7 - On to the Gold Coast

The final leg of our journey involved us driving for 2 days from Canberra up to the Gold Coast. But it ended up taking 4.5 days due to an unexpected stop in Goulburn…

In Canberra we stayed overnight in the good ol' Formule 1 hotel. Then drove our car next door to the petrol station.Where, after filling up, the car decided not to start.Good thing we had already purchased premium roadside assistance. A guy came out and had us back on the road in under an hour.We drove for about 45 mins before the car broke down again. And we called the NRMA...again. The car started by the time he arrived so we drove it another 2 kms to the next service station......where it stalled again, just as we were pulling into the carpark. So that was a good place to wait for the tow truck. Dan had a pie while we waited.Then he put new windscreen wipers on our car.Finally the tow truck showed up...and off we headed......to the nearby town of Goulburn!We were happy because the NRMA paid for a hotel and hire car while we waited for our car to get fixed (we were so happy we'd purchased premium membership).We walked down the main street to pick up our hire car.Then went back to the mechanics for the news. They needed to order a part in so it looked like we were staying in Goulburn for 2 nights.Woohoo a sunroof. If only it wasn't so damn cold in Goulburn. We were itching to get to the warmth of the Gold Coast!That night we ate dinner at the motel's restaurant.Oysters...again.Followed by a huge sizzling steak.Even breakfast in bed!We discovered that the hotel had wireless internet so we looked up somewhere we could drive in the area.We found this lookout at a national park.A nice spot to eat lunch.Driving through the countryside.We were still very happy about our premium membership.A huge termite mound.This was near Goulburn. I found out that Goulburn is Australia's oldest inland town.Using the net back in the motel.Pizza and wine for dinner?Dan hadn't had a chiko roll in years. His favourite Australian roadtrip snack.After 2 days stuck in Goulburn we picked up our newly working car and drove as fast as we could away from this cold place (well, as fast as the speed limit at least).We bypassed Sydney but unfortunately hit some heavy traffic that was coming out of the city.We reached the town of Taree and stayed overnight in this motel.The next day we stopped here for lunch.We chucked a right at the big prawn.Almost there...After a full day of driving we reached Fran's place in the Gold Coast.Cairo the cat helped us unpack.The next day Baz cooked us up a fantastic bbq.It's great seeing Dan's mum again.Enjoying the sun.We even spotted a koala in one of the trees in the backyard.The climate makes Dan happy.A cool locust.We went for a drive to find a desk. We found one we liked but they had none out the back apparently.So we went back home and took more photos of the locusts.Then drove to another furniture store that did stock the desk we wanted.Then we bought our first full grocery shop that we could take home in our car...woohoo! It feels like a luxury being able to do this again.Dan's computer parts arrive.This is our new lunch spot.Queensland is sunny! Everyday we've been here it's looked like this.Filming ants trying to disect a fly.Lots of houses around here back on to these canals. This was behind the local shopping centre.Finally getting our computers set up.Ooo the beach!Male. Warm smile. Enjoys long walks on the beach.We explored around the rocks.It's great to think we're only a 10 min drive away from this now.The view from Fran's kitchen. Last Sunday Baz brought over his kayaks and we took them to a nearby river.It was such a nice day. We were spewing we hadn't brought our bathers.But it was very relaxing hanging out on the river.Stopping for an icecream.Our kayaks had the words 'Ozzie' and 'Viking' on them.After this went home for another one of Baz's Sunday BBQs. This is the place we're calling home for the time being. And it's not too bad at all :)