We were delighted when friends Michael and Christine recently announced that they would be getting married and it gave us a good excuse to head to Queensland to share their special day with them.
After work on Tuesday 24th April, we caught the SkyBus to Melbourne airport, arriving at about 6pm in plenty of time to check-in for our 7.30pm JetStar flight up to the Gold Coast. We met up with friends Craig & Ivy at the airport, also heading up to the wedding and coincidentally on the same flight as us! We were pleased to be offered a free upgrade to exit row seats, which of course we accepted. The flight left pretty much on time and, after a slightly bumpy ride, had us touching down at Gold Coast airport at 9.30pm. We didn't have much of a wait for our luggage and we were then soon in a taxi for the 30km-or-so trip to the other end of the Gold Coast. We arrived safely at the Meriton Serviced Apartments in Southport at about 10.30 and were pleased to find that this bargain-priced accommodation was as good as it looked on the internet! Our one-bedroom apartment was huge, with a big lounge/dining room, fully-equipped kitchen, laundry and big bedroom with full en-suite bathroom. There was also a large balcony and everything felt fresh and new, unsurprising as the complex only opened about a year ago. The place definitely deserves its "number 1" rating on TripAdvisor and at just AU$80 per night, it comes highly recommended! The king size bed was just what we needed to get a relatively early night in readiness for the "big day" to come.
We enjoyed a leisurely start on Wednesday, which was also Anzac Day so most shops and restaurants would be closed. Just around the corner from our apartments, we found the Paris Fashion Cafe which had decided to open and was doing a good breakfast trade. After an enjoyable feed there, we headed across the bridge and through the pretty Main Beach town centre to the beach. It was a lovely half-hour walk along the coast from there down to the centre of Surfers Paradise, where we had a look around the few shops that were open. We grabbed some nice veggie food from Govinda's Veg-O-Rama to take away and enjoyed the walk back to Southport, where we tucked into the food on our balcony to enjoy the lovely weather. Lee then took the opportunity to have a spa in the huge hot spa pool at the apartments before we both needed to don our finery to head out to the wedding.
At just after 3pm, we met Craig & Ivy and then took the short taxi ride to the wedding venue, the incredible Palazzo Versace! As we'd all expected, the hotel was stunning and the entrance was lavish to say the least. We met up with other wedding guests in the lobby before being escorted up to one of the hotel's best rooms (the Imperial Suite) where we caught up with Michael as well as some of the other guests. The views out of the suite were stunning, as of course was the suite itself! It was soon time to come to order with Christine making her appearance at 4pm, with a lovely ceremony to follow. There was a lot of emotion on show before they were pronounced husband and wife and then we all enjoyed another hour-or-so in the suite sampling drinks and soaking up the opulence, with the happy couple off doing their photos for some of the time. At about 6pm, it was time to head downstairs to the Il Barocco restaurant where we all gathered for brief speeches and then tucked into the superb buffet. The seafood offerings were sublime and we partied on until just after 11pm, with a few welcome Quo tunes towards the end for the Quo side of the family to enjoy! We shared a taxi back to the Meriton with Craig and Ivy to round out a terrific day on the Gold Coast.
With no reason to make an early start on Thursday, we used up every minute in the apartment before checking out just before 10am. Meeting up with Craig & Ivy, we revisited the Paris Fashion Cafe for breakfast before an enjoyable walk along the Broadwater from Southport. Shortly afterwards, the happy couple arrived and drove us into Surfers Paradise where we all went for a stroll along the waterfront again before a traditional lunch of fish & chips overlooking the sands of Surfers main beach. Michael then kindly drove us all back to Gold Coast airport in plenty of time for us to make our 4.40pm flight back to Melbourne. Almost unbelievably, we were offered a free upgrade to exit row seats again, which of course we accepted (again). The flight left on time and landed early, with our luggage appearing quickly as well. After bidding farewell to Craig & Ivy, we jumped on the SkyBus back into Melbourne, grabbed a quick bite to eat at Purple Peanuts and then caught the train back to Geelong.
We all had a brilliant time at the wedding and, of course, our congratulations go to Michael and Christine! It was also good to get away, if only for a couple of days, to enjoy the Queensland sunshine.