Siteseeing etc in G.C. (Feb)

I wanted to use this blog post to talk a bit about the things we love about Australia and the things we have managed to do on our days and afternoons off.. And post a bunch of photos of course..


Surfers Paradise & Main Beach Board Walk

Surfers Paradise Boardwalk

Aqua Duck
We got the girls Aqua Duck tickets for xmas (thanks Viv for the great gift idea!) and joined them and their dad for the tour. We drove through Surfers Paradise and down the boat launch into the water. We were all lucky enough to see some dolphins while in the water and the girls each got to drive the boat in the water!

Lyric and Baylee posing after their ride.

Lyric and Sean

Baylee - she likes to make faces at Trevor and call him "Stinka"

Pelicans in Labrador
Everyday around noon we watch from our apartment as the Pelicans glide down into Labrador. They spend an hour or so standing atop the lights waiting for their daily lunch. The fish market across the street feeds them fish bits every day at 1pm.

Pelicans sitting on the lights across the street from our apartment.

Pelicans at the Broadwwater beach across the street from our apartment.

Lunch time!

Iron Man

We went to watch the iron man competitions in Surfers Paradise where they have to do several massive laps of swimming in the ocean, than on a knee board and in a kyak as well as a run through the sand for a couple of hours.

Furry's Reptile and Dragon Show

Racheal and Micheal picked us up to take us out to a reptile and dragon show that this guy, Furry, puts on at a pub in the hinterland (interior). We had a great day drinking, feeding the animals, learning about reptiles and betting on a toad race. And Mike and Rach won some money in the Toad race!!

Mike and his alpaca buddy

Trevor feeding the deer with grass out of his mouth

Trevor and Micheal

Me and Racheal

My friend Crockadilly and I; he's smiling for the photo.

Racheal

Furry writing down the bets. We are team Knuck (Canuck).

Trevor, Micheal and Racheal watching the toad race.

Green space around the pub

Trees covered in vines around the pub

Creek bed next to the pub

Ripleys Believe It or Not
One evening we went down to the Ripleys Believe it or Not Odditorium. It has all kinds of creepy artifacts, mannequins and stories. In one part of the museum they had a couple of mirrors and some facts regarding the percentage of people that can roll or fold their tongues. At the end of the museum we came to this dark room and realized that we were behind those mirrors watching people look like idiots trying to roll and fold their tongues in the mirror.. hahaha

World's largest man

Micheal Jackson painted on to several crickets in the "world's smallest" part of the museum

Gold Coast Beaches

We have obviously been spending a great deal of time at the beach. We try and make it at least 3 or 4 times a week for a walk, swim or to layout in the sun. Late February was extremely rainy here so any time the sun would come out we would run down to the beach. After a couple of good storms the water became foamy as it hit the beach. A couple more weeks of rain and the beach as been washed away, along with stairwells at beach access points and in some areas even the life gaurd towers were falling over as the sand was washed away. Many beachfront properties have lost portions of their land, fences, etc.

Beach with just a slight slope before the storms

Foam at the beach

Foam at the beach

Errosion of the beach begins and creates a short sand wall

Current condition of the beach after major erosion. Huge, steep sandbank.

 

Hope you all enjoyed the photos!

Home Away from Home in Goldcoast (Jan 12-Feb 25)

Well I am finally working on the blog! And writing it from the beach! :)

It was time to leave Melbourne and to return to the Goldcoast. We were running low on cash and getting a bit tired of driving and touring. It was time to find work and temporarily settle in somewhere. On our way back to the Goldcoast we spent another night in Sydney to break up the drive and than a night in a small town half way between Sydney and G.C. We also made a stop in Nelson Bay for lunch, a bit of a walk around and some time at the beach. Nelson Bay is the town my sister ended up staying in for a while when she first came to Australia.

Nelson Bay

 When we finally reached the Gold Coast we returned to Micheal & Racheal's apartment in Biggera Waters. We immediatley starting searching for work... something part time, low stress and not too much respondsibility. After a couple of weeks of looking we began to realize there was not much work here and the employers that were looking were quick to hire Aussies. We couldnt really blame them I suppose; my 1 year work visa only allows me to work for an employer for a maximum of 6 months before I must leave that employer to find a new employer..
We had also been at Micheal & Racheal's for several weeks and knew it was time to move on and give them their space back. We decided we would find a place of our own and stay until late April. We had enough cash to stay that long and wanted to be here when my sister arrived in mid-April. I found a 1 bedroom spanish style apartment in Labrador (near Mike & Rach's place), with Broadwater views. The property manager was willing to rent to us for a short 3 months and did not require that we be working so it was perfect!

Our building.
Our balcony is on the second floor on far right of the photo. The  square window to the left is our living room window and the smaller bay type window to the left of that is our bedroom window.
The pool is below our apartment behind the Capistrano Bay sign.



