Gold Coast

Our plan for the last week of vacation in Australia was to go to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkle. But once we arrived in Australia, we were told that it was not a great time to visit. First of all, there are deadly jellyfish off the coast near Cairnes during this season and second there often Cyclones. Well, we thought we could probably deal with the jellies because there are sting suits you can wear while swimming to keep yourself safe. However, there were two cyclones and a third that only developed to category 1 while during the time that we were going to head to that magical place. We made the decision not to go because of the cyclones - not really safe nor fun! Instead, we looked at the weather and chose the sunniest place for that last week, the Gold Coast. We visited Surfers Paradise last year and had a great time, so we headed there again. We were not disappointed. The weather was fabulous! We played on the beach, hiked the rainforest, swam under a waterfall, ate ice cream and played at the resort. The best way to soak up the sun before heading back to the Pacific Northwest.