Author: Libby Withnall

More rain on and off this morning. But I very much enjoyed my view while I worked on editing the vlog for yesterday.

 

 

Around 9am I decided to watch some of the cycling, but I was rather disappointed to get the last few minutes of the race instead of the last hour and half. Seems the TV guide was incorrect yet again.

Finally Kevin & Christy were awake. Kevin went to buy some coffee. I got ready for the day. Kevin & Christy went to buy some stuff for breakfast and when they got back I made cheese on toast. It was a rather slow and restful morning. We ate outside but it was a little on the cool side (very windy) so we didn’t linger too long.

Around 11.30am we were finally ready to head out…to Officeworks. Kevin needed something for our internet connection and Christy wanted some stuff as she’d left her pencil case at home.

I thought she was getting a basket and had to laugh when she got the little kids trolley.

On the way back into Surfers we detoured out to the Spit to have a little look at the area.

There were a few people out for Fathers Day, but not too many due to the cool, windy weather.

We returned “home”, parked our car and headed out on foot.

 

Christy had to stop for a cuddle with her beloved Bakers Delight (which is not currently open).

We headed into the main shopping area and quickly found ourselves in a lollie shop.

 

Of course, we had to buy some of our favourite British treats.

And Christy made a new friend.

 

She was keen to see the beach where many scenes from H20 Just Add Water (her favourite TV show) had been filmed.

Not what you normally expect for Surfers Paradise. Where are those blue skies??

Christy’s foot was starting to get sore and we were all getting a little hungry. We finally found somewhere with a decent vegetarian choice. Quite fitting too as Kevin had been keen to eat at one of the many Irish Pubs here, and it was Father’s Day.

The food was really good. Just far too much of it. I had a sweet potato & chickpea patty on Turkish Bread.

Kevin ordered chicken wings – snack size!!!!

After lunch Christy and Kevin went to Infinity (Christy really wanted to go today so made it Kevin’s Father’s Day present). I’ve done it once but didn’t like it. Too many dark rooms for me.

While they were there I went and got our groceries from Coles. They joined me towards the end and together we managed to get all the bags back to our room.

By now my feet were incredibly sore so it was good to put them up for a bit, while watching some more rain clouds role in.

Christy went to have a swim & spa in the indoor pool. We enjoyed leftovers for dinner, while watching Got to Dance. We then watched a special on 9/11 – even though it is Christy’s actual birth date, this is the first time she saw what actually occurred. We attempted to watch another show after this but first Christy fell asleep, then I fell asleep, so it was bedtime for all.

Todays vlog :

We had planned to get up between 3 and 4 am, with an alarm set for 4am. With myself only having had 4 hour sleep two nights ago (due to taking Athena to a concert) I was still pretty tired and only woke up just before the alarm. I was still feeling rather groggy but managed to get up, showered and dressed. Only Christy was coming with us today. Athena had a school drama performance and didn’t want to miss two full weeks of school. So she will fly up on Wednesday night, in time for Christy’s birthday.

It ended up we left home at 4.45am, stopping first at McDonalds so Kevin could get a coffee (I had bought a tea from home). The weather was okay when we left, but the time the sun had come up and we were driving in Sydney, the rain had started. Funnily enough we had rain on our last drive up to Surfers in 2011.

As you can see Christy was able to get comfy and get some more sleep.

Having a mix of rain and sun, also meant got to see a rainbow. It was so vivid- but was behind us so hard to photograph.

We stopped for breakfast around 8am.

This place had been renovated since I was last here and I was SO impressed with the variety of fresh foods they had on offer.

I got a  veggie tortilla stack, which was delicious. I also picked up another tea for the road.

More driving.

And then a lunch stop at the Big Banana.

Kevin LOVES bananas so got the banana crepe – but as you can see it came with a ridiculous amount of cream and ice cream, most of which he left. But of course he had to get a frozen chocolate banana on he way out :-).

I went with the much healthier salad wrap, and Christy got pancakes.

A few more hours up the road there was another toilet stop.

And then we finally come to my most favourite part of the drive in far north NSW.

Firstly driving past the sugar cane fields.

There was a traditional stop at the Macademia Castle,

where we got the meet and pat a Golden….

Then my favourite view of the journey, which I think sadly will be missed when the new bypass road is finished.

It’s still stunning with all the clouds.

Once we get here it feels like the journey is almost at an end.

And, about an hour later, it is. I think this is the first time we have ever arrived in the dark.

I picked up our keys (we have a private rental) and we headed up to our apartment, once we got ourselves into the correct tower (there are three in the Chevron Renaissance).

The apartment is lovely and the view simply stunning.

The black space you can see is the ocean. You can just make out the waves on the beach.

I unpacked while Kevin sorted out the internet. Turns out I’ll be able to upload videos while we’re away so that’s a big bonus. We then headed downstairs, and are thrilled to discovered that this tower lift goes (almost) straight down to the shopping center below).

 

 

We found a Noodle Box close buy and g0t takeaway to eat back in the room. Christy and I ducked into Coles while Kevin waited, to pick up a  few essentials for the morning – namely tea, milk and biscuits :-).

We are all feeling pretty tired by now (which seems odd when we’ve been sitting down). But it’s been a long day. We enjoy our dinner while watching Air Crash Investigation.

If you’d like to see more of our day be sure to watch my vlog