Our Mini Holiday

I have some photos from our mini holiday to share with you. Not having too many vacation days accrued since I took a long holiday at the end of 2008, I could only take five days off, but with the two weekends at either end I managed to take a total of nine days. We left very early on Saturday morning from Melbourne. The flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast only took 1.45 hours. The flight was pleasant and quick.

The reason we choose the Gold Coast for our holiday was because it is warmer at this time of the year and DH's step-father came over from New Zealand for his annual vacation during the winter. This year DH's mother did not join him so we thought we would go and stay with him for a few days. We did not plan to do much while we were there. We just wanted to relax and enjoy doing nothing. I took some hand stitching and my iPhone with a video of Mad Men series 2 and DH took some books.

The Gold Coast is popular for both families and young people. It is a beach for surfing and other water sports. There are at least three major amusement parks including the Warner Brothers Movie World and Sea World. There are also many great restaurants and coffee bars there as well.

Broadbeach is situated on the East Coast of Australia. It is part of the Gold Coast, but Broadbeach is a quieter area of the Gold Coast. HD's parents own an apartment in one of the buildings right on the beach.

I took this photo from the window of the plane before we landed. The Gold Coast is a very long beach and I can see that the development has already extended to the southern side of the Gold Coast.

This is the apartment where we were staying. We were on the 6th floor so we have a lovely view of the beach from the balcony and the living room.

The weather was perfect that week. I can't get over how clear and blue the sky was there at this time of the year. The building above is called The Wave, it was one of the new buildings that was not there the last time we visited.

There was a craft market on that first Sunday. The market was in the park across the street from the apartment. The market has always been the highlight of my visit to the Gold Coast. You can find items such handmade soaps, knitted toys, handmade candles, jewelry, wood crafts and many more. You can also find home grown fruit and vegetables there too.

This is the view from our apartment. HD's parents have had the apartment for almost fifteen years now and I remember when we used to take our children there. We could look over the top of those cypress pines, but now they have grown to our eye level.

I have some photos of the flannel quilt I made for DH's step-father to show you on my next post so don't miss it.