Sand Safari at Surfers Paradise…

Earlier in the week I went again to Surfers Paradise to see how the sand sculptures were progressing.

Some were still a work in progress.

Three sculptors were busily scratching away at the large piles of sand. A total of 50 tonnes in 3 piles.

The theme this year is the DreamWorks Heroes. Characters from Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, Shrek and more.

But some were already for viewing and photographing.

Others were waiting for finishing details.

Not many people around midweek, a good time to look around.

 The expressions and detail fascinated me.

This sculpture of a dragon with Donkey received the people’s choice award for the favourite sculpture.

How cute is that. Look at the peaceful expression.

They also had a pavilion set up with piles of sand for you to create a masterpiece.

Along the back wall were instruction sheets. I was amused to see this mother having ago, but it was just watching for her son. The ice-cream obviously more important.

Streets ice-cream company are the sponsors and an ice-cream was very welcome on this very hot day.

The sculptures were situated along the beach front. Where the life guards were keeping watch over a small group of beach goers.

Of course, like every where in the world today, the cell phone is never far away.

The judges will be announcing the overall winner this coming weekend.

So I’ll leave Shrek to say “Good bye”.

Thursday doors : Sand Safari…

What a surprise I got when I went to see how the sand sculptures were progressing along the beach front at Surfers Paradise. I was happily wandering along taking lots of photos (I will be putting them in another post soon) and this was one of my favourites.

The irrepressible Donkey from “Shrek”, I loved his cheeky expression. Then I noticed the 3 mice peeping at me. So I moved round a bit to get a close up of them. Look what I found…

A very realistic looking door. So I went round to the other side.

Another door.

Not a real door, but so life-like I thought I would show them in Norm’s door challenge this week.

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Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time),

All a Flutter in Surfers Paradise…

A giant, green inflatable octopus has invaded the Islander Backpackers Hostel in Surfers Paradise. I couldn’t miss it as its tentacles fluttered and floated in the breeze.

This is an “in air installation” created by artist Filthy Luker (yes that is his name, I checked!).

“He is a mixed media artist who transforms the urban environment with art that is playful and mischievous to artistically assault his audience.” (quote)

This is part of the sand safari that is running this month. I will show you more later this week. I can’t believe that it is a year since I took photos of the last event.

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Ailsa has chosen the theme “flutter” for this weeks challenge. I thought this was appropriate.

 

Gold Coast Icons,

Change is inevitable. I look around and see it happening. So before these Icons have gone and been replaced with bigger and better (often debatable) I decided to take my camera for a ride on the light rail/G.link to Surfers Paradise and walk around to show you what is here at the moment.

This is Pacific Fair at Broadbeach. It opened in 1977 and at that time grew to be the major shopping centre on the Gold Coast. It was the jewel in the crown and a major tourist attraction.

“Pacific Fair opened in 1977 on what was swampland with just 96 specialty stores and two anchor tenants. Since then, Pacific Fair has undergone numerous expansions and grew to have more than 300 specialty stores and four anchor tenants.” (Wikipedia)

But gradually new shopping precincts opened. Robina muscled into the market. Brighter, bigger and all air-conditioned it made Pacific Fair look tired and out dated.

 So in January 2014, work began on a major redevelopment project to meet the predicted regional growth on the Gold Coast. Shoppers will be lured back to ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers from online shopping when the $670 million transformation of Pacific Fair is complete.

Take a look at what is coming….

Click on the following link for a fly-through of the proposed revamp.

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/pacific-fairs-670m-revamp-set-to-make-broadbeach-shopping-centre-a-mustsee-destination/story-fnj94idh-1226785865380

This is the new look. What do you think? I prefer the previous frontage, as seen in the top photo. I think it has character and a certain style. This new (improved?) look to me is just a generic clone of commercial buildings, all square and chunky, no finesse…

Just a short stroll along the highway, negotiating the crossings and avoiding the trains, is Jupiter’s Casino.

Jupiter’s Casino was opened in 1986 and has had 2 major renovations in 2006 and 2012.

The seven acre complex includes eight bars, seven restaurants, conference facilities, a ballroom, theatre, health spa, gym, and a monorail which connects the property to the Oasis Shopping Centre across the road. The hotel, with 594 rooms, stands 66 metres (216 feet) and has 21 floors.

But look what is coming…

This is an artists impression of the 6 star hotel complex that is to be built.

JUPITERS Hotel & Casino is embracing the great outdoors with work on the first stage of its $345 million transformation finally under way.  It is expected to be finished before the 2018 Commonwealth Games start.

I hop back onto the G. Link and hop off again at Surfers Paradise, a 5 minute ride.

Across the road is the famous “Hard Rock Café” sign, but a sign of the times is the “for lease” sign in the window. Business has been hard for the traders in this area as the light rail took 3 years of disruption to construct and many shops simply closed the doors and walked away.

Caville Avenue is the main pedestrian shopping and tourist mall in Surfers Paradise, but look how empty and quiet it is. The beach is just at the end of this mall.

Mid-week and it is almost deserted. This is the iconic sign that must feature in millions of photos that go around the world.

The yellow life savers hut, yellow and red flags marking the safe to swim areas and the life savers on duty are icons I hope will never change.

Remember it is still winter,  the weather is glorious, but where are all the people…

Time to head back home…

This is Burleigh Beach and this is where the people are, well a few,  look at all the sun bathers…

Back home and a walk along Burleigh Beach. In the distance, across the sparkling ocean, the iconic outline of the hi-rises of Surfers Paradise line the horizon. The highest spike, in the centre of the row of buildings is Q1. Last week we visited it and from the top viewing deck could see all the way to this beach. But already there are plans in the pipe line to build another apartment block even higher than Q1.

