Nicholas Quirke was pulled into the day with a shock by Kim calling to him to get up on 4^th January. He had set the alarm on his phone, but it had failed him again. It had been a short night’s sleep which normally didn’t bother him, but he felt tired and listless. He was also not particularly looking forward to the flight. A cab arrived at 5am with a swift and painless journey to the airport. There was some problems checking in his baggage on the self service check in and he was getting frustrated with correctly positioning his bag and its tag but with some assistance it went through. Kim’s cousin Paul was due to join them at the airport but he missed the plane and had to get a later flight. It was a short flight to the Gold Coast, but it did take them into a new time zone and they got an hour back arriving at 9am. Nicholas was surprised at how built up it seemed. He had been expecting a  deserted getaway. They were picked up by Chrissie, an actress friend and driven to the Apartment where they were staying and met Maggie the owner. Nicholas got a bit of rest and then went out for a reconnoitre of the area. He walked to the beach which looked beautiful, spotted a fantastic bird, the Australian White Ibis, and  found a Mexican bar for a spot lunch. Back at the apartment Paul had safely arrived and Nicholas and Kim went for a long walk which they proceeded with a quick and tasty gelato, who made a fabulous Ferraro Roche Vegan ice cream, they walked to Surfers Paradise  where they sat on the beach to watch the world go by. including a school of surfers take their first surf in the sea. They got a cab back and got ready to go out for Dinner.  Chrissie and Maggie were wonderful and picked them up and drove to Burleigh and a gorgeous restaurant, Rick Shores, where they were meeting another friend of Kim’s, from Brisbane, an actress Jen Flowers. It was a lovely evening lots of laughs and controversy as she held some strong views that were counter to popular thought. They particularly enjoyed the performance of a bird that was silhouetted on the canopy roof as it trotted about in a very theatrical fashion. Everyone was doing such a lot to make this a great trip for Nicholas and he bought dinner for everyone.  They were exhausted by the time they got home and it felt right to go to bed.