499. Sunday 3rd July 2016. Winter on the Gold Coast and the Witch Doctor song..ooh ee ooh ah ah etc…

Friday 1^st July

Ahhh. What a wonderful winter day. The sun is shining, a slight cool breeze is wafting from the west and I took a ride on the bike. I have been riding around the village long enough. Today I decided to grapple with the school holiday traffic and ride to The Broadwater.

The little beach across the Broadwater is where all the boat, jet ski, paddle boards etc can be hired from. Mobile phone image.

What a feeling. The normally beautiful Broadwater on a summer sunrise is just so special.

The Broadwater from Southport Bridge. Looking towards Southport Yacht Club Marina. Image captured on my smart phone. The quality is nowhere near as good as I get from my FZ200.

The Broadwater is such a beautiful magical family safe body of water.

More of Southport from beside the bridge. Mobile phone image.

Southport across the Broadwater. Mobile phone image.

I rode as far as Southport Bridge. Mid – morning with the winter temp hovering around 23° and all the families walking through the parklands, sitting at tables, barbecuing, even swimming and the view across to Southport, the marina and Versace Marina Mirage, Seaworld, all the sail and power boats, jet skis and canoes just reminded me of what I have been missing since my accident last August. I returned home tired and saddle sore but ready to do it again and extend my ride to Southport Surf Beach.

Saturday 2^nd July

Today I drove to Santa Barbera. No not the one in California. This one is situated on a tight bend in the Coomera River nudging onto the land of golf courses at Sanctuary Cove. Apart from the houses which have price tags nudging up to and beyond a million dollars there is not much else apart from its semi isolation. The local park has an area set aside for swimming in the Coomera River. No, not a swimming enclosure but just a line of buouys designation the official swimming area. There is a sign warning of deep water, strong currents, steep drop offs and other, (not specified) marine hazards. The sign continues on to say never swim alone, children should be accompanied by adults and to learn life saving.

Santa Barbera swimming area. No nets just a few buouys.

Although Sanctuary Cove is a marina,

Just a small part of the Sanctuary Cove Marina.

This is the office of the Harbourmaster at Sanctuary Cove Marina on the edge of the Coomera River.

I was thinking of buying this for weekends.

Maybe I could afford this one? Looks like it would be more practical for my needs…and budget.

housing precinct (houses in the multi- million dollar price range) restaurant precinct, it is also home to acres and acres of holiday resort comprising more gold courses than seems to be healthy. They even have their own golf buggy sales office – located at the marina – which specialises in buggy sales to the houses and golf courses as well as hire, spares, accessories and large workshop.  Be prepared to finance a holiday to this destination. Once a year, the area hosts a boat show which specialises in boats in the top end of the market.

The main shopping precinct of Sanctuary Cove.

Meal prices are also in the top end.

Sunday 3^rd July

Today was the Gold Coast Airport sponsored Gold Marathon. Actually the other events such as walks and shorter runs and mini marathons were held yesterday. Today was the day of the big 42 Klm run. It was a good day to stay away from Runaway Bay, The Broadwater, Southport, Southport Beach and Surfers Paradise as many of the roads were closed and some were one way and huge traffic delays were experienced. Apart from the ;participants there were thousands who arrived for the spectacle.

I stayed away.

Today I discovered that the town of Walla Walla in New South Wales, has a counterpart in the State of Washington in the USA.

Walla Walla, News South Wales, was inhabited by the Wiradjuri tribe for thousands of years. The bushranger, Mad Dog Morgan, also roamed the area in the 1860’s. The name Walla Walla is aboriginal for “place of many rocks”. Yes even today those rocks lay scattered over the surrounding farmland. Most of those rocks are huge, four times as high and as wide as a house.

The small rolling hills around Walla Walla seen from the crest of a big rock known as Mad Dog Morgans hideout in the rocks. The town can be seen in the distance.

These are the rocks scattered around Walla Walla. Mad Dog Morgan had a cosy hideout tucked between two of these monoliths. He also had stables for his horses hidden in the rocks.

Donnis and I visited on a Sunday in 2012. Only two businesses were open…the local pub and the Lutheran Church. The church was busiest. The census in 2011 showed the population as around 600 – mostly Lutherans.

Walla Walla in Washington USA is named for the local tribespeople who lived in the area for thousands of years. It was also the home of Fort Walla Walla. The Roman Catholic Church tried unsuccessfully to convert the local Walla Walla people to Christianity.  Walla Walla is a large city of around 32,000 and in no way compares with the tiny Australian town.

Back in 2012, I made a mild joke about Walla Walla Bing Bang referring to the old “Witchdoctor” song from the late 50’s. Somebody in recent years has made a cover version. Here is the cover version and well worth a listen… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYgOlqinH7A