gold coast.

Thanks to the amazing generosity of Candice’s mom, we were able to take a trip during my time off over the holidays while Arden spent a wonderful few days with her Ahma. My goal was originally for us to do an epic road trip through Tasmania, but I quickly realised that trying to find a place to stay in Tassie 2 months before the biggest travel time of the year isn’t the best idea. After mulling over a few other ideas, and considering we couldn’t leave the country as we were still waiting for our PR to come through, we decided to give the Gold Coast a try. Thankfully Gold Coast had plenty of accommodation still available, so we booked our place in the heart of Surfer’s Paradise. For those that have never been, picture one of those Florida touristy beach towns, like Panama City Beach, and then imagine that in Australia. From the theme parks to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum to the nightclubs, Surfer’s Paradise in Gold Coast reminded me a lot of my brief trips to Florida.

views from our hotel balcony.

We didn’t have the best weather during the trip, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying some quality beach time. The beaches are beautiful, white sand, warm water, good waves for surfing and designated areas for swimming with lifeguards on duty. I was impressed and a bit intimidated by the size of the waves and the strength of the ripcurl, especially during my second time out in the water, where I kept getting battered and decided it was best if I stayed out of the water so the lifeguards didn’t have to come and rescue me.

It was a real luxury to travel without Arden. We didn’t have to pack all of her stuff (which is twice as much as we need), we didn’t need to baby-proof our hotel room, we could relax in the evening without having a 2+ hour bedtime routine, we could sleep in as late as we wanted and most importantly, we could go out and take our sweet time enjoying delicious meals. My main agenda for the trip and to make the most of our toddler-free time, was to go out for nice meals and take our time enjoying them. Candice did a lot of research checking websites and reviews before we travelled, so we had a list of a bunch of great places to try. Overall the quality of the food we had was excellent, and some of the highlights included a fancy dinner of fresh seafood overlooking the ocean, fancy brunch at Paradox and the most amazing chili-cheese dog at Brooklyn Depot.

Candice also booked an excellent river cruise for us that departed right behind our hotel. We had perfect weather the morning of our cruise, great views of the city skyline, and an entertaining pre-recorded narrated tour, that the captain would constantly interrupt with lame jokes. It was a nice leisurely cruise and fun to see all the houses owned by famous people along the river – we even saw Jackie Chan’s house, which was pretty cool!

Chan's house is the one with the curvy roof!

After the cruise the weather was still really nice so we decided to go up the Q1 building to the SkyPoint Observation deck. The views from the top were fantastic, and we had a relaxing high tea to make the most of our trip. 

view from the SkyPoint observation deck.

For New Years Eve we had a mostly clear view of the fireworks from our hotel room, so watched both fireworks shows (an early show for families and the midnight show) from our balcony while enjoying some wine and dessert, and also ventured out for another fireworks show they had on the river at 10 PM (because, why not?). We also had fireworks in the form of an amazing lightning show our last night in Gold Coast, and Candice had to drag me away from the beach as I just wanted to sit and watch the lightning flashing over the water for hours.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I’m really glad we decided to go and enjoy a relaxing vacation on the Gold Coast. While the video footage and photos aren’t nearly as cute or fun without Arden, it was so nice to have a few days to ourselves for the first time since she was born. It also made me so excited for the days when Arden is old enough that she doesn’t need a nap, as not having to schedule our days around naps or bedtime was such a welcome relief.

Arden and her Ahma back in Melbourne, having some quality time. :)

BK