Burleigh Heads

We recently had six nights at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast and boy was it appreciated, and needed. I find that I need regular grounding and resetting by getting some time in nature of the kind that I can’t really get at home.  For some time now I have been craving time at the beach.  I also crave other forms of nature.  I love the hinterlands as well and rainforests and Australian countryside!

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF BURLEIGH

Burleigh is a bit special to me as it’s where we used to go a lot as kids, mostly for a 2 week holiday in the January school holidays. I have so many lovely memories – things like Dad putting sunscreen on us kids. He used to slap it on and we’d whinge but what a trooper he was because he did it twice a day (there were 5 of us once all of us were born) as he took us to the beach in the morning and again in the afternoon.  Mum would often stay at the apartment with a baby and as I now realise, to read her book, enjoy the view, and of course – some peace and quiet!  I remember the late afternoon walks along the beach as a family, and my obsession with finding unique and special shells.  I remember the excitement of eating fish and chips out of paper at a table by the beach and the strolls around the shops that Mum and Dad seemed to enjoy and that we endured with the hope of a treat along the way.  I recall the frequent stops at real estate windows while Mum and Dad dreamed about owning their own place down there one day.  We quite often used to play board games at night or on rainy days – like Monopoly, Colombo, Life, and Scrabble.  I could write a whole post on the memories I have from those holidays at Burleigh but I’ll stop there except to say that we used to stay at Hillhaven, right up on the Burleigh headland next to the Burleigh Heads National Park.  The view from our apartment was always magnificent, and the beautiful roar of the ocean could always be heard and relied on to lull us to sleep at night.  Of course I went for a walk up there and snapped some photos to send back to Mum and my siblings (see below but you can also spot it in the photo at the top of this post).  We were going to do the national park walk around the headland to Tallebudgera Creek but it was gated off and locked due to fallen rocks which was a shame.  This headland area is a favourite spot for surfers. Check out this post I published in 2015 – A few moments with a surfer dude – for Wordless Wednesday which means there’s few words and lots of photos!

BREKKY AT TARTE BAKERY & CAFE

These days, I tend to gravitate more often to the Sunshine Coast and its hinterland areas but now and then I like to visit the Gold Coast and when I do, it’s generally to Burleigh.  This time, I especially wanted some time on the Gold Coast because that is where my daughter is now living and working.  We managed to catch up with her a couple of times, including once for breakfast at Tarte Bakery & Cafe in Burleigh, a divine little place that is a bakery and cafe that serves breakfast, lunch and fresh pastries daily. 

THE VIEW FROM OUR APARTMENT

We stayed at 2nd Avenue Beachside Apartments in an apartment on the 18th floor.  To book it was necessary to request an ‘Executive Apartment’ in order to get a high level apartment that would guarantee the gorgeous view that we were wanting.  We’ve stayed at these apartments before and really like its location and outstanding views. The apartment on this occasion had the magnificent views but the decor was rather tired and in need of some love and attention. However, it had everything we needed, and that view!!

I took heaps of video’s as well as photos (can’t help myself) so it is with great restraint that I share just one video that shows what I woke to each morning – simply stunning!

BEACH WALKS

One of my most favourite thing about beach holidays nowadays (in my more mature years) is the early morning and late afternoon beach walks.  I absolutely love them!  I walk barefoot along the water’s edge and love it when the water comes in and surprises me.  I love the sounds, the shells, the birds, the people watching, the everything beachy!  I would add ‘smells’ to that list if I could smell, but I can’t (if you didn’t already know). Here’s a few photos from my beach walks.

COUSIN, DRINKIES & CURRUMBIN

As it turns out, my cousin and her husband were holidaying at Currumbin on the Gold Coast at the same time as we were so they came to us for drinks & nibblies one day and we went to them another day.  It was really fun because usually I only see them at family events and we never have time alone like that so it was pretty special.

BURLEIGH FARMERS MARKETS

We went to the Burleigh Farmers Markets on the Saturday which are held at the Burleigh Heads State School and just a short walk from our apartment.

KINGSCLIFF

One day we went for a drive down to Coolangatta and over the border into NSW to check out old haunts Kingscliff and Pottsville. Wow they’ve grown and changed!  It was while I was down this way that my mind went to my old workmate Sue.  Before I explain about Sue, here’s a few photo’s taken at Kingscliff. We had a lovely coffee at Kettles On Cafe. 

REUNION WITH AN ‘OL WORK COLLEAGUE

So, a fabulous thing that happened.  I managed to track down Sue, a girl I used to work with years ago.  We worked in the same room for years – just the two of us.  We were both Executive Assistants at the time.  I knew that she’d retired with her husband somewhere in Northern NSW at the beach.  After much texting with former work colleagues (and friends) I got her contact details and we got in touch.  Turns out she lives at Casuarina in northern NSW (right next door to Kingscliff) and she invited us to lunch on our last day.  So off we went driving back over the border into NSW again.  Thank goodness the borders were open so this reunion could happen!  I took no photos – just soaked up the time with her (and her husband) after not seeing her for over 10 years!  

TUMBULGUM

Though this post is primarily about Queensland’s beautiful Burleigh Heads, I had to mention our lunch at the Tumbulgum Tavern on the Tweed River in Northern NSW on the way back from our first trip into northern NSW.  I love this gorgeous quaint little spot and can’t resist sharing a quick video and a few snaps.  Imagine it on a glorious blue skied day! lol

We didn’t eat out much as we thought we would, preferring to do our late afternoon beach walk and then go back to the apartment and enjoy the view and sounds of the ocean and to relax.  We had dinner with my cousin and her husband at their apartment once.  We had lunch out once at the Tumbulgum Tavern and we had breakfast out once with our daughter, as mentioned earlier in this post.  Our fridge was pretty well stocked and we had easy meals the rest of the time. No cooking was done at all!  

FISH ‘N’ CHIPS DINNER ATTEMPT

I’ll finish with the story of our attempted fish ‘n’ chips dinner with our daughter.  It was the final night.  We’d been to visit with Sue & her hubby that day.  It had been a long and very hot day.  Tonight we planned to catch up with our daughter again before we headed back home to Brisbane the next day.  A storm was forecast for that evening so we decided rather than going out to eat, we’d grab some fish ‘n’ chips and eat in, enjoying the storm show from the comfort of the apartment.  Our daughter finished work and headed our way, texting when she was downstairs.  The storm was already here.  I texted back saying her Dad was on his way down to get her (you needed a special tag to be able to access our floor via the lifts).  The Tennis Player went out to the lifts and soon re-entered the apartment saying the lifts weren’t working.  To cut a long story short, my poor daughter ended up having to walk up 18 flights of stairs (she was not impressed), and we never did get our fish ‘n’ chips dinner.  I mean would you want to walk down 18 flights of stairs, then walk to the fish ‘n’ chip shop, wait ages, then walk back to apartments and then up 18 flights of stairs?  Um, no!  So I threw something together out of what was left in the fridge.  It wasn’t too bad at all!  Luckily the lifts were working again when she was ready to leave.  Phew!  

ALL OVER RED ROVER!

So the six nights at Burleigh went by very quickly.  I was just starting to relax and could’ve done with more time to lounge about reading books and enjoy my beach walks but it was still a lovely break.  Next time I’ll go for longer! 

Have you been to Burleigh?  Do you have a different favourite Gold Coast spot?

Ciao for now,

[Note that whilst most of the photos within this post are from our recent February 2021 holiday, some of the photos were taken on previous holidays at Burleigh in recent years]

This post is linked up with Denyse Whelan Blogs for #LifeThisWeek