Some of you might wonder why we’re having a holiday when it’s just 2 months till we go Alaska. This is our “we feel guilty for not taking the girls to Alaska with us” trip :–). Kevin is only here till Monday night though as he can’t really have too much time off work.
We aimed to wake up around 3am and I woke at 3.02am. We had showers to wake us up then got the girls up and dressed and were in the car around 3.40am. First stop was McDonalds for tea/coffee and hot chocolates. Service was VERY slow however and we would have been much quicker to make them at home before leaving.
The best thing about getting up so early is getting through Sydney before workday traffic gets too bad. The girls slept a little more but unfortunately Christy got a bit car sick. This happened the last time we drove up so it must have something to do with the early morning or driving in the dark. She’s made the same trip many times in the day and never gotten sick. We were excited to find a Oliver’s at our breakfast stop.
However there wasn’t really anything warm for the girls and I to have so we went over the cafe to get some toasted sandwiches and bought them back to eat at Oliver’s. I did ask the lady who worked there if it was okay. But Kevin did get his breakfast and we bought tea/coffee and other stuff. I had a cheese toasted sandwich with was delicious (esp. from a roadside cafe).
Back in the car I tried to do some knitting but had a bit of a fail – only one needle. Later I found the other needles – but by then I’d put the knitting in the boot :-(.
We had rain on and off for most of the morning.
And amazingly Kevin asked me to drive as he was REALLY tired (he’s been having sleeping/tiredness problems for a few months now).
I didn’t mind, though it felt strange to be driving with him in the passenger seat, esp. once he work up and I remained driving until we stopped for an early lunch.
The girls and I wanted Subway and Kevin got KFC, which he ate out of the car (to save us from having to smell it).
Onwards we drove…
past the Big Banana…
and very green countryside (due to all the rain)…
… and fields full of sugar cane…
The girls did great on the drive, only getting a bit restless towards the end.
Our last stop was the Macadamia Castle.. where we stocked up on fresh, warm macadamia nuts.
I also got a tea which I enjoyed while sharing the muffin I had bought at Oliver’s with Kevin. Raspberry and white chocolate – delicious.
When we got my favourite view on the drive we rolled down the windows to take some photos…
the result of which was some unruly hair…
Then finally, after almost 12 hours of driving, the Gold Coast high rise buildings finally came into view.
A short time later we had arrived and met the person to give us the keys. Our room is lovely. We’ve stayed at the Chevron twice before so knew what to expect, and we were not disappointed.
Christy was first out to check out the view – which is gorgeous.
We were tired and wanting to get settled so we quickly headed out to get some dinner, pausing to check out the pool at night. Must be cold in though because no-one was swimming.
We got some takeaway from Noodle Rennaisance, some cheese rolls from Bakers Delight (for Christy) and a few groceries from Coles. We’ll come do a proper shop in the morning. One thing we love about the Chevron is that the shop are just RIGHT downstairs.
Kevin decided to try out my new camera while we were eating dinner…
Once we had eaten we unpacked, then got out the laptops – yes, all four of them :-).
I think it’s going to be an early night.
FOUR laptops!!!! too funny.