Gold Coast, Australia

The week we scheduled on the Gold Coast was meant for us to have a relaxing American Thanksgiving, to finish my college applications, plan our entire SE Asia leg of our trip and enjoy H’s birthday. That’s exactly what it was. We didn’t do any crazy adventures or day trips. We stayed mostly within walking distance of our Airbnb and enjoyed a quiet week.

Though we rested for most of the week, Mom, H, C and I went to the glow worm caves one afternoon. Along with a manmade glowworm cave, they had an area with tanks of frogs, toads, scorpions etc to look at while we waited for our tour to start. It reminded us our local nature center back home. In order to help not disturb the glow worms, photos aren’t allowed in the cave. We were surprised by how beautiful it was! It looked as if there were thousands of little electric lights on the walls and ceilings.

On Thanksgiving, C and I baked, we enjoyed a big non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We found some pork chops (substitute for turkey) and tarts (substitute for pie) at the local grocery store. On long the walk to the grocery store, we saw our first and only large Australian spider. (Consider–we spent a total of 5 weeks in Australia and only saw ONE big spider). As part of our Thanksgiving celebration, we visited the movie theater to see Bohemian Rhapsody and Nutcracker and the Four Realms. We often divide into groups when going to the movies, because we rarely find one movie that everyone wants to see.

Happy Birthday to H! For his birthday, he was begging to go to an amusement park. We found an Airbnb very close to Movie World. On his birthday, we walked over to the park to enjoy all the DC Comics-themed rides. It was a lot of fun! All the workers were dressed up in costume to match whichever ride they were working at. We were surprised when it closed at 5pm (on a Friday!). It was a little different than the parks we’ve gone to in the US, which usually stay open til 10pm.

For the rest of the birthday celebration C and I baked a Tim Tam-covered cake. (Tim Tams have become a staple in our Australian diet).