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Published: January 13th 2011
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We woke up on Sunday aching all over from clinging on to Steve on the jetski. Steve took us on a tour of Brisbane which included driving round the sights, then getting out the car for a look at Kangaroo point, and a walk through the CBD, crossing the river on a bridge and walking up and down Southbank. The whole Southbank area and CBD have now been flooded and the power has been cut off. We were going to go a CityCat ferry later in the week but the ferry terminals have all been flooded. The flood caused Laura’s organised trip to be diverted, so we met Laura in Brisbane and headed back to Steve and Tess’ with a selection of meat and prawns for a BBQ. As we were leaving the supermarket it started to chuck it down again so we had to BBQ in the rain, which didn’t stop for 24 hours.
We were meant to be travelling up to Rainbow Beach on Monday for our Fraser island tour, however the Bruce Highway was closed south of Gympie (which is about 2 hours north of Brisbane) and the roads from Gympie to Rainbow Beach were also flooded. After
considering trains, planes and buses to get to Rainbow Beach we decided to cancel and stay at Steve’s. The Fraser Island company we booked with, Fraser Explorer tours, have promised us a full refund. We considered our options on Monday night and waited to see how the flood developed. The flooding worsened and roads were closed an hour north of Brisbane near Caboolture.
As we could not head north, we decided to head south to Broadbeach near Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast because we liked this area on our drive down to Byron Bay. We found one of our favourite hotels (a Meriton) and used a 20% off email code we received after staying in the Sydney Meriton and booked in for 2 nights. The hotel met my requirements as it had an outside pool and spa!
The drive down from Brisbane was a bit hairy, it rained constantly and even with the windscreen wipers on full we could barely see the road. We were also hearing reports on the news saying the roads we were heading towards were going to close soon. We had to slow to 5mph at times as the car was aquaplaning along the motorway.
When we arrived on Tuesday the weather still wasn’t great, it was raining and wasn’t overly warm. However, we didn’t let this stop us, we put on our swim gear and got in the outdoor spa. Problem was we didn’t want to get out! We also headed to the shops and found our first cheap shop similar to Poundland where we bought some wannabe Pringles and some chocolate. Then we got some cheap sparking pink wine which we drunk on the sea view balcony.
On Wednesday we awoke to clear skies and sunshine. I got very overexcited and wolfed my cereal down, got my bikini on and was by the pool by half 7, ready to tan. Oli stuck to the factor 30 and I used the usual factor 15 but somehow I managed to get burnt all over by Midday. We decided to book into the hotel for another day as the floods in Brisbane were getting worse and we didn’t fancy driving back up there yet. Then we went for a walk on the beach at 2pm but it wouldn’t be Queensland without rain so the heavens opened for half hour or so. We went and bought some
more pink sparkling wine for the evening and some more Pringles and found a restaurant for the evening. We decided on a Thai place called Boon Chu Thai restaurant as it was rated number 3 on Tripadvisor. We went back to the room to get ready and decided to go to the casino over the road called Jupiters. We had a go on the Roulette tables, at one point I was $10 up and should have quit while I was ahead but I didn’t and I ended up losing $20. Oli didn’t do much better! Then we went to the Thai restaurant, Oli had green chicken curry and a peanut satay chicken dish and I had prawns with spicy noodles, and then we went back to the hotel.
Woke up today to sun again, so we were back by the hotel pool by half 7, although this time I used factor 30 and had to keep my shorts and top on as I was too burnt from yesterday! Now its midday and the sun has gone in so we are in the room watching the floods on TV and Oli is having another snooze. We are going to catch a
bus into Surfers Paradise this afternoon/evening and we are going to visit a restaurant called My Oliver’s Kitchen! Tomorrow we will be going back to Wet and Wild World to get the most use out of our passes and then we (hopefully) fly back to Sydney on Saturday.
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Phyllis Farrand
non-member comment
Wonderful news.
Lisa and Oli, It is wonderful to hear from you and thanks so much. I have really been concerned about the weather but you are both handling it beautifully. Looking forward to hearing more any time. The pictures are lovely. Thanks so much. Love Phyllis