When you live somewhere long enough, even if it is one of the most beautiful places in the world, it’s still nice to take a spontaneous weekend away, just you and your partner. Taking a trip can refresh any relationship, as well as giving you a much needed break from the stresses of everyday life.

And the best part, there are a lot of places in and around the Gold Coast that you can go that are private, with a beautiful romantic setting and that are also affordable.  We’re talking rainforest retreats, ocean views and so much more.

Here are some suggestions that are within easy reach:

1. Crystal Creek:

Crystal Creek is luxury and romance all rolled into one – one that is also a ‘Rainforest retreat’.  What could be better?  It’s nestled in the northern part of South Wales in Tweed Valley.

Crystal Creek claims:  “The unforgettable experience that is Crystal Creek Rainforest Retreat is designed for couples or individual guests. Additional guests and/or children cannot be accommodated in our bungalows.”

They offer special packages that are 2 day, 3-day, chill out 3 day, midweek 3 day and 5-day special packages.  All include daily breakfast, and one or more delectable dinners for two.  This place caters to romance, and if you take a look at the website, the rooms are phenomenal.

2. Fern Grove Chalet Tamborine Mountain:

Fern Grove claims:  “Situated in Gallery Walk is this freestanding private chalet. With raised board walkways through lush palm gardens, this beautifully decorated chalet is a relaxing holiday home.”

You can have a private special self-contained apartment or chalet, for adults only – children are discouraged, with special 2 night weekend specials and/or a 7 night special.

3. Ruffles:

Ruffles is the perfect romantic getaway, private yet luxurious, claiming:  “Be spoilt in luxury at your unforgettable romantic getaway in Queensland… this tropical retreat has everything you would expect from a romantic getaway to the Gold Coast.”

The restaurant is superb, and they offer gift vouchers, and weekend packages.  Ruffles offers Golf, and local vineyards, among many other amenities!

4. The Beach Resort at Cabarita:

The Beach Resort offers Luxury and a lot more on the Tweed Coast – perfect for a romantic getaway, beachfront.

Their claim to romance:  “Let the stunning surrounds and helpful staff of The Beach Resort take care of your romantic weekend getaway on the Gold Coast. Relax by the pool or on one of our spacious sun decks, experience delicious culinary delights at The Beach Bar & Grill, or simply watch the sunset on a romantic stroll along Cabarita Beach.”

It offers luxury accommodations, wonderful dining and an ocean front view.  What more could you ask?

5. Binna Burra Mountain Lodge:

The Binna Burra is a mountain retreat nestled in the Larrington National Park.   It’s claim? “This excellent mountain retreat sits on a magical spot with the most stunning views you’ll possibly ever see.”

It is an authentic heritage listed lodge, just above sea level in the sub-tropical rainforest.  Not only does it have some of Australia’s most amazing natural animal wildlife, it also has been recognized as by the Green Globe Certification for its environmentally friendly performance.

If an amazing eco-lodge with wildlife, forest, isolation and getting back to basics in luxury is your idea of a romantic getaway, then check out the Binna Burra.   And if you’re more adventurous, try their rainforest campsite.

There is no shortage of fabulous romantic options to enjoy in and around the Gold Coast, so whether it’s your anniversary or you just want to put some spice back in your relationship, keep these incredible places in mind. You are sure to come back feeling reinvigorated and refreshed.

This post was written by: Kristy Alexander, a freelance travel writer for HotelClub, where you can find great advice and savings on over 300 Gold Coast hotels

An emotional and eye-opening blog from Jean Marc Matteis who is working in the middle of the Haiti disaster.

“Today I will try and do a proper update. It is long and is probably the only time that I will describe an entire day.  Thanks for everyone who has written words of support especially my family and my brother Reggie.
 
