Gold Coast Australia: There are no Ugly Beaches to Be Found

The Final Countdown

We have gained such a fantastic understanding and truly authentic experience of life in Australia. Thankful for the dozens of pretty unique Australians we have had the chance to get to know. So gratifying to spend two months in yet another outstanding country so open to our discovery.

Our final housesit was on the Gold Coast just south of Brisbane. Puppy Kenji and elderly Bella won us over and challenged our skills (and sometimes our puppy patience). Maz and Mills were pretty colorful hosts who greeted us warm-heartedly. We had a chill night grilling Greek food, laughing, and learning the ropes of their house and pets.

They have lived all over the world and were super welcoming of globe-trotting Americans. They own a retro-modern townhouse just a quick drive to the beach. Maz was trusting enough to allow Brett to drive her Mazda crossover and we were thankful to have the wheels for the two weeks. Brett was thrilled that it was actually an automatic, with no shifting with his left hand.

Aussie Stereotypes

After 2 months of living with the locals, we have some seriously simple observations and stereotypes. They love to go barefoot everywhere, even in stores. They smell really good and they are tatted up like a paint-by-number with no parts off-limits to ink. Aussies have about the same obesity problem as we do in the US, they are generally helpful and service is good. Because of the sun, they often wear pretty stylish tweed sun hats. If you are curious, yes we are STILL looking for Crocodile Dundee.

Aussies Abbreviate EVERYTHING. They have a cool lazy language to go along with that awesome accent. Anything with more than 2 syllables gets shortened. When we were invited over for tea, I was confused it was so late and that tea was an entire meal. Avocodo-Avvo--Breakfast-Brekky--Afternoon-Arvo--Barbecue-Barby--Gold Coast-Goldy--Sunglasses-Sunnies--Renovations-Reno--Christmas-Crissy. Seriously this goes on forever. I asked and researched a bit as to why, but they don't seem to know. My theory is they appear more casual and friendly, which really they are by nature.

Aussies live like sardines. The country is huge, but a majority of the concentration is along the coast. Mostly everyone lives near the ocean. Even in the more rural towns, they have housing blocks or apartment blocks. It is very common that a backyard has another house instead of a yard. Old houses are being taken down and housing blocks are being built. One driveway with 10 post boxes where units share the middle space is super common. Amazingly, Aussies are respectful of this close living. Rarely did we encounter unwanted noise or annoyance from close neighbors.

• 80 percent of all animals on the continent are unique only to Australia

• Voting in political elections is required, or they get fined

• They don't use clothes dryers they use outdoor drying racks

• Swimming lessons are required for all children born here

• Guns are not tolerated, even a majority of the Police only carry tasers (& a club stick )

• Tats! It is the land of excessive tattoos. They look a lot like their aboriginal South Pacific Islanders with all that ink

• Pay Phones are available and are FREE to use anytime

• Affordable healthcare for everyone is not an issue

• We didn't see one snake our entire trip, but we aren't sure what are bigger the spiders or cockroaches

Speeding in Australia WILL get you fined by the camera. We learned this firsthand. They are serious about abiding by their laws. Going 48 KPM in a 40 School zone at 8 am on a Monday morning will get you busted by the camera. The ticket came in the mail three weeks later to our previous host. In Brett's defense, he was just trying to keep it on the left side of the road, left-hand 5-speed with steady traffic, not knowing where we were going. If we could have argued, I am sure I would have gotten us out of it. I guess you don't get to argue with a camera.

Just to the North was the Great Barrier Reef, NO we did not get there to see it, shame on us. It was Box Jelly Fish Season, so we were advised against it.

Interestingly enough box jellies are responsible for more deaths than snakes, sharks and saltwater crocodiles combined!

Snorkling yes--but not at the GBR.

Day Trip Tamborine Mountain

This super cool area formed a volcanic plateau located in Gold Coast Hinterland. Waterfalls, cliffs, unique palms, and super old trees. City slickers move to the area for less expensive housing, and it has become mega for tourism. The volcanic soil is ripe for growing Avocados, Macadamia Nuts, and other veggies that are sold in small roadside stands. Shops, wineries, artsy galleries, natural beauty, and expensive restaurants dot the hillsides. We decided to spend the morning hiking Witches Trail which was exquisite and we were rewarded with yet another Aussie waterfall.

Australia has so many National Parks--they are everywhere just waiting to be explored. Most of them are free to enter. No dogs tho, but Smokey the Bear would love their coin-operated fire-less BBQ grills available in most public places.

Koalas and Kangaroos

We were getting kind of cranky about not seeing any koalas, and sort of became ok with the fact that due to their scarcity, we wouldn't get to see one. I even looked at the possibility of going to a zoo, but we just can't seem to get ourselves to go to a zoo.

It wasn't until Easter Sunday on a walk in a local park on the Gold Coast that we spotted our first one hanging for dear life up in a gum tree. They are so stinking' cute! It was a jackpot day, we ended up seeing 6 of them. With only 5,000 left in the entire country, we were fortunate to find an area where they are being supported. Land clearing, global warming, bushfires, and chlamydia are all issues that have brought them to the brink of extinction. It is estimated these darlings will be totally extinct in less than 7 years.

Surf and Sand

There are a lot of young, skinny, suntanned, barefoot, fully tatted Aussies who hang close to the water surfing and enjoying all the beaches of this island country. They are so lucky to have picture-perfect beach after beach, sunny days, and a chill vibe. The surf patrol works hard to keep swimmers and surfers safe.

The Gold Coast so cool. It looks a bit like Florida, we thought. Kenji and Brett just chilling. The Veggie Market is my favorite store---Oh my! So much inexpensive local produce that we created lots of Asian dishes in our bright and cheery Gold Coast kitchen. Food in Australia was much like the US. Meat Pies are traditional and they eat a lot of food from the sea. We didn't really dine out much, even the locals complain about how expensive and out of control the prices have gotten. I did a lot of self-taught cooking school on our trip. Our top new favs were veg pizza with homemade pizza dough, everything Thai, (I have finally mastered Tofu after nearing 20 years of being veg ) Falafel/Hummus. Brett is READY for some BEEF tho. Maybe He can talk our friend Robert into a steak fry??? If so I will bring the saltines.

That is a wrap-Thank you Australia

Perth-Southern Highlands-Swanky Sydney Burbs, Gold Coast

The variety was pretty vast thanks to our housesits. We can say the number one thing we loved about Australia was SAFETY. After being in Africa for 3 months, it was totally relaxing to not even think twice about our personal safety. So, so much freedom here like walking after dusk or before sunrise. The birds, hiking trails, big starry skies with outlandishly colorful sunsets every night also topped our list. As sun and beach lovers, we were pretty much in heaven the entire time. So much to celebrate in this big, nature-focused country.

We are headed back to the USA and so looking forward to spending 2 weeks with family and friends before heading to the Rocky Mountains, Ouray, Colorado where we will take on our next assignment for 18 months. We intend to work on the blog including ramping up the Pack Mule website. We hope to grow the tools box for people to help continue to inspire and assist in giving people the info to help them get the most out of their journey. We hope you come along. The adventure certainly will continue.

Ahh.......I think it is time for some hair care. It has been 10 months in the making. Jan might need to charge me an up fee.