Last Day on the Gold Coast

A beautiful day with clear blue skies so we did a short drive south to Burleigh Heads National Park, where the Tallebudgera River empties into the ocean. Even though we arrived mid-morning, we had difficulty in finding a parking spot in the two small areas allocated for the park. After circling for 15 minutes we finally got a place and set off on an exploratory walk starting at the river. A nice 3 km loop through rainforest with a great high viewing platform looking south.

It was hot and humid! We figured that without a beach umbrella, there was no way we would survive more than 15 minutes on the main beach so we elected to find some shade along the riverbank that afforded some sand beach due to the low tide. We changed into our swimmers and found a nice area to pass a few hours. The river was refreshing, a nice sand bottom but within a few metres from shore you were up to your neck. The deep water was cool and the surface warm. Most people just sat a metre from shore in chest deep water to cool off.

Mid afternoon, we thought we would re-locate to the main beach at Surfers Paradise. The traffic was still chockers! After cruising around for about 20 minutes in the 32 C heat, we were unsuccessful in finding a parking space anywhere near the beach (it's Sunday afternoon). We then tried Main Beach. Same story. We did a quick stop at the Southport Yacht Club but determined we did not have appropriate dress to enter the clubhouse.

The pool at the the apartment and a cold beer was starting to look good. Yes, this place does remind me of SW Florida at times.

I spent a bit of time booking our next couple of night's accommodation. We are on our way to Cairns in the north. About 1800 km away and closer to the equator. I am making sure I check the comments on how good the air conditioning is in the hotel/motel/apartment before booking.

After it cooled off a bit I ventured across the street for some night photos of the harbour lights. A beautiful night.

The pool at our apartment...