Gold Coast

We left Sydney at 8:30am for our 10:20am flight to the Gold Coast (OOL) - all went to plan. On arrival we collected our hire from an offsite location and set out for our unit at Soul Peppers in Surfers Paradise stopping at Dan Murphy's to stock up on grog. We arrived at Soul and checked-in to our 40th floor 2-bedroom unit (ungraded from a 1-bedder) - since it was now 1:30pm we decided to just get some takeaway for a quick lunch then go grocery shopping. We were finally settled in around 4:30pm.

Vaia and John arrived around 6pm for a French Champagne happy hour before we headed to Glass at the Mirage Marina for dinner. V&J were in Surfers, staying at their family owned unit close by but were leaving the following day. We were able to catch up for a nice dinner. 😎

Tuesday June 11

First morning - after brekkie we did a major beach walk - 9K's. Back at our unit we decided to do take away again for lunch - major for us as we essentially never do take away for any meal. We decided to have a bit a of rest before taking a walk around our local neighbourhood checking our restaurants - not finding any hidden gems. We had dinner at home - pasta and salad (one of our holiday home favourites). We spent the rest of the evening watching the Australian swimming olympic trials.

Wednesday June 12

We started the day with another walk then drove to Mirage Marina shopping area for a look around and a cafe lunch. The shops looked very forlorn with most closed / out of business. We left without buying anything. We had dinner at Hyde (the in house Peppers restaurant) - it was OK except for some service hiccups - even with Accor half-price dining we weren't inspired to return.

Thursday June 13

We did a bit of a roadie tour to Kingscliff and a couple of other beachside towns. We stopped a a river front cafe in Tumblegum, House of Gabriel and shared a ham sandwich which was a 10 out of 10. We had dinner at Seascape - also a 10 out of 10.

Friday June 14

We drove to Binna Burra for a walk followed by lunch at Beachmont Estate - an amazing venue with excellent food (quite exxy) and somewhat frustrating country-style service. We had a light dinner of pasta and salad at home.

Saturday June 15

We had a quiet day with a beachfront walk and dinner at home - lamb cutlets, mushrooms, potatoes and salad. There were a few fireworks on the beach.

Sunday June 16

Another quiet day - another beach walk with lunch at a beachfront cafe and dinner at home - same as Saturday only with steak.

Monday June 17

Back to Sydney - on our re-timed flight at 12:20. We arrived home around 2:30pm - time for Dieter to go grocery shopping while I unpacked and started some laundry.