We are visiting Australia and whilst most of our time will be spent in W.A. we have just returned from a week based on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

After taking the Jetstar “red-eye” flight from Perth we arrived in Brisbane early Sunday morning. We picked up our hire car and drove down to Mermaid Beach where we had breakfast at the Mermaid Beach Surf Life Saving Club. After breakfast we checked into our motel, The Mermaid Beach Motor Inn.

This motel provides basic accommodation and is looking a little tired but the bedding was clean and the rooms had aircon. After a much needed nap and freshen up we strolled along to Broad Beach where we had dinner at Max Seafood Restaurant. The food here was superb and they served an amazing New Zealand Sole, it was huge.
This area really is geared to holidaying, partying and generally having a good time. We certainly managed to cram a lot in and, at times, it seemed that we were constantly on the move. In the few days we were there we managed to visit Sea World, Movie World, Draculas, The Australian Outback Spectacular and “Crikey” we also made it to Australia Zoo.
The following are just a few snaps taken over the next five days. Firstly, some snaps taken at Sea World….







The following are from Warner Brothers Movie World. Unfortunately, my camera decided it didn’t like the heat on this day and stopped functioning so I don’t have any pictures from the spectacular stunt drivers show. So these are just a taster of some of the other attractions ……







Australia Zoo is two hours away from Mermaid Beach but was well the drive. There’s lot’s to do, we were there until closing time and didn’t manage to see everything. Once again here is a taster……







Hard to find one of these little fellows awake.


Making a spectacular entrance to the arena. They did say what it was but, due to memory overload, I have forgotten.

Again, due to memory overload, I have forgotten what this was.

This cheeky chap has been trained to relieve members of the audience of their 5 dollar bills. If you look closely you can see he has it in his beak.

This part of the show was all about demonstrating how these crocs move and how to avoid becoming a menu item. Needless to say the handlers do not take chances.

Looking for his next snack. The handlers never turn their backs on this big boy.

From a standing start a crocodile can launch nearly his full body length out of the water.

Snack time

He wasn’t very happy, having his picture taken whilst taking a dump.





Think this one likes jazz as he appears to be playing his “air double bass”

I was able to place my camera on the floor just a few inches away from this chap. He later came and sat with his foot on my sandal before running across my toes…it tickled.
On the last day we killed some time back at Sea World, before heading back to Brisbane Airport, to see some of the entertainment that we missed on our previous visit. Here are a few photos of some lunatics on seadoos….
This visit concluded a very hectic week on the Gold Coast.
Although we have photo’s which were taken at Draculas and The Great Australian Outback Show they are commercial ones. If I’m really brave i might post them at a later date.