Got the bus in the evening to Surfers paradise and got picked up by Andy (who Tom knows from back home).He's been so kind as let us stay for a few days and we've been really looking forward to it!He took us back to where they live in Carrara and it is the loveliest house I've ever been in!We had a drink with Andy and his mum and dad (Jill and Graham) who live there too, and then had the best nights sleep I've had for ages!

Next morning we met Andy's wife Rachel (she's lovely!) and played in their back garden in the swimming pool with their kids Saskia 4 and James 2, all morning! They are great kids, made me miss Archie even more though! In the afternoon we got a lift into Brisbane with Rachel (as she works there) and spent the evening there.Looked around the shops first of all and then went for a walk down the South bank which was really nice.We had a lovely meal on the South bank, I had duck and Tom had steak.

On Saturday morning we got to see what the average family do in Australia on the weekend…. Go to the beach!Then in the afternoon went and had a look around a local shopping centre.In the evening we had a lovely meal made for us (one of many!) and then went to the Q1 building in Surfers Paradise, the tallest in the southern hemisphere.Had a great view of the Gold Coast at night, whilst having a few drinks!

Sunday morning had our second cooked breakfast, we were so spoilt here!!In the afternoon we went to Cold Rock for ice cream, expensive but the best ice cream ever!!Think I enjoyed mine more than the kids did, and got in more of a mess too!For our last evening Andy and Rachel cooked us a roast dinner! It was so good!We even had Christmas crackers as we missed out on all this on Christmas day!Tomorrow morning we are leaving and I think both of us could happily stay so much longer, we are definitely sad to leave and are really very grateful.Thank you so much Andy, Rachel, Jill, Graham, Saskia and James!