Closing The Southern Loop

Left: Gold Coast skyline from the Gold Coast Turf Club.


On Wednesday, after checking out of Conrad Jupiters, I encountered two musicians, a violinist and a guitarist, strolling through the hotel. Turns out , they were contractors, paid to play mood music on Wednesdays & Saturdays. I said "it's Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake'!", but they said no, it was the swan theme from Sansonnes (sp?) 'Carnival of the Animals.' Apparently Tchaikovsky lifted the theme for Swan Lake. Figures: a 19th-century Andrew Lloyd Webber!

I checked the canal outside Conrad Jupiters for sharks. Gold Coast canals are renowned for their unusual number of predators. Saw many small fish, but no sharks, and, oddly, almost no birds, not even my favorite showboat dumpster divers, those Australian White Ibises.

Stopped briefly to watch a fire alarm evacuation and to scan the beaches of the Gold Coast. Beautiful beaches!

Tension-filled, crowded urban traffic. Got distracted looking for a Greek Orthodox Church - what is such a thing doing in a place like this? - and nearly collided with a car in a traffic circle. Had to squeal to an embarrassing stop, but, most importantly, no contact was made. Never found the Church either, but found the Gold Coast Turf Club instead.

Didn't want to go to Chevron Island - went to Chevron Island. Wandered hither and yon (Beauwon? Beendall?), but finally broke clear, crossed the Nerang River, picked up the Pacific Highway at Nerang (smoke in the hills) and ate at Coomera (they have a 'McOz' sandwich at McDonalds here - they also include beetroot on their various sandwiches). Took the Logan Expressway (and its damned insidious tolls), skirted the Brisbane metropolitan area, met up with the Warrego Highway, headed west, and detoured for a few more photos in Gatton before returning Andrew his precious Subaru Forester at the UQ Gatton campus.

On the way back to Mt. Glorious, we ran into a big, noisy thunderstorm that pelted the Lowood and Fernvale area with rain and hail. Some rain - intense but unfortunately short-lived - fell on Mt. Glorious.