Gold Coast Good-bye

As I start this post I want to acknowledge the comments I have received both directly to the posts and some by email. Although I may not reply I read and appreciate them all. Anyone can read the comments added to any posting. The remainder of the post includes a few more or less random thoughts and a few summary photos.

Our Apartment Entrance

Easter weekend has been quite busy here in Burleigh Heads. If you plan to eat at any of the restaurants that have table seating you should make reservations early. They have all been full Friday and Saturday evenings. The swimming areas of the beach have been noticeably busier but there is so much beach it is easy to find unoccupied sand. We preferred the quieter days.

A Light Day At The Beach

Our Saturday afternoon visit to the beach came to a sudden conclusion when Gail’s iPhone took an unplanned salt water bath. We have been taking it into the surf in a waterproof plastic sleeve on a lanyard. Gail began using a continuous glucose monitor just before we started the trip. The sensor transmits by bluetooth to her phone, thus the reason for keeping it close. Well, it was this day that the ziplock style seals on the sleeve decided to fail. When we came back to the beach the phone was quite dead. Perhaps it might have recovered from a fresh water bath but not salt water. Once the post mortem cause of death was confirmed, Gail’s first question, “Is there an Apple Store nearby?” There was!

When, after a 25 minute bus ride to the Robina Town Centre shopping mall, we arrived at the Apple Store there was only 90 minutes until closing time and we were told that an appointment at the Genius Bar was unlikely. We began talking phone upgrade with a sales rep when we were given an immediate appointment and offer of a reduced cost direct replacement. Fearing my explanations might be too clinical, Gail did all the talking to the Apple folks. Her heart rending explanation of why she needed the phone as a medical necessity seemed to work. I was there only to provide needed login credentials for her accounts. Less than 60 minutes later we left the store with a replacement phone. It wasn’t free but a reasonable alternative to a new phone at full cost. My evening was spent restoring the phone from an online backup using the very slooooooow internet service here at the apartment. Before bed time all was working again and the new phone was in its new Life Proof watertight home. Never a dull moment here.

Public Transit Trains

Over the past few days we have used public transit quite a bit. Even though we are in a holiday weekend the longest wait at a transit stop has been less than 15 minutes. Most of the busses have been on a 15 minute schedule and for some destinations accessible on multiple bus routes wait times are only 5 minutes. The trains and trams seem to operate on 30 minute schedules and are within a minute of schedules. There is also an iPhone app that provides minute by minute information about schedules and transit vehicle locations. Colour us totally impressed.

Easter Monday began with rain. A second wave of rain showers moved in as we started walking along the beach but we took cover in one of the many picnic shelters along the beach walk. The beach was busy again as the Easter weekend came to a conclusion and we found our time on the Gold Coast coming to an end. That also means our visit to Australia is also nearly over.

Some ideas just turn out to be a lot better than others. We decided that when we arrived in Australia we would activate one of our cell phones on a local network. We had no specific reason to do so, it just seemed like a good idea. I had investigated Australian mobile offerings briefly before leaving home but the language was as obscure as every contract. We ended up talking to a young fellow in a JB HiFi store and asked for a package that included the ability to telephone to Canada. I was referred to Pay-as-you-go package from Telstra that offered international calling to Canada, USA and numerous countries along with unlimited texting and 50 Gb of data service for the magnificent price of $30, plus the $2 for the SIM card.

It is now four days before we depart Australia and there is still lots of data service available and the phone has been invaluable. The unlimited texting was worthless. I never did figure out how to text home but with Facebook Messenger available it was irrelevant. Although not strictly speaking essential, we have called friends and family back home with no need to consider the cost. We have called Canada for technical support with Gail’s continuous monitor, called Hawaii to arrange airport transportation, friends in Brisbane to organize our visit, the Apple store at Robina and numerous other calls. Years ago, before we had mobile phones or the internet how did we arrange things. I suppose many of these tasks were once accomplished by travel agents who could be reached by traditional telephone services. We still value the services of a travel agent who is now accessible by telephone and email. Some of the posts to this journal have been created and uploaded using the data services offered by this Telstra data service. The Telstra service expires in five days, we leave Australia in four days. I love it when a plan comes together.

Pretty Birds

In earlier posts I have mentioned the Rainbow Lorikeets in the area. They are as noisy as they are pretty. Apparently they travel 30 kilometres or so morning and evening between feeding or nesting areas and nightly roosting areas. Burleigh Heads is clearly a roosting area. I am unsure how many birds use the Norfolk Pine grove near the beach but they are typically 10,000 birds and may be up to 50,000. The noise of their screeching is very loud indeed and, for those more technically inclined, I have measured the racket at 90 decibels 10 metres below their roost. Every evening we can see them pass our balcony in groups of up to several hundred.

Noisy Birds

Rainbow Lorikeet Murmuration

As great as this area and beach has been it is apparently not the best beach on the east coast. Although it seems unlikely we shall return here we know there would be more to see if we did. Bye-bye Gold Coast.

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