After a smashing good breakfast (funny pun for my dad) we are off to Mount Tamborine! It is about a 45 minute drive inland and has a walk in the trees which we can do along with a variety of other scenic views to look at, prior to driving to Surfers Paradise, which is the town/beach/area below the Gold Coast where we are going to take a sunset cruises tonight! It is a beautiful day lets go!
The buffet breakfast at this Sheraton hotel is also awesome – actually a step above! They actually provide the recipes for the dishes on the gluten free and vegan (not shown) areas of the buffet. There is a hot side, a cold side and then fruit along with as I mentioned a gluten free section and a vegan section. Then next to the gluten free section (which has its own toaster with a sign) and something I have never seen on a buffet previously was gluten free home made ice cream with toppings! Now that is how to get your sugar screaming high in the morning but also a way to cool down…. On the gluten free table below they have both a chia/coconut yogurt and a Spiced Breakfast bowl which contains GF oats, quinoa, milk, cinnamon, apricots cut up, raisins and honey. Now that is one good way to start your day! If anyone wants the recipe let me know!
We then made a beautiful drive to Mount Tamborine which was a bit like climbing half way up Cypress in terms of height from sea level where we are staying. Once on what I would call a crest, the sight looking west – so away from the Gold Coast was quite beautiful! It was hard to get a picture as it was on the other side of the road and Andrew could not stop anywhere. I have found some on the internet shown below, similar to what we saw during our drive.
Next we started a bit down the mountain and towards the Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk which I had read was an accessible experience where you can walk among the tree tops of the rain forest, listen to the birds, perhaps see some wildlife and have basically a COOL experience! I was impressed when we got there that the lady at the admissions counter fully disclosed that the path is hard going for those with walkers and that she was only going to charge us a child’s admission which was basically half price or 1 adult and 1 free. I thought that was fair as I could only do one part of the trail. The Mossman Gorge needs to adopt this policy too as I was only able to go about 200 metres on a 1.5 km trail system – the rest of the trails had stairs and were narrow. Back on subject, they had a really interesting display about the environs such as the Aboriginal families who inhabited the areas, the fact that there are glow worms that hang out and night and that the “mountain” which I would actually call an escarpment or bulge was originally a volcano!
Then came the walk that one of my parents would NOT like! The walk in the trees where you could see DOWN about 900 feet! Yikes! I kept my focus forward despite the awful racket that my wheels were causing on the grids of the steel walkway. I would stop every once in a while and take pictures etc however we were nearing the end of the walkway and I could hear people behind us and I thought as my walker took up most of the width of the walkway, they might want to pass so I pulled aside and collapsed my walker. One man passed by but the other would not – he REFUSED to. He said that he was only on this walkway as he saw me doing it and figured that if I could do it and get to the end then he could too as he is scared of heights! His friend waited for him about 100 feet away. We then chatted a bit about the Sydney Harbour Bridge which he cannot walk over either due to the grid like walkway – I did not know about that – however I did let him know that he did not have to walk the Skywalk again to get back as the trail will take him back to the beginning – I have to take the Skywalk back as the trail has stairs and the only way for me to get back is to ensure the shaking arms and sounds again! I was okay with the height however I defiantly did not look down and I made Andrew take the picture looking down to the forest floor…
Next we drove into the village that is on the top of Mount Tamborine where the road is called “Gallery Row”. We stopped at a couple places – this first one I thought was really cute and reminded me of Coombs actually! I almost did not go into the stores though as they were down some stairs until Andrew found an unmarked ramp. I rewarded one of the stores with some purchases and provided the feedback that they would not have the sale if I could not get down there. We also went to a glass shop which was beautiful – we did drive by a glass blowing studio to see if anyone was there but it was closed.
Next we continued on our way to Surfers Paradise in order to get parked, to go grocery shopping for a snack for me on the boat and then to get to the boat! Despite going around the block once, we managed to find parking – Surfers Paradise has GROWN UP since I was last here 27 years ago! Holy cow! High rises everywhere and businesses lining the streets. We made our way to Wollies Grocery Store and then walked to the boat slip to get onto the evening cruise.
