Advertisement
Published: July 10th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Gold Coast
Matty in Joe's Pad Being so close to Australia, and probably not going to be this close again for a long time we decided it would be worthwhile taking the short up and down flight over the Tasman to see some friends we missed on our last trip here. First stop was to see the recently emigrated Joe Sheppard. The day to get there started very early, the flight was seamless and we picked up a cool little hire car at the other end. Becky (Joe's better half) entertained us for the first afternoon as Joe was working. The first thing we realised when we rocked up to there pad was how lush it was. They had a massive 2 bedroom apartment on the 20 something floor overlooking South Stradbroke Island from one balcony and Surfers Paradise from the other, seriously cool. With a gym and pool included within the facilities. GET ON!!! In the evening we had BBQ and caught up over some cold ones.
Following day Nibby took advantage of the Gym before joining Matty & Becky at the pool for some relax time - Joe got a half day and joined us in the afternoon for a game of mini-golf which
Nibby won - and then we cracked on with Steak on the BBQ and more ice cold beers.
Friday morning was supposed to be an early surf for the boys but it took them ages to stop faffing around and set off just after lunch - it was the first time Matty had surfed Straddy Island and he was using Joe's tiny 6'0 board it was tough but good fun. Nibby cooked everyone a curry today it was HOT we chilled out in the evening and watched a couple of films.
Saturday morning the boys did make a dawn surf trip got the boat across the estuary rather than paddle because it is notorious for sharks and sunrise is feeding time. When Matty got back we said all our goodbyes and packed up the car and on to visit Mat & Leisa in Roma that was an epic drive took 6 hours. Arrived and settled in then had some great pasta dinner. We were playing with Wallabies from the word go. The guys were caring for 3 baby Wallabies (a cousin of the Kangaroo) each a couple of months old they hoped around, pooed, wanted feeding and then
Gold Coast
It my be Oz but it gets cold at night hoped around some more and slept. So pretty similar to human babies except they hoped around oh, and never screamed the house down.
Matty started the day Pig Hunting with Mat & his Dad. We walked around the desert in pretty hot temperatures looking for Boars with Bow & Arrows as our weapons. It was great fun and Mat's Dad was full of knowledge about the outback and even though he scared me when he was telling me about all the poisonous things that live where we were are hunting I still felt safe that he would know what to do if anything did bite or sting me. The only disappointing thing was we did not see any Boars we saw tracks, we saw poo, we saw Boar bones, but no Boar.
Nibby went with Leisa to sort a friends bad hair day out and in the end had to re-dye it. In the afternoon we all played with the Wallabies before playing a board game called Choppoly which was kind of like monopoly well same same but different.
Not much to report the following day we had a lovely roast dinner and played Pictonary Mania in
Gold Coast
Matty and Joe which surprise the girls won!! Went to see the Big Rig the following day it was the first gas and oil drill on mainland Australia which was a big thing - it was interesting to get a better understanding of how they drill for stuff. Matty cooked one of his Mum's special recipes for dinner, sausage casserole and Leisa cooked a lovely pudding. We had a great final night with the guys.
Bacon muffins for breakfast then Wallaby play time before goodbyes and we were on the road back to Brisbane for whirl wind stop 3, Sue & Dolly's. We arrived just after 6 and Sue & Dolly were on fine form we sat around chatting and drinking chilled beers over roast beef every Englishman's favourite, a wonderful evening. The following day we were flying back to Christchurch and Sue and Dolly where kind enough to let us hang around there house using there pool until we had to leave for the airport, the flight was full and delayed and when we landed the other end there were more delays. John who had come to pick us up was pretty bored waiting for us, we got into bed around
1:30am knackered.
The late night really hurt the following day when the alarm went off at 5:30am, it was time for Strong coffee, John and Margaret were up and made us breakfast and sandwiches for the day, they really where great. We said goodbyes and trotted off to Picton, a 4 hour drive away so we could make the ferry back to the North Island. We arrived in time and once aboard both had a sleep for a few hours, the crossing was pretty smooth. Once landed in Wellington we took a travelling time out to go and view The Monet & Impressionists which was on exhibition in Wellington that killed the rest of the afternoon and we set off ever Northwards for a couple more hours before ducking into a hostel for a bite to eat and some much needed sleep.
The next day was more of the same, driving North towards Hamilton and our rendezvous with Kylie. We stopped on route at an aviary. The best bit was we saw some Kiwi birds which we needed to see before we left NZ. We got to Kylie's around 5pm, had some dinner, a catch up and watched
Gold Coast
View from Joe's Pad the box.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.127s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 17; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0671s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb