BURLEIGH HEADS

I just wanted to mention something else before I move onto the Gold Coast. On our way out of Coffs Harbour we passed the Big Banana, I have noticed this about Australia, everything is bigger. I love looking round the fruit and vegetable shops there and I have noticed the size of the produce is HUGE compared to what we get in the UK, and here is the proof!

We arrived on the Gold Coast later on Monday and found where we were stopping, a place called Burleigh Heads. We stayed in a very nice complex of apartments. After unpacking and changing, as the weather was noticeably warmer, we had a walk out to find somewhere to eat. As we were walking through the grounds of where we were staying, we saw large flying things above our heads and stopped to watch. We soon realised they were big bats, fruit bats, I think. Amy wasn't impressed!

We spent the next few days looking round the area. Burleigh Heads is a nice place. Where we were staying it was a short walk to a beautiful beach. I have never felt sand like it, it was like soft, white talculm powder, oh yes and BIG birds wandering about, called Ibis.

Just off the beach is a pathway where they have placed excercise machines for anyone to use. I thought they were a great idea, we have nothing like this in the UK. Of course Amy had to have a go on some of these!

OUR ROAD TRIP

We had decided that we would like to see a little bit more of Australia on this visit, plus my husband had been in contact with an employer in Brisbane who had an expressed an interest in meeting him. So it was decided that we would spend some time on the Gold Coast during our stay and that we would drive up there. We were booked into a motel in Coffs Harbour where we would spend 2 nights on the drive up there.

We set off quite early on Saturday morning for the 448 km drive which was going to take us approximately 6 hours. One of the stops we had was at Nambucca where we called in to see the V Wall. The tradition of tourists painting names and dates on this wall started in the early 1980's and now there is a long line of rocks covered in all sorts of artwork, some of which is very elaborate.

We chose this one as it had 'Chloe' on it, one of my granddaughter's name. We didn't have any paint with us so unfortunately we were unable to leave an momento of our visit there but hopefully we will be able to visit again and then we will be able to create our own piece of artwork.

We carried on with our journey and arrived in Coffs Harbour later in the day. We were all quite tired by this time. We went out for a meal and then returned back to the motel and had an early night. The next day we went out for a look round. We drove around looking for a beach and came across a small craft market.

I loved looking round this, we have nothing like this where we live. There were stalls with knitted and crochet items, handmade soap, all sorts of things. I bought 2 lots of handmade soap as I have always wanted to try some. There was a group playing in the middle of it all, some kind of country music which isn't my kind of thing, but which seemed very appropriate for the occasion.

We enjoyed our short stay in Coffs Harbour, especially the craft market.

Monday morning we were up bright and early and back on the road again. Gold Coast here we come!