With our time in Australia hitting the halfway mark (we only have a year and a half left), we figured we needed to add another destination to our list of places visited. We wanted something easy since it would be Matty's first flight, so we chose to head to Brisbane as there was a direct 1.5 hour flight option from Canberra. From there, we had easy access to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.
This was a very last minute trip, but we've found that these types of trips often end up being the most fun. And this trip didn't disappoint!
We were a bit worried about Matty's first flight, but it turns out we didn't need to. He was awesome. On the way there, he stayed awake the entire flight, but was completely quiet. He just seemed to want to take everything in. On the way home, he fell asleep before the plane even took off and only woke upon landing. We can only hope he will be this good on future flights!
Upon arriving in Brisbane, the heat and humidity hit all of us like a brick...and it sent Matty into hysterics. We're talking purple-faced screaming with tears and everything. To help him regulate his body temperature, we quickly stripped him down to just a shirt and nappy, and soon afterwards we had our mild-tempered Matty back. Lesson learned. :-)
After getting loaded into our rental car (and cranking the A/C way up), we were on our way to our hotel on the Gold Coast. We didn't have big plans for this trip - we did want to see both the Gold and Sunny Coast - but mostly, we just wanted to relax. We spent the majority of our time sitting by the hotel pool, but did manage to get in some spa time and some sightseeing.
And as for Matty .. well, he had many firsts: his first flight, first time in a swimming pool, first time on a beach, and first time in the ocean. Also worth mentioning was his first visit to a Hibachi restaurant (Benihana's). We're not sure how he pulled this off, but he managed to sleep through the entire meal despite the craziness of it. All in all, he was a great little traveler and we can't wait to add more destinations to his list of places visited! :-)
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| Our hotel |
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| Snorkeling lagoon at hotel |
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| Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast |
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| Blair and Matty at Surfer's Paradise! |
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| Gold Coast from Miami Beach |
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| Benihana's |
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| Blair and Matty in front of the "Big Pineapple" |
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| Steve Irwin Way, Sunny Coast |
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| Steve Irwin Zoo. Only picture we have because we arrived 10 minutes before closing. :( |
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| Ettamogah Pub! Finally seeing it...even though all we did was drive by! |
