Gold Coast

It took us a couple of days to get used to the rhythm of Bali, but once we found the groove, we really enjoyed the waves, our fabulous villa and a couple of excellent visits to Ku De Ta. Well-replenished, we were ready for the next step of our adventure: Australia.

We caught the red-eye flight from Singapore to Sydney and finally arrived at the Gold Coast at 9:00am. No one really slept on the plane. With over 200 movies available on Singapore Air, Harrison was way too busy to even try to catch any shuteye.

Our friends Tino and Lynn were at the airport to pick us up. They used to live near us in Beaconsfield, but abruptly resettled to the Gold Coast 3 years ago. It was impossible for me not to turn green with envy at their setup.

Surfer's Paradise

They live in a beautiful house on a quiet ocean inlet and spend a ton of time out on the water. Instead of using bikes or mopeds, their son Jonathon and his friends travel from one place to another by JetSki! How cool is that?

Too many movies on the flight to the Gold Coast!

Despite the lack of sleep, Lynn & Tino plied us with just enough food and alcohol to keep us going throughout the day. The 28C Sunday afternoon in the middle of winter helped as well. When it came time to drive Jono back to boarding school to start the week, the implication was drive in a boat. Sweet!

It was an amazing afternoon for cruising around the waterways near Surfer's Paradise and ogling the many multimillion dollar houses along the way, several of which had heli-pads set out beside the multi-story boat houses. Wow! My mind started to churn: could the Baldry's arrange to live in Queensland ...

We capped off our way-too-short 24 hour visit with lots of red wine and red meat. Lynn and Tino seemed as curious about our life back in Canada as we were about their new life in Australia, but when it comes time to pull our boots on and slog through the slush and snow, no one will have any doubt about the great decision they made three years ago.

The next day we were off to Cairns and Northern Queensland to visit the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.