Diary at Suerfers Paradise

Monday 28th July We only have two more days left in S P. We leave for Noosa on Wednesday. It was a cold day and the weather forecast was not good. We have not yet been to Seaworld and that was to be the highlight of RuthsRuth s We discussed what we were going to do today and she said she wanted to go to Seaworld. We set off, and I thought about it and said I would thing about going to. We went to the ticket office. Using Auntie Helen s Gold card for myself, and the Entertainment Book Gold Card for Ruth, we both got in for a total of $76.50. Quite a good price really. It was cold moving around the Park. At times, it rained a bit. We enjoyed the day – the highlights being the underwater viewing of the large fish and animals (from a tunnel we walked through – we could see through huge glass windows that formed a wall holding back the water). Also special, was being entertained by the dolphins and their instructors – the ride in the Gondola across the entire park, an the ride (two) in the Monorail was threads its way around the entire park. We left at about 4 pm. I set Sally for Australia Fair Shopping Complex. I knew where it was, but with the busy roads and right hand turns across the four lane main road, she gives plenty of advanced notice about what to do. We parked and went to Woolworths Supermarket. We got a large cooked chicken for dinner tonight and also for tomorrow night. We also got some potatoes as we are almost out of them. I got a bottle of wine and we set off home. We found the car ok and 15 minutes later we were back in the unit We cooked dinner and settled down to T V. While doing the dishes, I broke a large dinner plate. I suppose the Motel will want the earth for it. Sunday 27th July After the busy day yesterday, we decided to take it easy today. We slept in, getting up at about 9-30 am. We had breakfast and tidied up a bit. We went for a short walk around some of the nearby streets. We discovered a Park at the end our street which we have not yet explored. Just a few hundred meters from here, there is a bridge across a canal with boats everywhere. Many houses have boat ramps at the back. Another few hundred meters along, we came to another Canal. There are heaps of them around here. We came back to the unit for lunch. Later in the afternoon, we drove to the main shopping area of S P. We parked along the waterfront (angle parking – Pay and Display). We only had parking for ninety minutes. It was enough time to have a little bit of a look around. We bought a few small things from Woolworths Supermarket, and some wine and a few cans of ale from a liquor out. We took a few pictures near where we had parked the car. We went back to the unit. The Spa pool was empty, so we did a quick change and enjoyed ourselves there. Later, we cooked a light meal and settled down to T V on the movie channel Police Academy and the same but version three. Saturday 26th July It was a sunny day when we got up this morning. We received a text from Andrew. I had sent him one yesterday and he had only just discovered it. He told me that he had sent an Email to Dawnae as I had requested. After breakfast, we left to look around Pacific Fair Shopping Complex. I wore shorts and a summer shirt and also a jersey. It was quite pleasant and it was not long before id took off the jersey. We did find anything of interest there – Except Tandy Electronics and the Australian outdoor shop which had a good range of Astro Telescopes. We came home and had lunch, followed by a short rest. We left for oasis Mall whee we parked the car and I used by N Z Phone to see if I could connect to the internet via 8011G wireless. I found the oasisfreehotspot and I could read the front page. I could read the part about if a member, login and also, if not a member, click here to join. There was also a link for information, but I could not get any of them to work. I examined the internet terminals there – a kiosk. It is coin operated and there is a two dollar charge for twenty minutes. I found a usb slot in the panel, so I will put this diary onto a usb flash drive and maybe tomorrow, Email it to a secret location, whereupon, almost immediately it will appear on my Blog Site. The main purpose of this trip was to explore the area across the road where there was a food court. We had dinned there a few times on our last trip. There is also a very small bar there. Nothing had changed much – except prices – but that was to be expected. We may go back for a chinese lunch sometime. We returned home and after doing a few routine jobs, while waiting for a couple to get out of the Spa Pool. I went and checked, and the young woman was just getting out and her male friend was about to also. I went back to the unit – we quickly changed – and went to the Pool. The young guy was still in it. We thought we would frighten him off and asked if he mind us joining him. He had no objections. We