10th March 2011 - Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Queensland

Left the beautiful Lamington National Park area, driving through Nerang to the Gold Coast.   Had decided we didn't want the hype of the main tourist area, so headed for Burleigh Heads a little south.  Found a caravan park right over the road from the beach,  so had lunch & headed for the surf.  Lovely beach & even though it was a weekday, very busy.  The water was just the right temperature, nice surf for us seniors, lots of boardriders, some definitely our age.  Lots of gorgeous young ones too of course.  Good fun just people watching.  Stu thought it was still far too busy for us, but he survived.  We had to find a camping shop to buy a pole for the awning on the side of the landcruiser, which we successfully managed.  Went back to the camp for dinner, then Stu decided we would go for a drive to Surfers and see the nightlife.  Well, that was a bad idea.  Halfway there the heavens opened & we could hardly see the road, let alone the night life.  So we turned around & headed back.  Then Stu decided we had better fill up with diesel - Trevor had warned us that not all servo's had diesel, so when we found a servo, which happened to be rather difficult to get into, we couln't see a diesel pump.  Meantime we were blocking the passage of other cars & after much to'ing & fro'ing we spotted the diesel pump (not exactly obvious I might tell you).  By then of course Stu was getting very frustrated but at least we got what we came for.  Anyway, we had a reasonable sleep till about 6am when aussies seem to rise.  There were a lot of permanents in the camp who go off to work, so if they hadn't woken us, the trucks coming in to do some building work would have.   Good opportunity to get going early for a walk around the foreshore we decided.  Well!  There were crowds of people out there walking - these aussies are real fitness nuts I reckon.  No wonder they are so good at sports.   Old & young, they are all out there at the crack of dawn.  Dozens of board-riders carrying their boards around the headland, over rocks, to get to the good surf.  We  even saw a little guy of about 9, all on his own, heading out with the big boys to surf.  Anyway, it was a delightful walk to another bay & back again, so we started the morning right like the locals.  Left the camp around 9am to head for Bundjalung National Park.