Australia!

Walk -caught by rain and met Gai and her teacher friend.
My first morning on the Gold Coast I wanted to take a walk to get the lay of the lay & a bit of exercise.  Almost as soon as I left the house & walked in to the sunny morning, the weather changed.  It started blowing hard & then raining a cool rain.  I had walked far enough that I figured I needed to duck into some place to wait it out, rather than walk back in the storm.  I went into a little cafe & ordered some coffee (from now on, you can assume "morning walk" means "find some good coffee"!).  As I read the paper I came across an article with the title "Loss of Jobs Takes the Biscuit."  Well, int he US this has no real meaning.  Another English language trial!  I went ahead to read the article to see if it said more about biscuits.  It did not.  The article was about a food company trashing 7000 jobs, down-sizing & automating.  Maybe this took the cake, as in "this is the last straw"?  I asked a woman who came by if she could shed any light on this.  She wasn't sure, she said it may be old-fashioned, but probably did mean something like "take the cake."  It was also probably a cute pun since the company makes biscuits.  LOL  After hearing how it was that I am in Australia, she invited me to join her & her gal friend.  We had a lovely chat about various things, including education, since her friend is a teacher.  Nice meet up!  When I returned to Boo's & Jeeta's, there was Boon waiting.  He said he had drive around twice looking for me in the storm!  Bless his heart!

Once the weather improved and Boh was rested and awake, we all took a walk to the mall to get some things for him.  It is close.  The best thing was the lunch!!  We sat outside on the Promenade, next to a little lake and ate a delicious Malaysian seafood-noodle dish along with an amazing milk tea that was really a work of art.  Please see my photos on FB for the images.

The next day, Jeeta & Boon took me touring the Gold Coast a bit.  We went to the long, sleek beach known as Surfer's Paradise.  WOW  Beautiful lunch at a surfing club, out on the terrace looking at the view!  Very relaxing. We had a quick stop at home & then Jeeta & I off to the airport for our weekend in Sydney with her brother, Dev (Dave).

July two -with Dev, Jeeta , Ajit. First to Ajit's, then to the Sri Lankan restaurant Janani's for Thali (photo on FB), harbor bridge to Bondi Beach, then Centennial Park and Fox Studios for coffee and then MacMahon Park.
We saw the Opera House from many angles, but saving the view from the water for Sunday. Home to rest & freshen up, then to Dev's friend Zara's house for Bollywood party.  BTW, have I mentioned how fun it was to listen to Jeeta talking nd laughing with her brother?  It reminded me of being with my sister Wanda because we usually start laughing over the smallest things, even just driving along.  They were laughing so much, pretty soon I was laughing too!  Actually, Dev has a really funny and interesting commentary going all the time.  The party was quite fun.  Good food, good people!  They had dressed the gals in Indian dress for dancing, Bollywood style  Got there late for that, but I had worn a skirt & scarf, so I coudl dance with flair like the rest of them.  Great time!

July 3- Headed out to to sounds of the Oldies on the car radio again.  This tie to visit the Opera House.  It is not just a compelling and immense icon for Australia, but they have also made the whole area a frestive gathering place for the community & tourists.  All around on the terraces are various cafes, restaurants and food vendors int he open air.  Various place live bands were playing jazz or blues.  We got some wharf food & chowed down waiting for our cruise boat.  The cruise was WONDERFUL!  It took us all over the harbor with a guide providing information.  The Sydney Harbor is very unique.  It is many bays, really, that all open into a central harbor; therefore, there are lots of little areas, or communities hidden here and there as surprises to discover on a cruise like that.  The zoo, rich men's row (where Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman once owned a house), Luna Park (1930's amusement park), Darling Harbor, and of course, the Opera House! The sun shined, the sea sparkled, the colorful ferries & water taxis sped by!  There was also a sailing regatta going on & our boat just plunged right throughout the multi-colored sails as all those boats keeled way over on all sides of us.  Jeeta & Dev sat nicely while I ran all over our boat getting photos, being tossed around by the wave actively & getting caught 1/2way in the door by the strong wind. It was an utterly perfect day.  And topped off savoring chocolate-chili gelato as we walked back along the waterfront in the sun.  A-a-ah!   We toured a bit more on the way home, singing together in the car & getting a bit lost so that we went over the Harbor Bridge ONE MORE TIME!  Dev said Sydney had performed at her best, like a tart all done up, exuding her appeal when she knows she is being watched ;-)  Later, at Dev's we watched 2 colorful & tear-jerking Bollywood films (I had never seen one before at all).  The evening ended with Ajit coming by with takeaway Tandoori chicken, Naan, etc.  A-a-a-ah, again!   This morning we returned to Robina on a plane and are having a low-key day.