hopped in and chatted to him. After about ten minutes,he was gone. A short time later, an older guy – probably around my age entered the pool area . He had togs on and a towel wrapped around him. He sat down at a table nearby. I called out to him to come in, adding that he would freeze sitting out there. He accepted, and joined us. We chatted to him for about twenty minutes. He was from Dunedin and comes here regularly. Apparently, he was in the hospital umbrella, involved with catering – or was – he took early retirement and now works part time. I didn't catch what he is doing now. Ruth wanted to return to the Casino tonight and would not take any notice of my objections. As planned, we returned to the unit, showered and prepared our evening meal – fish (deep sea cod) that we had bought yesterday. We had a good meal and got ready for the Casino trip. When we had been making our way home this afternoon, we drove around the Casino, past the entrance and Car parks, to familiarize ourselves with the layout. Tonight was the Rugby test – Bledislo Cup – Australia v New Zealand. It is the first text match that Robbie Deans has faced as the New Australian Coach sitting taking office. I don't take much interest in the game, especially since it was commercialized several years ago. However, like a lot of others, I don't think J Henry should have been replaced as coach of the All Blacks following the recent World Cup loss. The Kiwis got nowhere near the finals. Even I could see that Henry's ideas were not very good. Deans has worked miracles as coach of the Canterbury Team and in my view, like many others, he should be the All Black Coach. While preparing for our Casino trip, we were watching the pre amble on T V. I decided when I got there, I would watch the game – support Dingo Deans and the new Canterbury team. We arrived at the Casino – and struck the first problem. Apparently, there are three car parks with several levels. Everything was full and I could not find access to higher levels. There were about twenty million cars, driving around looking for parks. I dropped Ruth at the entrance and went to the furtherest away car park. Nothing had changed. I gave up and decided to go back to the Motel – Ruth could phone me when she was ready. When I arrived, I realized I did not have the key and there is a $55.00 call out if a key is lost. I went to the Reception with the intention of phoning the manager from the direct line and asking to be let in. There was a young Malaysian there – booked in for a couple of weeks, and he could not access the Safe to get his key and instructions. He told me he had phoned the Security and was on the line to them. He also said the Guard was on the way. I spoke to the Security person who was on the phone and I was told that if I was lucky, the Guard may let me in without paying. He arrived a few minutes later. Not a chance - $55.00 to get in. I returned to the Casino and tried the car parks again. Things had changed, more cars. I gave up, and I drove to Pacific Fair and parked in the Car park. There seemed to be no way they could lock it. I asked a bus driver it it closed and he was of the opinion that it didn't. I walked back to the Casino and went inside. The entire population of S P and New Zealand was there. Everyone spoke to was a Kiwi – including a young woman working there. It took me half an hour to find Ruth – and then she told me to go away – she likes to be alone there. The second half of the Rugby game had just started and I watched it to the end. I think the A B's may have crossed the centre line once. They were having a hard time. I saw a kiwi tackle an Australian who was chasing a ball – miles from it. I think it resulted in a penalty which cost A B's. The new Canterbury team were victors – 34 19 – Congratulations Dingo Deans. Ruth would not let me stay with her long. I did not feel like fighting through the crowds to get a drink. There were not many people at the Cafeteria, so I bought some more beer battered chips and I ate them. I could not get Ruth to leave and even the worry of the car being locked up at Pacific Fair all night did not faze her. I went and sat in an area that looked something like a T A B – with one of those large (about 9 feet x 7 feet) tv screens with lots of large tv screens around it. I watched tv obout 5 different screens and channels at once – all except the big horse racing tv – it has sound. Ruth eventually turned up and was ready to go home. We left the building and it was very cool outside. We walked back to Pacific Fair, running the Gauntlet of all the drunks – including one who asked if he could get credit on his cell phone at the Casino. I told him I didn't really know what a cell phone was and to ask the Casino. We waited at the traffic lights for a green pedestrian lights, and crossed to the other side, while all the traffic departing the Casino waited for us. Our next hurdle was to get to the