On the Gold Coast for a bit of Work and some R&R.

Thursday early AM, I was on a jet to the Gold Coast and Brisbane to see some clients and then back down to the Gold Coast to spend some time with my Daughter Carly and her partner Sharn. They live in Southport which is the first real established village and resort on the Gold Coast in the 1800s. Originally is was a timber town and the forests provided much of the timber for the buildings in Brisbane during that period. It grew to be popular with holiday makers to what it is today.

Southport Beach 1918

Although winter, the sky was clear and children were swimming in a pool nearby. I was in a T-shirt. The sand is a clean slightly off white.

Just behind me from the beach, high rise buildings such as these cast shadows in summer over the beach I'm told. I think I prefer the not so tourist parts of our beautiful northern beaches but thousands of people flock here to enjoy the surf, sun and entertainment that the Gold Coast has to offer.

Further down the coast over a distance of 30 kms is the playground for tourists. Casinos, nightclubs litter the coast and the buildings in this photo accommodate those who like to spend their relaxation this way. It reminds me a little of the Cote d'Azur and the Meditteranian.

While here, the Gold Coast Festival is on. It includes the Gold Coast Marathon with food, wine and music all being a part of the festival. I must say for mid-winter, it certainly has its pluses.





In the afternoon we travelled into the Gold Coast Hinterland to Mount Tamborine. Much higher than the skyscrapers below. This photo shows the other side of the mountain range.
My little point and shoot camera can't do justice to this magnificent view looking down over the valley. Hang Gliders launch themselves from this point to then soar with the thermals.



This little timber church is now someones home. I guess living up on the mountain in an old church give the occupants two chances of being close to God!!

The owners of this house (what house, I can only see the driveway) had something more in mind than an old timber church.....

This my preference of a high rise skyscraper.

Today is Saturday and the Tour de France starts so it looks like a long night here. It won't finish on Australian TV until 2.00 am.
I had an early start to meet a few cycling friends 20 odd kms down the coast for a casual ride into the country and way out of sight of the high rise buildings. We passed by cane fields, waterways and along narrow back roads. Long legged water birds flew before us as we rode beside the wide rivers that run to the coast.
The ride took us to a pub for lunch - Tumblegum it was called and by this time we were looking for a good feed and a couple of reds.



After about 50kms beside the banks of the river, up and down the undulating hills, we swooped back down to the flat-lands along roads with cane fields either side to the Tumblegum Tavern. Lunch was had with a couple of glasses of red before hitting the road for the final 30kms. It was a great ride. 

 We went out to dinner at a local restaurant called De Vito's on Thursday night and the owner Anthony, the Chef was playing some operatic music - I asked who it was and he said it was his brother David and then proceeded to sell me two Cd's by David. It seems he was having a little success on "Australia's got Talent".
Any way the meal was so good, we returned on Saturday night with friends and Anthony and David's Poppa and Momma (Rosa) were having dinner as well. Poppa, an ex-opera singer himself decided to introduce himself and serenade our table. I'm sure a few too many glasses of vino assisted him in his exuberance. It was a night to remember.
Here's a clip from You Tube of his first appearance.



This I think is from the semi-finals and my favorite Elton John song.



On arriving back with my girls to their unit, it was time to watch the first stage of Le Tour and what a great result it was for both Belgium and Australia. Some of you most probably read Ladybirds blog (see in my sidebar) and I'm sure she was pleased with her national champion Philippe Gilbert winning the first stage and now wearing the yellow jersey. For Australia, our Cadel Evans was second, 6 seconds behind. I can feel many a late night in the month of July.
It was a very good day.