So change is inevitable…

Well here I am, it is Monday and I am joining Jo’s Monday cyber walking group. I made it on the day, just…

       

On top of the world…

Surfers Paradise is a tourist mecca on the Gold Coast of Australia.  An influx of 10 million visitors pour in every year to soak up the sun, play in the surf and enjoy the many attractions. Locals tend to stay away from this “glitter strip”.

We are just 2 of the 515,000 people that live here permanently. How often is it that when you live in an area it is not explored or appreciated. We have travelled extensively all over this huge country. I am always planning the next adventure. So while we are home for a short while I thought it was time I discovered some of the attractions closer to home.

 We parked our bikes then rode this new form of transport, the new light rail, “G-link” that, after 4 years of very disruptive construction, opened for business one year ago this week. Come for a ride with me.

The destination today is to visit “Q1” (Queensland number 1) Opened in 2005 for a while it was the tallest residential building in the world.

At 77 stories and 322.5 m (1,058 ft) and with a roof height of 245 m (804 ft), Q1 now qualifies as the world’s third^{[dated info]} tallest all-residential building when measured to the top of its structural point (spire),^[7] (Wikipedia information)

It is a beautiful day for walking and as we walk toward Q1, surrounded by the other towering apartments, I notice the parking police are vigilant and I am pleased we came on public transport. That 3 story “walk-up” apartment in the photo below, is one of the older style accommodation blocks. 

The media have been forecasting “Arctic conditions” as a low pressure belt sweeps up the coast. Inland the temperatures have dropped to single digits and snow is falling. Last night it dropped to 3C, and I snuggled under an extra blanket, but apart from a slightly cooler breeze it is now a warm 19C here.

Look up….

Now that is impressive…

We take the fast lift that whisks us up 77 stories in almost the blink of an eye. But there is another way to get to the top…

Here are a group of intrepid troopers ready to scale the outside. I think it will be cool and breezy up there.

The observation deck circles 360 degrees round the 77th floor and the views are stunning.

Looking south I can just see our Burleigh Beach.

Before the 1920’s this was an area of swamp or as it is now called “wetlands” and known as Elston. Then in 1933 a man with a keen eye for promotion, Jim Cavill, with the support of locals, lobbied hard until the place name Elston was changed to the more glamorous Surfers Paradise.

The land was drained and the swamp converted into canals.

Looking north the canals open out into the Broadwater, a playground for boaties and fishermen

 

 

Far, far below I can just make out the ant-like figures of people enjoying the beach.

It is not too busy today, it is mid-week and of course it is winter!!!!

400 people are allowed on the observation deck, but it is not that crowded today.

Looking up I see one of the climbers peering down at us. See how far they went up…

Time to go back down. There is a dining area and a cafeteria but we have decided to have Indian for lunch. There is no shortage of choice in Surfers Paradise and as we walk by mainly empty restaurants, I wonder how they all manage to survive.

This looks interesting so in we go…

We are the only customers, but the meal is delicious.

Before we take the “G” back home we walk down to the beach and watch the activity going on.

This is a classic case of “land meets water” on my walk around Surfers Paradise. So I will link this post to Ailsa’s travel theme, and Jo’s Monday walks (even though it is Friday. Maybe I can be early for next weeks Jo!!)

Surfer’s, sea, sun, sand and sand sculptures…

What better way to spend a sunny Sunday. It’s mid summer and we live in Australia’s tourist mecca. The beach is crowded with beautiful tanned bodies and the ocean is the perfect place to cool down.

The Gold Coast has 40 kilometres of pristine beaches and it’s not often we come to Surfer’s Paradise, preferring our own, usually, less crowded beach at Burleigh, but this weekend we have been drawn here to see the annual sand sculpting competition. 

We first pass Peter Pan and Tinkerbell who are sheltering inside the Paradise Centre. Then it is out into the heat to join the crowds admiring the rest of the displays.

The winner

AFTER three days of battle, a New South Wales person has been crowned the 2015 Australian Sand Sculpting Champion.

Jino van Bruinessen was awarded the title on the Surfers Paradise Foreshore yesterday for his sculpture of Winnie the Pooh and friends.

Interpreting this year’s theme of ‘Magical Friendships’ featuring Disney, the winning sculpture weighed in at more than 10 tonnes and took around 26 hours to create.

Bruinessen pocketed $2500 and also won a second trophy for the People’s Choice Award.

Here are some of the other entries.

 

One of the sculptors is still putting her finishing touches to her creation.

No additives are put into the sand, only water. The sand is a heavy grade, also known as “brickies sand” and it comes from the mouth of rivers. It has more squarish grains and will stick together better than the fine sand found on the beaches.

 The finished sculpture is sprayed with an environmentally-friendly biodegradable spray that gives them a water resistant coating.

This little fairy is fascinated with them.

I took this photo of the beach and when I downloaded onto the computer I discovered more sand creations. Can you see them?

I can’t make out what the one on the right is. Any suggestions?

These young Asian girls have just been out for a surfing lesson. Those are big boards for them to handle.

Late afternoon and the sun slowly sinks behind the hi-rise buildings giving some welcome relief in the shade.

It has been an interesting afternoon but I can see the golden arches of Macdonald’s tucked in among the hi-rise buildings.

Time for a coffee and an ice cream sundae before heading home.