I am still struggling with picking activities that say they are wheelchair accessible and then finding out they are not! So this boat said it was wheelchair accessible – it was fine for me to get onto however a person in a wheelchair? Nope. The “lip” to get up onto the boat was about 2 feet high (a little difficult if someone is in a wheelchair) and the real kicker was when they phoned me, which was good that they did, they wanted to make sure that I did not have a power wheelchair as they cannot take them. I now see why – the slip that you want on to get to the boat (not pictured) actually sinks the more people that are on it! When I tried to get onto the boat, there were about 10 people on it and thus the huge climb onto the boat. If one was on that slip with a 300 pound wheelchair plus some people I am not sure what would happen. Needless to say, they need to indicate that on their advertisements! I must say, when I got off the boat, I waited for everyone to get off the slip, including Andrew and the drop down was only about a foot at that time. However to get into the boat, through the door, I had to collapse my walker and the washrooms on board are not accessible either. This excursion, while it was nice (despite having to sit on the lower floor while most people were up the stairs on the top deck), I would not consider recommending to someone who uses a wheelchair. Just not safe.
Other than that little dissertation, it was nice to be on the water, cruising the inner waterways of Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast! Jason likened to to Venice which we both totally disagreed with (but did not say anything) as one, the “public transit” only runs every half hour along the waterway for about 5 stops from dawn to dusk, not every 3-4 minutes, the waterways are MUCH wider and lastly it is wide open and not enclosed with buildings high up on each side. Oh, and there are cars and way fewer bridges! I think this area is more similar to the Miami Beach or the Inland Waterway that goes up the East Coast of the USA. Jason also talked about how “expensive” the houses are – which were in the 1-2 million dollar range for most of them. Now, coming from Vancouver, where we have kind of high housing prices, paying 1-2 million to be on a waterway in a medium to hot climate where it does not snow or rain that much is not that bad in my opinion! There were though some very nice mansions on the waterways too – some that rivaled what you see in the Point Grey waterfront area – of course with yachts out front just for show!
Walking back to the car in the parking lot, we decided to check out the beach side (South Pacific) of Surfers Paradise first. This area I had visited with Karen and it is SO MUCH more commercial now! The first thing we saw – which we actually first viewed from the boat, was Slingshot – another think my mother would not like! It is basically a ball or cabin strung on a huge elastic between two high towers and then somehow pulled down to the ground so people can get into the cabin. Then the cabin or ball is released and it sling shots way up high into the air and then it bounces around on the rubber cord until it is lowered back down to the ground. Barf bags anyone???
The width of the island where Surfers Paradise is located (the area we were in) is only about 6 city blocks wide – we were soon at the beach! The lifeguard towers have been strung with Christmas decorations and the one below had a Santa hat on top! There were several people on the beach – one man looking for metal! The waves were rolling in and I was really happy to see that there also was a nice wide ramp down to the beach where we sat for a while and I took some pictures of yet again another seagull management meeting! On the beach promenade there were a lot of vendors set up (I was surprised as it was not a weekend – just a Wednesday night) including one lady who had .925 solid silver rings. You might say I have a new ring for my collection of rings that I have obtained from around the world displayed on my fingers now!
Walking back down the street, which was closed to traffic, on Surfers Paradise, the normal fast food restaurants were there – McD’s, Walburgers and Burger King aka Hungry Jacks! For those who do not know, Hungry Jack’s is the Australian franchise of Burger King, operating under a different name because “Burger King” was already trademarked in Australia when Burger King tried to open their first store in 1971. To avoid a legal battle, Burger King’s franchisee, Jack Cowan, opened the first restaurant under the name “Hungry Jack’s,” likely inspired by his own name. The two brands are the same company, with Hungry Jack’s using the Burger King menu but adapting it to suit the Australian market. The same goes for McDonalds around the world too – there are variations in each country – such as in Scandinavia they offer gluten free buns at McD’s! I digress though…
Just as we were about to turn the corner to get to the car, I decided that I needed something to cool me down – gelato! The store on the corner looked good to me so I asked if they have any gluten free flavours. The young lady was really helpful and told me which ones were gluten free and that the ones in the display case contained cookies. I then asked for a scoop of mango and scoop of chocolate which she replied – cone or cup. Now, in Australia I know the rules are pretty strict and they really do not patronize the “trendy” gluten free eaters. However I was standing in a tourist spot so I smiled and said I have not had a gluten free cone since I was in Italy – mostly joking as I thought she was going to give me a cup and she made a mistake in offering me a cone. But NO. She was serious! They have gluten free cones and they are NO EXTRA charge! Yahoo! Look what I got to enjoy – I did share with Andrew a little bit but the cone was all MINE!
Well, after that excitement of having an ice cream cone, it was time to come back down to earth and find the car in the parking garage. It is interesting that Andrew usually has no idea where we park and he relies on my memory of where to go – again tonight that rang true – he had no idea where we were going! Good thing I was born with a good sense of direction! We made it back to the hotel – which was only about 10 minutes north and fell into bed after a pretty fulfilling day!
Tomorrow we are going to RELAX at the hotel and see what other trouble we can get into! See you later alligators! In a while crocodiles!