other side of the road to Pacific Fair. Four lanes of traffic. We waited until the road was clear in both directions and stated out. We got to the Median Strip in the middle – It is about 18 inches high – possible more. I stepped onto it and jumped to the road on the other side. I saw Ruth on top and I saw her start to step down. Then I heard a yell. I looked around and she was lying on the road. She had tripped and tried to save herself by putting her hand out and had shave some of the skin off. Fortunately, she broke nothing. We walked on to the Mall Car park – passed two drunks who were apparently waiting for a bus and through the darkened area into the car park. The car was till there, we got in and drove out and set off home, feeling very grate full that got there safely. It was about 1-30 a.m. We had a G and T. I turned the T V on and there was a good program – So an hour and another G and T later, we went to bed. Friday 25th July It rained hard all night and was still raining this morning. While we were having breakfast, the rain stopped. The forecast was for clearing weather but packing up tomorrow. As the weather seemed to be clearing, we set off for Sanctuary Cove. I set Sally and off we went. She took us there without any problems. There has been a lot of building done since we were there last, and it would have been a lot harder to get there without Sally. The blue line ahead shows our direction hundreds of meters ahead. The direction of the next turn and distance to it is shown in a separate window. I can relax and not have to look for road direction signs at each intersection. We arrived all right and parked in the car park. We walked into the Marina town. I was amazed that there were so many electric vehicles (Golf Cars). They were everywhere. There were special parking areas for them. There was a cold wind blowing and it was almost raining. It was not such an enjoyable visit as our previous ones. We had a drink in the bar that we had been in on our last visit. We spent about an hour there. We went back to the car after taking some pics. I told Sally to take us to Harbour Town Shopping Centre which was on the way home. We set off and at one stage, Sally directed a right hand turn which was wrong. I am not sure what happened. I think sometimes, it loses data for a bit and gets confused. After this incident, we had no trouble. We parked the car, and we took note of where it was parked so that we would have no trouble finding it. The last time we had visited here, there was an electrical storm with thunder and lighting and torrential rain. At least, today was a bit better. The shopping complex was not at all like I remembered it. There was nothing of interest there and it was quite disappointing. We got a few things from the supermarket and went back to the car. We could not find it. It took us about twenty minutes of walking all over the place before we found it. We set off home, setting Sally for Santana. We were home a little after 4 pm. We had a kip for about an hour, and then watched tv and prepared a meal. We had bought some nice deep sea cod fillets for dinner and we had them with vegetables. After the meal we settled down to watch t v with a drink or two to finish the day. Thursday 24th July Day two in Surfers Paradise, but our first full day. It rained hard most of the day and also rained most of the day. It stopped briefly at times. At about 10 am, we left here and went to the oasis shopping mall. We parked the car on Level 1A and went exploring. We looked around the mall and went to Woolworths Supermarket and bought food and cleaning items to last the next few days. At about 1 pm we decided to go home for lunch. We set off with our trolley and headed back to the car. The trouble was – where was it. We found a sign pointing to Level B 1 and B2. We went there and got to the car park and we were utterly confused. Locals we spoke to looked blankly and didn't have a clue. They just park where they usually do and didn't know. We went back to civilization in the shopping area. We asked a Mall Workman and he came and helped us. We had both pushed the supermarket trolley around a couple of levels of car park without finding the car. I walked around the entire mall – outside looking for we had entered so that I could work fr there, but without success. It was raining hard and I got soaked. I eventually found the car. I picked up Ruth and we went back to Santana for lunch. We had bought a nice cheese and bacon and pineapple bread role for lunch. It was about the size of a dinner plate and like a pizza, but was bread. We had one each for lunch. I put some chopped up tomato on my and it was very nice. We had a sleep and later, at about 3 pm, we went back to the mall and parked the car. Ruth wanted to visit Jupiter Casino and we might as well do it on a wet day. We got the Mono Rail which goes from the Mall to Jupiter. I had a boring 3.5 hours waiting