All set on our short journey from Cairns to Gold Coast, or so we thought!! Cindy, our travel agent had gone for the local Gold Coast airport, closer to our destination by 30 minutes you see! We set off early and arrived in good time, had a bit of a chuckle at bag drop about the people late for their Melbourne flight! We reached the desk and the woman tells us the flight has gone - cue shocked faces, for some reason I had the arrival vs the departure time in my head so we were actually 25 minutes late and the plane had gone - next flight same time tomorrow - oops indeed! Luckily there was a flight leaving for Brisbane within half an hour so we booked on to that one, juggled the car hire and apart from being £300 lighter all was well in the world!
We had a slightly longer drive by 30 minutes so no real harm done other than Cindy the travel agent being a bit annoyed with herself!!
The Gold Coast is interesting, lots of areas to stay, it's a little like high rise Miami without the Art Deco. Our hotel on surfers paradise is super cool, room is gorgeous with lots of quirky bits! We have a stunning view of the ocean, very loud waves crashing on the beach. We went for a wander, initially very disappointing, a bit grubby and rough around the edges. A tram runs a block behind the beach which takes away the heart of it all. Evening brings a very different vibe, everything had woken up, very buzzy, lots of nice places to eat & drink. I'm sure we will have some great down time here, I write from the side of the pool - nobody else here, bliss!
We are here until Friday morning before flying back to Sydney - better go and check the flight time! Can't believe our adventure is nearly over - just a 23 hour journey and jet lag to look forward to!