Goodbye Tasmania, Hello Surfers Paradise

We awoke in our AirBnb today in a residential neighborhood in Hobart, Tasmania. The plan: morning school session and off to the airport. Our next destination is back to the mainland of Australia and the Gold Coast.

Internet Strikes Again

Australia, arguably the most 1st world country we’ve traveled to in months, continues to have the most awful internet connections...we can’t get anything done! I thought we’d be OK coming to the largest city in Tasmania, in a residential neighborhood, but we were thwarted once again.

Hobart Library

Instead of school at the AirBnb, we drove to the Hobart library to pick up a connection - fortunately it was in the direction of the airport. We only had time for a power hour of math, but we did it.

First time in a library cubby; Sadie loved it!

There was a rack of large books next to Sadie and I, which we used to have a quick laugh.

Airport

We flew through the airport and boarded our flight to Brisbane.

The Gold Coast

The Gold Coast consists of ~20 miles of beautiful clean beaches along the East coast of Australia. The laid back surfers vibe permeates - evidenced by a good majority of the locals who simply don’t wear any shoes or flip flops - in grocery stores, restaurants, you name it. And these aren’t bums, just regular old Aussies!

After landing, we drove straight to the heartbeat of the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise, about 1 hour from the Brisbane airport. It’s the most famous spot along the coast and the most built up.

Iconic place, with electric hair on me.

Sand Castle Competition

The main beach drag was having a sand castle competition. Paige & Sadie eagerly dropped some gold coins to vote for their favorites; it was part of the people's choice awards.

Is there still time for a late entry from P&S?

Coolangata

While we wanted to see Surfers Paradise, we choose to stay at the southern most tip of the Gold Coast in Coolangata. It’s a much more laid back area, minus all the amusement parks, Sea Worlds, etc that are part of the more touristed Surfers Paradise area. We certainly didn’t come to the other side of the world for that!

We rolled into our AirBnb, our home for the next two nights. Great location, looking out over a park and the beach.

Here’s to a couple of fun days on the Aussie Gold Coast!