Where Are All the Surfers?
14th February, Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia
Since leaving Cairns, we've spent very little time at any one spot. Mostly, it's been one night in some nondescript campsite followed by more travel along the tree-lined roads of the Bruce or Pacific Highway. There have been exceptions - two nights on Magnetic Island, A couple of nights in Rockhampton - but Brisbane was a big change to our recent movements. We'd spent 11 nights in the city. Towards the end, we were running out of ideas of things to do, but it wasn't quite as bad as being stuck in Cairns (where we spent 21 days while waiting to get the van, our Ethel). Finally, though, we got underway this morning and continued on our gradual coatline-hugging route down south.
We had a brief stop in Southport, at the northern end of the Gold Coast, but continued straight on through - it looked like a very industrial town and besides, we couldn't find a parking space ;-)
Just a few kilometres down the road is Surfer's Paradise, a misnomer if ever I heard one. I couldn't see anyone out in the water who was on a board of any kind, just a few swimmers and that was it.
The Gold Coast, and in particular Surfer's Paradise, is a very recognisable part of Australia on account of the sheer number of high-rise buildings that constitute the bulk of the area's holiday accommodation. This is one of the most popular destinations for Australians in the southern parts of Queensland and northern New South Wales, and of course is a major stop-off point for backpackers heading north or south along the Gold Coast Highway. What is the attraction? I'm not so sure, apart from the sheer availability of holiday accommodation, it was difficult to see its unique selling point. Perhaps it got more sunshine than anywhere else? Perhaps the surf was really good here after all, and today was the surfers' day off!
We took a walk around the main shopping area of Cavill Avenue, ducking in and out of the sun and I made a lucky purchase in HMV (a DVD I had been after for a while and had not been able to get in any shop since Cairns). I bought some tickets for a show at Conrad Jupiters - a big, brash entertainment complex just south of Surfer's Paradise (Broadbeach) by way of a Valentine's Day present for Manda (I admit, I had failed to get something tangible before then!).
Ian looking at his dodgy hair, Surfer's Paradise.
We found a place to park up for the night and got ready for the night out. Manda looked stunning - in a nice dress, a scarf/shawl, nice jewellery and so on. Me? I put on a clean shirt and washed my hair before hiding the unruly mess once more under a cap. Talk about beauty and the beast, heh! (I later got asked for ID at the bar on account of the cap; damn, I'm 32 later this month, and they were asking if I was 18 - I'm keeping that sucker glued on from now!).
Manda at Spinners Restaurant, Conrad Jupiters.
The show we saw was called 'Storm', and I had no idea what to expect; Manda had an idea, as she had been to Conrad Jupiters before while on a whistle-stop tour of Aus and had caught a show there before. It was a full-on program of different styles of dance, amazing scenery changes, acrobatics (trampolinists and such like) with a little bit of singing thrown in. If it doesn't sound like my cup of tea, you'd be right - normally I wouldn't choose to see something like this but once there it's difficult not to enjoy the show and it's good to try something different every now and then.
After the show, which lasted about one and a half hours, we stayed for a late dinner at the complex and spent some time walking around the casino but not having a flutter (I readily admit that I am like a fish out of water in these places, knowing absolutely nothing about any of the gambling opportunities on offer, but I suppose that's not a bad thing in the end.)