face..... ouch!

We checked out Broachbeach which is slightly south, and checked out all the beached Jellyfish that dot the sand - carefully prodding them with our flipflops and daring each other to stand on one.

There was a cool market on Wednesday night running alongside the beach - Bruce got overly excited at seeing the Macaws in one stool (never seen him walk so fast, other than perhaps the bats in Hyde Park) and there was some really cool stuff on sale.

And other than that, just enjoyed the nice weather and relaxed vibe of this place. We didnt manage to get out to the national parks which we hear are really nice, but agree that as the time moved on this place defintely grew on us. It makes for an awesome short stop, and we'd guess if you had a car to travel around - it would be really nice to check out some of the nearby towns and beaches as well, all of which look really cool and interesting.

Off to Melbourne now, 8 days: Australia Open tennis, checking out the City, more museums, parks and beaches. We hear it can vary wildy in temperature so this should be quite fun! We are being joined by my good friend Cammy Smith - so it will be nice to have another person on board for the next leg!

Until next time guys, stay safe and happy - and wel catch you soon!

Big love,

Bruce and Ash x