Today headed down into Burleigh Heads. I’ve been told that it’s one of the most popular holiday destinations in the Gold Coast - mainly because it has one of the best beaches for surfing.

You can’t make out from the pic above but actually we were at a great height - it makes for a spectacular view of the entire beach! In fact it seemed that many people were there only to hang out up above, take in the view & enjoy the peace & quite - some had come with picnic baskets, others with study books.

As for me, I decided to do another “Bush Walk” this time at the Burleigh’s National Park - which is actually a series of long walks overlooking the ocean.

I was walking behind some “surfies” (yep, apparently that’s what most of the locals ’round here call ‘em) down the long path closest to the ocean, which was about 2.6 kilometers long. It kinda surprised (scared?) me that suddenly they decided to get off the path & climb down all the rocks & get into the ocean!!

I took the regular route however It had safe paths & was lined with a particular variety of trees (unfortunately I didn’t get a name) some of them were upright, others, well! I was also constantly on the lookout for wildlife - which apparently they have a lot of - but unfortunately I saw nothing. Except for some (very beautiful) butterflies which I discovered are very difficult to get photographs of since they’re constantly fluttering about the place.

As I neared the end of the walk (or so I thought at the time), I got another spectular view of the Tallebudgera Creek & Palm beach which are on other end.

Actually, in reality, my walk wasn’t over. I now went through a very surreal bit of nature - everything was seemingly not alive & yet very alternately alive - the feeling I got was like I was in the Lord of the Rings & one of those big trees were going to bend down & swoop me up any second.

I did finally reach the other end and took in the lovely sights - among them, this man fishing just off the shore! Wonder if he caught anything?!

After getting back to Burleigh’s, I rested a bit in the cool shade (I don’t need a tan like most of the people who come here!) until we finally decided to go back.

At this point let me mention that Sandra drives a Mercedes Sports Convertible! This poor girl enjoyed the feeling of sitting in one, back down (of course!) & driving through the Gold Coast… very very nice!

Headed for lunch to the Mandarin Court (somewhere between Miami & Mermaid), where we had an excellent selection of Yum Cha - including the delicacy ‘Chicken Feet’. Yep.

I rested a while more at home before heading into Surfers to explore the Night Markets (which are held Wednesday and Friday evenings approx. betweeb 5:30pm & 10:00pm). Incidentally, I took these pics at around 6pm - when it’s already pretty dark outside! The market, which is made up of “more than 70 market stalls stretching over half a kilometre of beachfront promenade” are located along the Esplanade.

I checked out the entire market - there seemed to be mostly handmade stuff - some of them very exquisite - like accessories, artwork, homeware, jewellery, recording memorabilia (I was floored at this stall but everything was very expensive), nostalgic Gold Coast photographs, children’s costumes and lots of other stuff.

I didn’t spent too much time at the Night Market as I had to head home - it was Friday Night & we were going clubbing!!

First up we headed to the German Club, which was very quaint & all done up in wood. I especially loved the chandelier which was wooden & had little men & women all over it. Unfortunately they were having a Singles Night that night - and it was ages 65+, lol, like Ros put it, I definetely wasn’t gonna find a man there - not that I was looking anyway. We did have a nice time anyway & some Hungarian Goulash for dins there. We didn’t stay for too long - though it was long enough! - and I realised (a) the people, aged 65+, who were there were really happening, they all seemed in the mood to pick up new partners & meet new people, very cool for that age, so alive! (b) I’d be really depressed if I had to do this every Friday night…

Fortunately we headed over to the Marina Mirage (Southport Broadwater) from there. Looking at the posh exteriors itself (lit up sails all open to the night light) I was relieved. Even more so when we reached ‘Saks‘ (yes of course Sakshi dear I thought of you!) which was a trendy place that reminded me of something between a Zenzi & a Seijo. No teenyboppers, people more my age & a little older, good music & though some were ozzie casuals, most were very fashionably dressed. Enjoyed it & danced away until we were tired.

Dropped into the ‘Pallazo Versace‘ hotel (just next door) before heading home just to have a look - there was a (super sexy) Ferrari right outside. The hotel was beautiful! (pic below off google) & Here’s more through Wiki:

All cutlery and china in the hotel is Versace. Framed photographic work from Gianni and Donatella’s collection line the hotel’s corridors. The rooms are furnished with a special range designed exclusively for the hotel by the House of Versace in Milan. The bathroom sinks are each made from one piece of marble, and the hotel has 28 pools. Five Italian mosaic tilers, with an average age of 75 years, built the hotel’s driveway in six weeks. Each tiler originated from a different region of Italy, collecting the stones used from their own local area.

And naturally, there was this very fine Versace mosaic among them:

A long day & a long night & I was definetely going to sleep in on Saturday morning!