Gold Coast

Yes it really does look like the pictures! And the weather, while warm and even hot in the full sun, suits us perfectly and is much drier than Singapore or Brunei. No daylight saving though, so I wake up pretty early every morning. Roxanne is an inveterate sleeper-in! NB. the last couple of days of our stay heated up a bit more - possibly in the 40s!

We stayed at the Hi Ho Apartments, close to the beach on Broadbeach, which is just down from Surfers Paradise. Less busy, and close to Pacific Fair, where we seemed to spend an inordinate time wandering the shops!

Decided to pass on all the fun parks - save them for those who actually enjoy paying to be flung upside down and spun round until nausea sets in! But instead decided that we could risk Infinity at Surfers. This is a 40 min walk through a 'set' full of mirrored rooms, with lots of sound, laser lights, fog, darkness etc. etc. Apart from the bevy of screaming girls in front of us, we enjoyed it and it was interesting to see what pushed our individual fear-buttons! I don't mind the dark, but the heights freaked me out!

Friendlier bus drivers would be good! But some of the locals were lovely, and I guess that you could get pretty tired of dealing with tourists with exactly the same stupid questions all the time!

Interested in facts and figures about the Gold Coast?

I suspect that we will be back - great place for a family holiday! Any takers to join us?

Accommodation

Brisbane: 4 nights at City Backpackers

Gold Coast: 3 nights at Broadbeach staying in the Hi Ho Beach Apartments

Bangkok: chez Toogood, Kuruvin and David, Alex and Cassie

What do you do in Brisbane?

Shopping, shopping and more shopping. Am working on keeping Roxanne under control in the Queen Street Mall, which consists of more than 600 shops, 45 cafes/restaurants, two cinema complexes and 11 shopping malls!!

Suss out the sightseeing opportunities. Some nice photos at this site, although we have to confess that we didn't go to the Maritime museum nor to the Casino. We seem to have taken heaps of our own photos - yay for digital cameras but haven't downloaded any yet to put up here ourselves.

Visited South Bank Friday evening for the markets and then again on Saturday afternoon - markets still there, loads more people at the manmade sand beach - swimming and sunbathing.
Roxanne got freaked by the ubiquitous ibis - long beak and inquisitive nature. Lovely gardens, flame trees, bougainvillea arches, frangipani and nice places to sit/walk/enjoy a coffee (Karen) or mango smoothie (Rox). The Cultural Area is great too. We enjoyed an hour or so browsing through the Queensland Art Gallery.

Our accommodation at City Backpackers is near Roma Street Parkland, which we visited for several hours (more photos) and enjoyed wandering round the lovely gardens. As well we went to the Botanic Gardens at the foot of Mt Coot-tha and then up to the lookout over the city.

Several times up and down the river. Have come to grips with the Brisbane Translink system and hop on and off buses and ferries with gay abandon. Sitting on top of the ferry in the breeze is just lovely, and we did it at night as well - enjoyed watching the great big Kookaburra River Queens - paddle steamers, and all sorts of other different river craft.

Want to know what the climate is like right now in Brisbane and how hot we are finding it?! It's actually very pleasant, not particularly humid and as long as you're not out in the full sun, 'no worries'!

Here's an interesting 'festival' - Saturday 20th to Sunday 28th of Nov - Schoolies Week 2004 Queensland. It was interesting when I was booking accommodation on the internet - a number of places had Schoolies dates/prices or were booked out by Schoolies. What is Schoolies? Is there any chance of this celebration taking off in NZ? Does it exist in other places?

Next stop - Gold Coast!

Kanchenjunga

Mt Kanchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world.

'And where the mountain meets the morning
The world held in a moment's span.
I'll hear the challenge of the timeless -
To love my God and serve my fellow man.'
Singalila Song

Why are we going?

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

Well, there's one good reason. You want more? How about

• A chance for 'A Sentimental Journey' (eat your heart out, Lawrence Sterne).
• To meet old friends.
• To have a holiday.
• To share a wonderful memory with Roxanne.

How about all of the above?!

Itinerary

24th Nov. Leave Auckland 9 pm Arrive Brisbane

2 Dec. Arrive Bangkok

6/7 Dec. Arrive Calcutta. Straight to Agartala for two days. Back to Cal

13 Dec. Arrive Darjeeling

21 Dec. Leave Darj, and trickle home via Cal, Bgkk, Aus over several days

24 Dec. Arrive Auckland 1 pm

3 weeks to go

Woke up far too early this morning with a million things going round in my head. Drew up a calendar to try to organise what I'm going to do and when - AGAIN! That was when I realised that I only have two full weeks and some days either side. Help!

Remember
Must pay for internal flights in the next few days.
Sian