A night away...

After writing 2 posts about our holiday in March april May this year, I'm now going to share our adventures a little closer to home; on a little 'overnighter' to the Gold Coast. For a number of years, DH and I have celebrated our anniversary at Jupiters at Broadbeach. We would take the Show, Room and Breakfast package, but this year there was no show in late June. But we get those emails of promotional offers (don't we all? lol) and so it was that there was an offer of Show etc that had to be taken before October 3. So off we went :-)
On arrival we checked in and were offered an upgrade...then we were told that this upgraded room was on the 20th floor which is a 'smoking floor'...so we stayed with the room on the 14th! lol . The room was lovely, with views east and south.

Looking towards Pacific Fair, a rather large shopping centre

In the years that we have been staying at Jupiters, the number of tall buildings on the 'beach side' has increased...

 Looking south ...

In the morning, while looking out the window, I noticed some Hi-Viz clad workers...

Window cleaning day...

I don't think I would like to do this maintenance man's job!

 No sir!

After a late breakfast DH and I headed for home...but not by the freeway. We travelled via some of the coast's hinterland.
Quiet, bush lined roads...

 A stop at Beechmont...

 Then back on the road...
We passed 'one of a kind' homes...

This one had sculptures in the front yard...

 Lovely country road...

 A very modern large home on acreage...

 How's this for a front yard?

 The lovely views beyond...

 Rolling hills...

As we neared Canungra we saw quite a few cars parked by the side of the road...

So we stopped too :-)
I'm so glad we did!
The locality was Rosins Lookout with views south to Mt Warning, nestled amongst the border ranges.

And this steeply sloping site was where the Canungra Paragliding club 'did their stuff'

My camera followed the progress of one of the club members...

 'Yellow' joins the others...

While we were watching the paragliders, DH pointed to some people sitting on the ground near us...

 Yes a little wallaby nibbling away on the grass!

He hopped towards us...

 It would have been churlish of us not to give him (?) a pat...

Then one of the men from the group sitting on the ground, came and scooped our new little friend up and took him(?) back to sit with them again...they were wildlife carers so this little fellow (?) was possibly orphaned.
What a stroke of luck that we stopped when we did :-)

At last! The trams are back!!

Trams are back, but not in Brisbane; instead, the Gold Coast now has a 13 km light rail route with 16 stations. The tram route starts in the north at the University Hospital and terminates at Broadbeach South.

So what do 2 'tram tragics' do when there are trams running an  hour or so's drive away? You ask 2 close relatives if they would like to join you on a tram ride, of course! And that's what DH, myself, BiL and SiL did a few Mondays ago. We parked the car near the University Hospital and went to the station. Our Brisbane 'Go Cards' work on the Gold Coast light rail network, so that made it a very simple process.
My SiL and I in the lift...

I was rather taken with the beautiful show of clivias beside the bus platform...

Here comes the tram...

Ready to set off on our tram ride...

Not far from the University Hospital stop, we saw some activity in a huge site near the tram line...construction of the Commonwealth Games Village for 2018...

The tram goes through the centre of Southport, somewhere I haven't been to for many years as the newer roads skirt around and away from the localities...
Going over the bridge

The tram route also goes into the shopping district of Surfers Paradise...

We are almost at Broadbeach now; our destination...

I'm checking the read out on the the 'touch point' for the GoCard...the ride cost me just a bit over $3...very good value.

DH had decided that we would all walk around to the the Kurrawa Surf Club for lunch...the views are lovely but I always find the food there pretty ordinary...but we keep going back? :-/ lol

 After lunch we walked around the Oasis shopping centre and then used the walkway to make our way back to the tram stop.

The Gold Coast monorail no longer runs but the infrastructure is still there at the moment...Jupiters Casino is in the middle of the photo...

DH waited on the elevated walkway to get a photo of the tram coming north from Broadbeach South...

We missed that tram of course but it wasn't long before another one came along...

 Some more pics taken on the return journey...

The Southport Croquet Club...

 Trundling over the Motorway ...

Back at the University Hospital stop I noticed the sign on the side of the carriage...

So to finish off this post, one more photo. DH wanted a photo of himself taken beside the train...how could I refuse such a request! I took several, but I'll just include one :-).

We had had a most enjoyable time on the tram ride...the trams are modern, comfortable and offer a great way to travel on the GC...the same journey by car would have taken much longer...a real novelty to 'tram deprived' Brisbanites! lol