Gold Coast Holiday - September 2nd-9th

Despite much sickness, we had a fantastic week on the Gold Coast. Last year we stayed right in Surfer's in a tower apartment. This year we got a great deal to stay at the Grande Florida Beachside Resort in Miami (15mins from Surfer's). I booked it in May after seeing an ad in the paper, and got it for $80 a night. There's always a risk when you get a "cheap deal", but this place is FANTASTIC! Our apartment was 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom (with a bath and full laundry in one), a full kitchen, and heaps of room. We had secure, underground parking less than a minute's walk to our door, fantastic facilities including 2 pools, a games room, internet kiosk and a shop with basic supplies, and less than a 5 minute walk to a patrolled beach - literally right across the road from our back door! It is also easy walking distance to supermarkets, banks and a great pizza place called Pizza Capers. Our apartment had two outdoor areas to relax in, and was very clean and quiet. Needless to say we loved it and will definitely stay there again.

Just a few metres from our front door was the access way to the beach. As the water was ONLY 20 degrees, it was very quiet and we pretty much had the beach to ourselves each time we went.

The view from our front balcony straight through to "My" pool!

It was the unheated "Tasmanian" pool, and I had it to myself nearly every time I went in it as everyone else was in the heated pool nearby.

The kids loved the heated pool and spent a lot of time

in it day and night.

There was a fantastic walkway along the beach behind our apartment, and all the way along were terrific parks.

There were also heaps of places we could easily walk to including this lookout where we got fantastic views.

The plan in leaving early - before the school holidays had actually started here - was to beat the "Tassie rush" at the theme parks. Unfortunately Patrick was pretty sick, which meant we left it a few days before heading to Dream World and White Water World. We ended up doing them both each day over two days, with a fantastic worlds pass that let us go between the two as much as we wanted. Sadly the Tower of Terror 2 wasn't open, but the nasty giant drop was!

After our experience with the Batwing spaceshot at Movie World last year, we gave this one a miss!

Dream World was really cool, and pretty quiet with not too much queuing the days we went.

We went to the Tiger show on both days as it was brilliant.

My favourite - Mohan - was like a giant kitten drinking his milk!

Lol and I enjoyed the wildlife park in Dreamworld while the boys were on some of the scarier rides

The days were lovely and warm (mid 20's), and finishing both days at White Water World allowed us to cool off and relax (???)

Patrick's favourite slide!

Getting ready to rip!

The Green Room that both Shayne and Patrick went on,

and the hydrocoaster (the orange one in the photo above and below) that Lauren LOVED! (She's braver than her mother!)

It's amazing how much we packed in during the week - it helped having pools and the beach on our doorstep (literally). We were also close to our friends Susanne, Isht, Isaac and Jasper, and got to catch up again this year. We also managed to do a little shopping and spend my $1000 David Jones voucher I won earlier in the year. By the end of the week we were ready to come home - especially after Patrick and Lauren had been sick - and have needed this week to recover from our holiday!

We all can't wait until next time!