Despite only getting a few hours of sleep on the plane, Megs did great driving on the other side of the road in a right-hand drive vehicle and we survived another test of our relationship! Navigating from the airport to my sister’s place was surprisingly easy once we got used to roundabouts. Getting out of the airport, we encountered our first roundabout and as we were in the wrong lane entering the roundabout, we had to take the designated exit. Thankfully, I didn’t crumble under the pressure of going off the prescribed google map route. We were able to make our way back in short order to the M1 highway, heading south to the Gold Coast (more specifically, upper Coomera, which is about 30 mins north of the Gold Coast). All the rental cars in Australia are fitted with a toll registration device and therefore, when we got onto the M1 (which is tolled to/from the airport), we heard a little beep confirming that we had just been billed for the toll. Apparently, this charge then shows up on your credit card a while later which I thought was a pretty neat system, especially for tourists.

When we arrived at my sister’s place, everyone was eagerly waiting and after hugs all around, we sat down with very much needed cup of tea! It had been over 5 years since I last saw my sister and my first time meeting my new nephew, Tanish! In order to combat jet lag, we let Rhys run outside in the warm, 25 degree sunshine – so much for it being winter! My sister had vacated their bedroom so we could sleep in there and we even had our own ensuite – what a treat! Tanish, my sister’s little guy, is 18 months old and was very curious about all the new visitors, especially Rhys. We spent the rest of the day just chatting, snoozing, and in the late afternoon, going to a nearby park. There were some really colourful birds (size of a small parrot) in the eucalyptus trees and we were surprised by how many different types of birds we had seen in the short walk from the house to the nearby park. Rhys and Tanish had a great time on the slides and running around the park.  We managed to get Rhys off to bed at around 8 that evening. He stayed asleep until 1am and then I was up with him for the next three hours. I took him downstairs so I wouldn’t wake everyone up and then he said “Hungryeeee…….” In his long drawn out way so I made him porridge with apples and raisins at 2am and he happily chowed down a bowl full. I barely managed to stay awake the whole time and thankfully Rhys finally grabbed my hand and said the magic words “Sleepy…bed”!

The next morning, Rhys woke up around 7:30am which was better than expected. Meghan and I headed with Rhys to downtown Gold Coast (otherwise known as Surfer’s paradise) that morning after Rhys’ first nap so that we could check out the TI (Tourist Info). The Gold Coast has changed a lot since I was last here 17 years ago with the biggest change that I noticed being a new tram system. Navigating downtown was surprisingly easy and we managed to get free parking within walking distance of the TI thanks to my sister’s suggestion.  The TI was a lot smaller than expected and all the brochures/maps that Megs wanted were behind the counter so it was good that she knew what exactly to ask for because they weren’t very forthcoming with information or suggestions. We had some time left before our parking expired so we decided to wander along the boardwalk at Surfer’s. It was a gorgeous day out and there was hardly any breeze. The wide boardwalk runs for nearly 10+km from one end of the gold coast to the other. We were thoroughly impressed with how well organize the whole boardwalk was with washing stations (for getting rid of all the sand), benches, garbage cans, public washrooms (some with showers and most with baby/parent change rooms), picnic tables and even free electric barbecues. We knew that Rhys would eventually spot the ocean and say “Wa-wa jump!” so we decided to pre-empt the fussing and took him for a wade in the water. As there is quite a surf with the waves crashing close to shore, we decided to just strip Rhys down completely and let him get as wet as he wanted to. We hadn’t planned for a beach visit and as such, didn’t have a change of clothes or even a towel for him. The fine white sand felt fantastic to walk through and the water was surprisingly warm for winter – way warmer than our summer ocean temperature back in Canada. Rhys had an absolute blast and we had to eventually drag him away. We got him changed on the grass once we were off the beach and then made our way back to the car. It was a good first day to ease into the trip and we even managed to get in a little bonus beach time.