Brisbane Memories, Gold Coast Shivers

Just back from a wonderful holiday. Gideon went on his "real" aeroplane journey with games and movies - as we promised. He stayed awake throughout the entire flight, watched endless re-runs of the cartoons and ate almost everything from his meal tray. Laurence met us at the airport and we spent the first 2 nights at his apartment. It never struck me that his apartment was right across the very first place we stayed at when I was studying in Brisbane - Hynes St.

Brisbane had gone through a face-lift since we studied there more than 10 years ago. New buildings towered over the once quiet city and Fortitude Valley (Chinatown then) had become a bustling suburb somewhat like Holland Village. And where Laurence stays, it was once a bus terminus where Belle, Corinne, Lorraine and I used to trot across to get to the other street where we caught the bus into town. QUT today has a lot more facilities and amenities than before. Students there are definitely a lot more "fortunate" than we were.

We rented a car and took a familiar drive to Gold Coast. Vibe Hotel didn't disappoint with its beautiful views, good location and very spacious apartment. The weather, however, was a real dampener (pun intended). It was cold, windy and wet :-( Thankfully, I had Gideon's jumper which kept him warm throughout. Terence managed to "tahan" while I practically lived in my one and only shawl. Surfer's Paradise seems less happening then before. Either it was because of the weather or it's not a peak holiday period. So the weather provided the perfect excuse to shop "to get something warm". But of course, every store was decked with summer apparel with no trace of anything even with sleeves!

Thankfully, the sun greeted us on our last day in Gold Coast so we had a really great time at Movie World before heading back to Brisbane for a last night at Laurence's. We also managed to drive through the neighbourhoods we lived in and caught glimpses of our "homes".

We had a great time. More importantly, this trip brought back fond memories of the good ol' uni days. Laurence was a most generous host and we loved his apartment (even when it was filled to the brim with boxes as he gets ready to return to S'pore). As for Gideon, he's already asking when our next holiday is going to be.