Gold Coast

Day 26 continued...

Chose to disregard our budget for a night and basically did a big pub crawl around surfers and mingled with the 14 year olds in the clubs.

Had a rubbish kebab and attempted a family box from Mc Donalds, i say attempted because i couldnt eat the whole thing and so when we got back to Tonias place decided to leave (Hide) the remaining Big mac and cheeseburer in the microwave and have them in the morning :-]

Day 27

Woke up after our night out and just in case we werent sure where we had been, handily each bar and club had given us a tattoo upon entry.

Then i remembered the big mac and cheeseburger :-]
Just what you need for a hangover. Strolled into the kitchen and opened the microwave....
Nothing. Checked the fridge as i must have put them in there.
Nothing. Checked the empty family box.
Nothing. Checked the bin and lo and behold two empty wrappers.
Well i know i had a few drinks but i would have remembered the second big mac and cheeseburger surely.
Turns out Tonia, who had also been on a big night out had arrived home after us and decided to make herself a hot Milo. She opened the microwave and to her delight the fairies had been and left her two burgers to eat....
Saturday afternoon we packed up Polly and headed to Burleigh heads for the night, a lovely campsite by the sea again and the promise of the best Mexican on the coast (what locals call the Gold Coast) and some of the local brew, Burleigh Heads brewing company, they do a 4 or 5 different beers but didnt seem to be available in pubs, in the bottle shop, one bloke had heard of it but didnt know where we could get any!
Squeezed in the next section of our bike ride before the sun went down, Miami to Burleigh and the official halfway mark, not a long ride but right along the beach and very nice too.

Sat on the hill and watched another lovely sunset and Yes the Mexican was the best on the coast!

Day 28

Up early and our for a stroll along the promenade, suns out so decide its high time for a surf. Carmen retires to the beach with her book and im off.

Well after a couple of waves even the locals are stopping to look.
"Who's that prat?" is what they are saying.

On to our next capsite, Mudgeeraba and Carmens family home.
Theres a nice spot for Polly in the garden and we set up camp, complete with electricity, camp fire, local wildlife and a choice of indoor facilities.

A Family BBQ in the afternoon and Tonia (and Yogi) have come and Carmens nephew Rhys with his girlfriend Nicola. Along with John, Grace and Nora its a right old knees up.

Day 29
4 weeks on the road today!
Carmen has decided in her wisdom that Polly needs some new curtains to make her a bit more homely and
Off we trot to Spotlight, amazingly a place that doesnt even sell spotlights! Its all fabric and stuff.
Back at base camp Carmen dissapears into the work room downstairs and set to it on the sewing machine under the carefull supervision of the twins (Grace and Nora).
Meanwhile, outside Polly is having her first bath since we left.
We light the camp fire in the evening and all sit around toasting marshmallows under the stars, we started hearing russling noises in the bushes and were told it was a Long nosed Bandicoot!!
Im straight up with the torch, shining in the bushes, leaning in to try and get a look at him but he was just out of range, hiding just out of range.

Day 30
We notice Polly has a runny nose and so its off to the mechanic to have a look.
He spots the problem as a master clutch cylinder and orders in the part ($300) but it want be there until tomorrow at the earliest, shes still safe to drive so we head home.
Carmen continues with the curtain production and I collect firewood for the nights sausage sizzle.
What a little ripper it was too.

Day 31 23.06.11 - 1 MONTH ON THE ROAD!

Up early in the cold again.
Off to start the final section of the bike ride from Burleigh to Coolongatta. Started off in the Burleigh head land and its turned into a gorgeous day,

cycled through Tullebudgera, Palm beach, Currumbin (stopped to climb Elephant rock), Tugun, Belinga, Kira, Coolongatta and Rainbow beach and finishing with snapper rock and froggy beach.

Yes we made it! Now to turn around and cycle all the way back to the van.
Had lunch at life guard station No 1, the first in Queensland (Not the first ever one but the first one...) with a great view back towards the North end of the coast and a guest for lunch.

A round trip of 36KM today and thats it we have cycled from one end of the Gold coast to the other, and back again!
Return home, the camp fire is already alight and we are treated to some lovely home cooking again.
The russling continues and im up again with the torch but still he's just out of view.

Day 32

Took Polly in early to have her runny nose fixed and after a stop for coffee its back to the curtains again, meanwhile the English tradie (me) is in painting the ceiling of the twins work room (where the curtains are also being made)
So, a room where usually only two people work suddenly has a bloke up a ladder painting and a woman going like the clappers on the sewing machine as well as the twins all beavering away!
So the ceiling got painted and the curtains got finished and Polly got picked up from the garage and we are all happy.
Im reversing out of the garage and CRUNCH, weve scraped the bumber of a parked car, the other car is fine but we've got a ding in the side. A little annoyed we drive back to base camp.
Another lovely dinner round the fire and off to the infamous 'Wallaby Bobs'pub in Mudgereeba. Nora chauferred us down (and stayed for a shandy) and Tonia met us there and with the upcoming Mudgereeba show this weekend we were half expecting (hoping) that we would run into some of the sideshow alley people. A bearded woman or a strongman would have done but it was just the locals (although a couple of them looked like they weren't far off a job in a sideshow!)

Day 33

We decide to have a lie in this morning. 8am!
Off up to Springbrook National park in the same mountain range as we camped at Binna Burra. Great drive up the mountain again and a series of lookouts.
Stop and do a short walk at 'Purlingbrook falls' for a look at the falls.

On to the inventively named 'the best of all lookout' which was pretty good but surely they could have come up with a better name than that!

Another great drive back down the mountain side and we didnt even need the telescope as helpfully the Gold Coast City council have amateur astronomers in mind and have pointed out some of the main astronomical attractions.

Back to base for the final time as we are leaving tomorrow, think ill be clever and reverse in from the front drive rather than perform another 20 point turn in the garden. So start reversing around the corner of the house, which is up on stilts, think were fine and CRUNCH.
Bugger.
A cracked tail light and another ding (Two in two days). If there were a bright side it would be that it is the same panel as was crunched yesterday. At least the panel beater will have a slightly easier time of it..
Some hasty repairs and shes as good as new and we will say no more about it (either of them).
The final curtain is installed and so she might be a bit battered and bruised on the outside but she's pretty as a picture inside.

Russling around in the bushes again but this time ive got him (well seen him) Long Nose Bandicoot, the stuff of legends. Looks like a big rat with a long nose to me.