After leaving the NCL Star in Sydney, Australia, we flew north to the Gold Coast. We're renting an apartment at the Meriton Apartments in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia, for the next 5 weeks. Broadbeach is one of a string of towns along the Gold Coast, named for the 32 miles of golden sand beaches that fringe the coast. It truly is a beautiful stretch of beaches, clean with soft gold sand that invite you to sit and watch the surfers and other beach dwellers.

Our apartment at the Meriton in Broadbeach is a very comfortable and modern one bedroom on the 20th floor with a view from the balcony of the gorgeous beach and some of the high-rise buildings of the Gold Coast . We have all the amenities we need including two TV's in the living room and the bedroom, fully equipped and modern kitchen, large bath with tub and shower, and a balcony overlooking the beach with chairs and table for dining. The complex has two pools, both indoor and outdoor, and a fitness center. We've used the pool several times each week. The sun here is scorching, and I actually burned my arms and legs just a bit the first time we went to the pool. I bought some high spf suntan lotion after that and am more careful of the time we spend in the sun. The rays seem much stronger here than other places we've been. Cory and I try to go to the fitness center to exercise at least a few times each week and like to walk to the beach and around town, too. 

The apartment location is excellent, within walking distance of two malls, markets, and dozens of restaurants and bars. We've been shopping at the huge mall, Pacific Fair, several times and were amazed at the over 400 shops with everything from Target and KMart to Louis Vuitton and Tiffany's in one mall . Because we have luggage weight limits when we travel, we have to be very careful what we buy. However, I've indulged my shopping habit a bit with a few new tops and threw away some old and worn items to balance the load. We also bought a new suitcase to replace the old one with the broken wheel. We located a used book store and a couple new bookstores for reading material for the beach and pool. We've also enjoyed the many restaurants and bars within walking distance, and Cory found his favorite German beer bar with a great happy hour and $5 craft beers. We've been very happy here and will be a bit sad when we leave this beautiful place.

One of our favorite excursions on the Gold Coast was a dolphin watching and snorkeling trip with Dolphins in Paradise. Because it's summer now down under, we couldn't go whale watching, so we opted to take the cruise to Moreton Island to see the dolphins and turtles and snorkel the Tangalooma wrecks. We drove to Brisbane, about an hour away, to board the catamaran that took us about an hour's cruise to Moreton Island, a large sand island . We did see bottlenose dolphins and giant sea turtles who feed in the grasses off Moreton Island. The Tangalooma wrecks were created in 1963 when recreational boat owners wanted a safe anchorage, so they sunk 15 wrecked vessels just off the coast of Moreton Island. The vessels have rusted and now form a breakwall for small boats and a great place to dive and snorkel. Barnacles and coral cling to the wrecked boats and lots of different fish and sea life have found a home here. We snorkeled through the wrecks which was challenging at times due to the current and the shallow waters. It was exhilarating to swim among the many schools of fish and see the beautiful coral so near to the surface. We wore special gloves to push away from the barnacle covered metal of the boats as the current would carry us right into their sharp surfaces if we weren't careful. The guys on our catamaran were very knowledgeable about the area and the wildlife and told us about the island and helped us spot the turtles in the water. After a wonderful lunch on board and a swim to the beach, we left Moreton Island, tired and happy. If you ever visit Brisbane, you should take this trip. We really enjoyed our day.

More about our adventures and activities on the Gold Coast will be coming soon. Enjoy the pics!