Monday, 12 October 2015 20:00
Bob's Birthday Celebration(s) Featured
It's all about Bob...and his 2 birthdays.
He actually had 2 birthdays...one on Australian time and one on American time - both were delightful! Most likely, unless we're back this way again, will Bob be able to have 2 birthdays and not get any older. He's taking full advantage of 2 days of celebration.
(Insert photo of Kitchen cupboard)
We started the Australian birthday by traveling to Coolongatta on the Gold Coast to meet our friends the Kirby's. What a splendid reunion with Jan and quite awesome to meet Graham in person for the first time. We email and talk on the phone regularly, but there is nothing like meeting face to face. Once again, the Aussie welcome did not disappoint us - very warm, very real, true friends.
Once we arrived at The Beach Resort where we are staying on the Gold Coast we enjoyed a light brunch of champagne (very tasty dry French), smoked salmon, olives, humus, crackers, and macadamia nuts - all from our favorite American grocery store - Aldi's - just happens to be Janine's favorite also. Again, a small world. There happened to be a market going on beach side of the resort, so we spent a couple of hours strolling through the market which was a variety of jewelers, clothiers, craftsman, and food vendors. We met an interesting vendor - Trevor Reichls - a retired social worker who carved wooden boxes and wrote books. We were drawn to the interesting box shapes as they reminded us of our nephew Tyler. Trevor is a Rotarian and very familiar with Americans. He shared a couple of life lessons with us about "puters and leavers" and provided a demonstration on how to speak Australian. We tasted award winning Dim Sim - the Chinese dumpling - and I can't wait to have it again. Interesting, the owner was not Chinese but definitely made tasty Dim Sim.
We capped off the day with dinner at the Surf Life Saving Club - a dining - gambling club directly across the street from the resort. The club raises money to pay for the surf and beach life savers equipment. We headed back to the apartment to enjoy Australian birthday cake and ice cream after a long full day to rest up for Bob's 2nd birthday celebration.
Birthday day 2, Graham and Jan treated us to a grand tour of the Gold Coast - so many beautiful beaches and resorts - we had an afternoon stop at the famous Surfers Paradise fondly referred to as the "Zoo" where we enjoyed a glass of Hahn German premium light beer. This afternoon, many people of all ages were enjoying the beach, restaurants, and shops. The universal beach birds (sea gulls and pigeons) were dive bombing food plates just like in Mexico. In the evening this area turns into a 2 legged zoo which I'm certain would provide an opportunity for remarkable people watching . (insert photo of surfer's paradise)
We headed back to the Beach Resort for a lovely afternoon snack, beverages and topped off with "Healthy Burgers". They were fantastic! (see photo above)
The best part of being at the beach - is catching the whales breech, seeing people walking their dogs, laying in bed observing exercisers in the green-space below, relaxing and watching the world go by the Australian way...friendly, no worries, where no one knows a stranger.
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