for Ruth. During that time, I had a couple of drinks and a plate of beer batter chips which I enjoyed very much. When Ruth came out, she claimed that she was even – she had not won or lost any money. It was still raining very lightly and quite cold. We decided to walk back to the Mall. There was a nice meandering track with an overhead cover across the river. The trouble was, when we got to the other side, we were at the Convention Center and it was across the other side of a very bush 4 lane road. We saw a young couple walk away, heading where we wanted to go. I said to Ruth that the looked like they knew their way around. They were heading to some traffic lights They must be locals. We stopped behind them while waiting for the lights. The young woman asked us if we knew our way around. They were looking for Valentino Restaurant. Another couple of lost kiwis and they thought it funny when I told them that we had been following them, believing they would get us to safety, Fortunately, I did know where the restaurant was and I was able to tell them that it was around the bend on the left, as soon as they had crossed the bush road. As it turned out, we all got to where we were going safely. We entered the Mall, and once again had difficulty finding the car, but it did not really take long. We had left it far to late to get anything for dinner, so we repeated last nights meal. A Subway Sandwich. The same young fellow had served us last night and he remembered that Ruth had a Turkey Subway, and asked if she would like the same. He was a very nice guy – black as the ace of spades, and perhaps from Aarika somewhere. I ducked into the liquor shop and got half a dozen cans of Carlton (beer). We came back home and we have found a better method of getting from our parking place in the locked secure garage, to our unit, without having to walk miles and go outside. We came inside and enjoyed our meal and drinks while watching T V. T V seems a bit useless though. It is hard to find anything good to watch. Wednesday 23rd July We were up at the usual time this morning. It was not a nice day at all, and a southerly is forecast for this afternoon. After breakfast, we finished packing and prepared to leave the house for ten days as we were due to leave for Brisbane this afternoon Andrew was due at 1 pm to take us to the Airport. The last hour really dragged as we waited for him. At 12-30 pm Ruth phoned to make sure he had not forgotten about it. He was just about to leave. Andrew arrived about 1 pm and at about 1-15 pm we were on the way to the Airport. Andrew dropped us at the front of the terminal and had to leave right away as he had things to attend to. We went into the check in area and quite a large queue had formed and it was obvious that no one was working at the counter. After about ten minutes, staff appeared and the queue started to move. We checked in and our two suitcase disappeared into the system. We went upstairs to the cafeteria and got a snack. Tea/Coffee and I ordered a chocolate and raspberry muffin that was on display. I got a muffin but it was obvious that it was another flavour. Ruth had one of the bananas that we had taken. When we had finished, we went downstairs to the ATM and took out some money, so that Ruth would have some when she went home. O We went back downstairs and paid our departure tax - $25.00 x two, We then entered the departure lounge and went through customs and Security. While waiting, I bought two bottles of gin – with the advertised discount, it was around forty dollars for the two. I had told Dawnae that I would take a bottle to her place. We waited patiently and eventually boarded the plane. As we were waiting, the weather was closing in, and I wondered if we would get away. The take off was about 15 minutes late. The captain came on the intercom and told us the weather was not much better that Chc and he expected head winds and that would result in an extra 30 minutes flying time – and it would be a bit bumpy. He was wrong about the bumps. Against Wenlins advice, we bought something on the plane. Ruth got tea and I got a small bottle of wine. We finished our bananas on the flight. Before leaving Chc, and while we we waiting for Andrew to come, I phoned Social Welfare and informed them that I was leaving the country for weeks – as all people over 65 who receive GRI are required to do. I know most people don't bother but I do. I also got them to Email me an acknowledgment – which they did. As usual, we had to fill out the Arrival Card for the oz government. The question about drugs was very clear-r – Includes medicine – If unsure – put a cross to indicate – but it was clear that we had to click the yes box as well – and I insisted that Ruth did also. We told the Customs person at the counter what we had done, and I was told that he would send us to the appropriate place. As we worked our way passed the Customs person, clearing passengers