Saturday March 17 began in Sydney pretty much as it has for the past week, even though it was St Patricks Day. It ended at Burleigh Palms Holiday Apartments in Burleigh Heads, Queensland. The city traffic that slowed our trip to Sydney Airport is gone. Our apartment is on the Gold Coast Highway and we can hear some traffic but from our patio we can see only a few cars queuing for a traffic light. To the rear of our apartment is a walkway that leads in the direction of the beach which is only a block further.
Our first order of business was to go grocery shopping. Burleigh Heads is a very small town and the shops a mere 10 minute walk.
The day was hot, 28°C, and quite humid. After the stop at Woolworths, remember that store, well in Australia it is a grocery store. We visited the wine merchant and we returned to the apartment just before dinner time. For the first time in six weeks we got to eat a meal which we had to prepare and wash dishes. It was great!
Sunday was our first full day in Burleigh Heads. The parking lot by the beach was full very early and the beach and town eateries were busy all day, mostly with young adults, teens and children. Our morning was spent exploring the town streets and picking up more supplies. The pool seemed like a good idea on another hot day and it was exactly that. We had the pool to ourselves and spent as much time in the Australian sun as our pale skins could tolerate.
Our first venture to the beach with intent to get wet feet found the tide out, exposing a wide sandy beach. We waded ankle deep at the water’s edge. The surf was breaking about 50 metres from the edge of the wet sand. There were waves sufficient to please some surfers about 100 metres from shore. The surf is almost hypnotizing. After rinsing the sand from feet we continued walking the shoreline. There are clearly many paths to walk that we have yet to investigate in days to come.
Dinner preparation encountered a small speed bump as one of the two burners on the range top failed to work correctly. Once turned on it went immediately to blast furnace mode and no amount of adjustment would cool it. Manual on/off temperature control got the potatoes properly cooked. Our unit does not have an oven so the oversized electric frying pan became our oven. A second “home cooked” dinner was successful.
OK, now I’m impressed by even the local amateur surfers. We were on the beach Monday around low tide and the waves knocked us around. Tuesday morning we returned to the beach at near high tide and got knocked down by the waves. I’m sure that after one wave sent me to my back I heard it say “make a wish” as it dragged me under. Never-the-less it is fun and I certainly understand the surf’s attraction. The locals called today’s waves “tiny” and I just don’t want to meet one they call “big.”
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