Gold Coast to Brisbane

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After having breakfast delivered to our motor inn, we made some packed lunch and set off to Surfer's Paradise. We said goodbye to the cutest dog that lived at the motel - Susie!! It took us a couple of hours to get to Surfer's Paradise - The weather was lovely, it was warm and sunny and the beach was amazing! We went for a paddle in the sea and a look around, we discovered that the Chinese spend more of their time taking pictures than they do anything else!!
When we left Surfer's Paradise, we headed to the Palazza Versace where the 'I'm a Celeb' contstants meet before they go in the jungle and when they come out. It was very easy to find and handily enough there was a car park right next door! We walked up to the door and the doorman opened it for us - obviously he recognised us... we're guests there all the time! The hotel was amazing, the lobby and restaurants actually smelt posh and the pool area was extremely nice. After taking a few sneaky pics, we headed off to have our picnic. We found a picnic area next to a beach with a fun lil park to play on too! Even mum and dad had a play. After lunch we went to the beach; Matt went to the toilet but returned to the beach rather quickly when he decided that the beach was for gays when he heard disturbing noises coming from the toilet!! However after seeing couples (men and women) on the beach, we knew we were safe! We saw a jelly fish washed up on the beach, it wasn't too big so I had a prod with my foot - it felt so strange!!
We then drove just north of Brisbane to Dayboro to visit Mum and Dad's friends - Steve and Mel. Their house was absolutely lovely! Their garden is huge with a pool and an undercover outside area with a bbq and decorated with lights. We spent our late afternoon and evening at their house. A big big thank you to Steve and Mel for the most delicious bbq they did for us! The sausages and steak were out of this world, and the giant cheesecake... well!!!! They filled us in with lots of Australian knowledge and told us about some of their experiences with Australian critters. We had fun by the fire and Dad, after a number of attempts (because he was rubbish at first), discovered a new talent with a dyna flex ball which kept us all entertained! The stars looked amazing in the sky that evening too - so clear! When we had had a tour around their lovely house and began to feel a bit sleepy by the fire, we left Dayboro and headed off into the night, keeping our eyes out for the 'many' Australian creatures out there. We saw none but trust me, Australia Zoo made up for it!! 😊 We drove over Mount Mee down some scary, dark, windy roads towards Beerwah where we were staying in a motel on Steve Irwin Highway - the nearest motel to Australia Zoo where we went on Friday!! When we got there, we fell asleep straight away, we were all so tired! We needed a good nights sleep before spending the day in Australia Zoo on friday!! Matt will be writing about our day there shortly so I'll just upload some piccies onto this blog first! See ya! 😊

P.S. Thanks to Steve for the ethernet cable!

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