in line to enter the arrival hall – He directed us to a Customs person in the search area. She asked us what we had, and a few simple questions. She thanked us for telling them and sent us on our way. We entered freedom, and went to the Avis Counter. A very obliging clerk was expecting us and in no time at all, we had completed the paper work and we were ready to take possession of the vehicle. He had upgraded us and the car we got is a Mitsubishi and quite a big car. It has an aeroplane thingy across the boot – I think it must be a connector to tow skate boarders. It was raining hard but quite warm when we went outside. We found the car without difficulty. I don't think the remote locking system is working properly, as it only unlocks the drivers door. We stowed the luggage in the boot. I set Sally up and decided not to spend time anchoring the holding bracket to the windscreen. I asked Ruth to hold the unit. I entered Santana, the name of the Motel we were to stay at and set off. It was not long before I realized that the external rear vision mirrors were not set correctly. They were both down far to low and I could not see behind at all. Everything seemed ok in the parking bay. I decided that as soon as possible, I would stop and adjust them. The problem was, there was no where to stop. I found that by getting my head down as low as possible, I could just see vehicles that were close behind – on the right hand side of the vehicle. We were soon on the road crossing that large bridge than spans the river and leads onto the M1 Motorway and the Toll Gate. Somewhere along the road, I had to stop for a traffic light. I opened the window and pressed the mirror upwards, and fortunately, it moved and I could see. It was raining hard. I can't remember if this happened before the Toll Gate or after. We saw the Toll area approaching and I followed the truck in front of me. The trouble was, he kept going without slowing down and I suddenly saw all the Toll Gates out to my left. I had to keep going and we were suddenly passed the area without paying and were then a running fugitive. After awhile Sally started to mis behave. When I set Santana, I did not mention Surfers Paradise. Maybe there is another one. She kept wanting me to turn off the Mi to the right. At one point, following her instructions, we were heading back to Brisbane. She was obviously trying to bring me back on track, as after about 3 minutes, she told me to do two right hand turns, and I was back on the M1. When we got to the point that we had gone wrong, she told me to turn right again. I did so, but disregarded the next right hand turn, which would have taken back to Brisbane again. A short distance down the road, I turned left onto a busy road heading in the correct direction. After a minute, a block of shops were coming up on our left. I pulled into the parking area and inquired at the liquor shop. The young guy working there was very helpful. He told me to continue in the direction that I had been, and I would soon be back on the M1. We set off, but before doing so, I canceled Sally s instructions and made sure I selected Surfers Paradise, and entered the destination as Santana. We were soon back on the M1. This time, I stayed in the left lane of the two that were marked straight ahead by overhead lane directions. From then on, we had no problems. Just one minor one. As we approached our destination, I knew we had to turn across the median strip somewhere, and head back a short distance to make the final turn to our destination. Sally, said, turn right, followed immediately by then turn right. I made my first right turn and found myself entering the Gardens. I did a u turn in the driveway, headed back and turned left. Sally had meant a "U" turn. A minute later, we were at Santana. It was locked up like Fort Knox. It was raining and I could not find a way through the Security Gate. I kicked and shook it, and then read the sign that said, "Push knob to open". There was no one on duty at the Reception. There was Comm Phone there. I picked up and it a few seconds, I was talking to the staff. There was a security safe there. I was given the instructions to open it and there was an envelope there addressed to me with full instructions – where to park – a key – and the number of our unit. The manager came down and spoke briefly to me. Soon, we had parked the car, and lugged our luggage miles up and down steps, through the rain and settled into the unit. By this time, it was about 9 pm or after. We went back to the car and went to get food. We finished up with a Subway sandwich and we bought bread, milk and one or two essential items from the Mini Supermarket next door. I also bought a couple of small bottles of Gin and Tonic from the liquor store. We went back to Santana and had our meal. That just about ended our first day in Surfers Paradise. Much like a wet day in Christchurch, only slightly warmer.