TD's Australian Adventure, finally.: A flying bus to Goldie

We said goodbye to Melbourne on what was a drizzly saturday morning and headed northeast into what we were told would be thunder and lightning storms.

We are flying Jetstar domestically which we would describe as a Greyhound bus with wings. Better than being caught up in the Qantas Air Domestic Strikes that are going on right now, but not by much.

So the Gold Coast is like Orlando in that it is home to Australia's major theme parks. Seaworld, Movieworld, and Dreamworld? Not sure that is the correct name on the last one. In any case the median age on the airplane was probably 6. We were sandwiched between babies and toddlers. Two behind and three in front, 4 of the 5 screaming bloody murder for 2 hours (pretty much the entire flight). Kid number 5 was kicking my seat the whole way, his Mum was too busy to notice as she was attending to the screaming baby, so I just pretended it was a massage chair. (We blame the Candler Curse on our seat arrangements). At this time we would like to say a big thank you to the company that manufactures our earplugs. You do great work. We hope the kids have fun at the theme parks, we are headed in the opposite direction and quickly. They should make teenagers take that flight, we're sure teen pregnancy would come to a screeching halt. It would be like "Scared Straight" with babies instead of prisoners.

When we arrived in the GC it was a bit muggy and overcast, no thunder or lightning though. We are staying in Broadbeach which has a Waikiki/Miami vibe with skyscrapers, tallest one is 80 stories, we think. Tons of hotels from mid-sixties and seventies, with new skyscrapers mixed in. The beach has really soft powdery sand and seems to go on forever. Neat watching the surfers, paddle boarders and lifeguards. The lifeguards wear these sweet hats that have straps that wrap around the ears, they kind of remind me of mickey ears without the mickey ears. If that makes any sense.

We would say its your typical beach community with lots of shops for tourists and locals. We are near the Mall and Casino (Casinos are big here, money goes to the Australian government). We needed some quiet time after our flight, so we headed to the local cinema and paid $17 bucks for a movie that is soon to be out on DVD at home, awesome. We saw Crazy Stupid Love with Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling. It was funny and Ryan Gosling is hot so it equaled GREAT. When we got back to our room Jen and I watched the Ireland V. Wales Rugby World Cup Game (Mandy cut some ZZZs) and then we called it a night. Wales won. We were routing for Ireland, they had cuter guys and we like the green gear.

We are meeting up with Murf our Aussie friend today. Its beautiful and warm out with not a cloud in the sky. I'm already covered in sunblock. We woke up at 6 and took a stroll on the beach (would have been 7 in Melbourne, I guess we're morning people). Off to Port Douglas tomorrow for Great Barrier Reef and real life Pandora from Avatar (We've been told) In Cape Tribulation.

Love T&J

Mandy's quote of the day: "I have a really good sense of direction actually, now which way to our hotel?" (said while standing across the street from our hotel.)

Pictures: (some of the pics have gunk on the lens, I've cleaned it and we should be all good now, I'd normally photoshop it out, but my app is limited at this point.)