View of the Broadwater from our living room and bedroom windows.



View from our balcony with glimpses of the Broadwater through the trees.

 Unfortunatley when it came time to move in a Cyclone (maybe it's just me but I didn't know a Cyclone was simply a Hurricane that spins in the opposite direction) was making it's way through Southern Queensland. The blowing winds and horizontal rains came right through the seals of our windows leaving our 2nd floor apartment full of water. Than the power went out at Mike & Rach's; at first for 8 hours, coming on for a few hours and than going out for another 2 days! We were showering at our place (their parking garage flooded damaging the equipment to heat the water for their building), storing the food at our place but sleeping and eating at their place because our furniture was all crammed into a dry patch in our kitchen. Trevor and I enjoyed experiencing the Cylcone with all the crazy winds and rain but we are also very sad for all those that lost loved ones, homes, businesses and crops.

The storm passed, we moved in and I was finally hired at a coffee franchise (similar to Starbucks) who informed me I was 1 of over 300 applicants that had applied for the 4 barista positions they were looking to fill at their 2 stores. A week later Trevor was hired to join the conceirge team at Hilton Surfers Paradise. I had a bit of a stressful start at my job but despite that and the long commute (the coffee shop is 40minutes away in the next city) it is working out. The rate of pay in Australia is also really high which is good because gas can range from 1.399-1.549 and groceries are expensive. Rent prices are similar to those at home only you can get a place with a view or at least be walking distance to a beach!



The coffee franchise I work at in Logan, QLD.
(I cannot put the name due to some confidentiality/media clause stuff I had to sign)



The Hilton that Trevor works at in Surfers Paradise.
(the two curved shiny blue towers)

I will make sure not to take soo long on the next post! And will update those of you that still follow, with all of the fun we have been able to squeeze in on our days and afternoons off!

Melbourne (Jan 6-11)

After a night in the  Capital, Canberra, we continued the long lonnggg drive to Melbourne. The highway had very few curvers or corners and not much to look at. Mostly flat and really dry with the odd kangaroo roadkill.

Canberra

We reached Melbourne in the evening and had to navigate ourselves to our hotel, where we had booked 2 nights, in the “CBD” (Central Business District or as we Canucks call it “downtown”). Driving in Melbourne was probably the most stressful driving I have experienced with strange turning rules/signals and trams running down the middle of roads.

The following day we spent walking around exploring the city. Downtown Melbourne is full of little restaurants, bars and lots of shopping along the streets and within the alley’s. The downtown is built along the river and is very artsy with lots of beautiful buildings and sculptures.

Trev's at the corner of Dorcas St!

Stained glass ceiling in National Art Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne

Exhibit at National Art Gallery of Victoria

Its not the greatest "outdoor" show on earth but close

Funky bridge with boat shaped bar underneath

Train station

Dog Paparazzi

Train station

  

Our second day we did roughly a 6 hour drive up and down the Great Ocean Road. There were some amazing views along the drive including the 12 Apostles rock formations. We had decided to book 2 more nights in Melbourne on hotwire and after our long day of driving and site-seeing we went to check-in. We ended up getting very lucky (Hotwire does not provide you with your hotel name or exact location until after you have fully booked and paid) as the hotel turned out to be this quaint little boutique hotel, a 30 minute walk from downtown.

Great Ocean Road

Near the 12 Apostles

12 Apostles rock formations

The Charsfield Hotel - lovely boutique hotel

The Charsfield Hotel

On the 10th we did some more walking around downtown and in the evening drove out to Phillip Island to view the Penguin Parade. Every night, shortly after the sun sets, the world's smallest penguins come in from the ocean to find their burrows for the night. We walked down a long baordwalk to a viewing area where several hundered people were seated. There was a strong wind coming off the ocean and it was freezing cold... Yes, thats right.. it was freaking cold!  As each wave would roll in it would bring a group of 10-15 penguins. They would start to run up the beach and then one would become frightened and run back. When one turned back the whole group would turn back and run into the ocean. Groups of penguins would continue to do this until they became brave enough to run the full distance across the beach to the safety of the sand dunes where their burrows were. After about 30 minutes of this, several hundred penguins had made their way up into the sand dunes. The boardwalk sat above some of the penguin’s path ways where they were running so we were able to get really close to them. We were not able to use our camera as there was a strict NO CAMERA rule. I guess the flash would temporarily blind and scare the penguins. So we copied and pasted a few penguin pics from the web site to give you an idea. Pretty cool!!

Wallaby on Phillip Island

Sun setting on Phillip Island

Wallaby on Phillip Island

Stands at which you sit to view the penguins come in from the ocean

Penguins coming in from the water

You can view them waddling to their burrows from the boardwalk that runs from the beach to the car