Gold Coast Aug 2011

---

We decided this year that instead of our annual pilgrimage to Cairns to visit my Dad we'd get them to meet us on the GoldCoast. Hubby had never been there before and last time i went when i was 18 and we throught the Midgit would love the theme parks (and us!) so we'd give it a go...plus its way cheaper to get from Perth to Brisbane than to go to Cairns.
We had a 3 bedroom apartment in the Towers of Chevron which was a fantastic location. Less than 5 minutes from the main mall, 5 minutes from the beach and underneath was a Coles, Liquorland and heaps of very cheap cafes! $4 for a huge cooked breakfast!!!! The apartment was very nice and very clean with amazing views and very sound proof which was great with kids that need to nap during the day. The pool area looked really good but it was pretty cold (one day was 6 degree max!) so we never used it.
Seaworld we found a bit dated and we where home within 3 hours. It just didnt have the theme park wow factor but maybe we've been spoilt by theme parks in the US?? Dream world was a lot better. The Midgit absolutly loved Wiggleworld, Nick Jr World and the animals and as they say, a happy toddler makes for a happy life :)) And unlike seaworld there was no issues finding food or merchandies.
The duck tours around Surfers looked really good but at $35 a person we decided it was too expensive for 1 hr...otherwise it was a bit surprised by the blatant drinking tours and alcoholness of the whole place. Seemed like it was built for schoolies all the time. In perth there are rules against advertising alcohol specials etc so it was a bit of a surprise....hehe, showing my age now :) But not so good to be explaining to a 3 yo to stay away from the very drunk idgit 20's staggering around at 6pm. The beach was nice but really the same as any other beach in Oz but there was no alfesco or cafes on it which seemed odd.
I'm not sure i'd recommend the GC over Cairns or Melb or Sydney but it was a good thing to see...i wont be hurrying back though.

---