A couple of weekends ago, I headed to the Gold Coast for a
girl’s trip. I had more fun and laughed more than I have in a while with just a
bunch of girlfriends. There was no drama (well minus Nikki threatening to throw
all her clothes in the rubbish bin after the Tiger Airways desk clerk told her
that her suitcase weighed too much). And we spent 4 days relaxing on the beach,
acting like little kids running around Dreamworld (think Six Flags of
Australia) and enjoying nice dinners followed by dancing to live music at the
locals. I am slowly making my way around Australia, attempting to visit
everywhere worthwhile seeing. Hopefully my tales will give you some insight for
that if-and-when you plan a voyage down under. For a little glimpse into the
Northwest area of Australia, Gold Coast is essentially a version of Panama City
mixed with Miami. We stayed in Surfer’s Paradise – so don’t get me wrong, the
beach was gorgeous, great waves for surfing, but the people, oh my! the people!
Not only did we feel stuck right in the middle of either an 18 year old or 60
year old crowd, we also wore more clothing to cover ourselves than they all did
combined. Now I know, we are at the beach, but some things should just be left
covered, if you know what I mean. And this was just the girls! The boys were no
better versions than all the guys on that awful reality TV show, Jersey Shore.
“Guidos” as they are so kindly referred to as, have that Latino, Miami look
going on: slicked-back, gelled hair, graphic printed t-shirts and a smug look
plastered on their face. Needless to say, we were not interested in talking to
ANYone outside of ourselves – and I think this led to the amazing weekend that
we ended up having.
Along the beachfront, they had large prints hanging on
wooden boards of sunbathers in the exact same spots on the beach, beginning in
the 70’s and continuing right up to modern day. It’s pretty hilarious to look
back at pictures like that and realising, not much has changed with the human
race, except perhaps the length of men’s swim trunks and the size of women’s
hair.
Dreamworld is pretty much the same as Six Flags, and was fun
to feel just like a kid for a day. A large section of the park was also a
wildlife/petting zoo type exhibit – we got to see tigers, feed kangas, and of
course snap pictures of my favourite – koalas. Zoo keepers were also inside a
pin feeding two baby tigers with bottles (we later saw these two precious
babies riding through the park in the back of a golf cart!) I don’t think I
could ever get enough of seeing all these animals.
Leen, my Belgian friend from work came to meet us Friday
night. She has been put on a project in Brisbane, which is just 45 minutes from
the Gold Coast, so she hopped on the bus to spend the weekend with us. Friday
night we saw a cool band and Saturday hung out on the beach until we were
hungry enough to have a snack at a local beach bar. That night we had an
amazing Japanese dinner right by the water, and then headed to Waxy’s for some
more live music and dancing.
Great weekend, great place to visit – but if you do make it
over here, I wouldn’t put it on the very top of your list. There are better
places to see while you are here. There aren’t many differences in
high-rise-condo beachfronts. Once you see one, you’ve seen them all.
Still on my list to visit in Australia are: The Whitsunday
Islands, Port Douglas/Diving in the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns (pronounced
Cans), Darwin down to Uluru and Ayers Rock (in the Outback), and Byron Bay.
Frasier Island and Kangaroo Island are also on my to-do list. But then, there
is still Fiji and New Zealand – and those are whole separate trips in
themselves! Basically what I’m saying is that there are just too many places to
see, and now that I have a travel bug – I want to go to as many as possible.
Time to start saving money and vacation days!
At work, I am finally beginning to feel a part of the team –
with projects to work on and having recognition from the exec team. Being on the Great Place to Work committee, I have been able to design a logo, create a sharepoint website and help to plan events for the team to attend outside of work. Last night we had a kick-off dinner at a restaurant in the city that I helped plan. It went really well, with an amazing turnout. It’s fun
to have people around this huge office recognise who you are and congratulate
you on throwing a great event. Brownie points!
Well, last highlight for me: 10 more days until I come
home!!
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