It is hard to imagine but we are on day 11 since the quake.  The pace has not slowed down but everyday we have more resources to work with.  The greatest for me has been the arrival of a dear friend Dr. Nathaniel Segaren.  Nat is the medical director of the Caris Foundation and Verena and I are close to he and his girlfriend.  Nat’s arrival has allowed me to be twice as productive.  He is staying with me and apparently is under strict instructions from Verena to look after me and to make sure I eat.  Today Nat and I hit the ground running.  We had sent out a team of Caris Foundatin doctors yesterday out to some area hospitals to assess their needs in terms of  medecines, equipment and doctors.  None of the hospitals needed any more staff.  They have  plenty of medical personnel.  They did need medecines and supplies.  The day before I received three huge garbage bags full of medecines that had been dropped of to me by another good friend Rob Boyer.  Rob and Joe are from Global Orphan Project and they have setup a 300 child orphange.  He came by our hospital because we had three orphans that we were releasing and he came to get them.  It was sad in that they had lost everything but I was glad they were going to be placed at Global Orphan Project.
 
Based on our survey from yesterday Nat and I set out with well over $40,000 worth of IV antibiotics,and all kinds of medecines dropped off by Rob.  Added in to our loot was a duffle bag full of surgical supplies dropped off to me by Jeff and Clive Dadesky. That is how logistics work here. We distributed the badly needed supplies to some hospitals.  We then arrived at the clinic at Diquini that needed supplies.  We arrived to find that the French had setup and were now coordinating things along with the local staff.  There was an orderly triage system and 100 or so French doctors, medics and soldiers on hand to help.  I had not returned to Diquini since the second day after the quake.  It was there that I witnessed and experienced some truly horrible things that I’d rather not remember and it was difficult to be back.  However I had promised the medical director that I would return and so I did.  The blue tarp where the amputations had been performed on that terrible day was still up and I tried to not even look in that direction.  However this time I had returned with supplies and things at Diquini were a world better. 
 
I had an emotinal reunion with an American surgeon that I had met on day 2.  I had just evacuated Verena and was leaving the airport when I met this doctor who had just flown in and did not know where to go.  I immediately told him to hop into my vehicle and after many stops we arrived in Diquini.  A few hours after we met we found ourselves under a blue tarp amputating legs (me just trying to stay out of his way).  It was a particularly tough day for me because later that day I heard that Nadine Cardozo (a great friend and terrific lady) had died under the rubble at the Hotel Montana.  I could not keep it together but somehow we managed to do what was needed at Diquini and to go to yet another hospital accross town late into the night.  We got seperated in the chaos and I had not seen him until today!  Of course days later miraculously Nadine was found alive.  We allowed ourselves a moment to hug as if we were long lost friends and bthen both had to get back to work.  We exchanged contact information.  A great great guy.
 
Nat and I were immediately briefed by the French commander that he had 18 patients that he could do nothing more for and that would need to be evacuated.  He did not know how to contact the American hospital ship USNS Comfort anchored offshore.  He did not even know that the American Field hospital at GHESKIO, only a few miles away, even EXISTED.  I imediately established contact with our field hospital as Nat sat down and evaluated the 18 cases for evacuation. All were extremely serious cases.  Two patients had severe burn injuries (over 60% of their bodies).  There were spinal chord fractures, skull and facial fractures and more.  As we were going over the list and coordinating with the American hospital a French medic came over, excused himself and said to disregard the skull fracture as she had just died. Nat and I received approval to bring two patients to our hospital at GHESKIO for treatment and we would try to get 8 flown to the hospital ship.   
 
The problem was we were the only transportation.  I had asked my friend David Brandt to lend me two open air flatbed trucks and he did so without hesitation. We loaded up only four of the severely injured patients into the trucks and Nat would drive them down to the docks for medevac to the hospital ship. He went because as a doctor he could argue to make sure as many as possible got evacuated.  I stayed behind with the other two patients and the French promised me a helicopter to take them to our field hospital.  The helicopter arrived and we loaded them unto it but the problem was the GPS coordinates that I had gotten from the Amercian commander was not the same system used by the French.  As the helicopter was lifting off and I was trying to calm down our terrified Haitian patient, I tried not to look at the tube sticking out of his chest draining blood from his collapsed lungs.  The pilot leaned back and told me to put on my headsets.  He shouted over the noise “Can you show me where you want me to land when we get there..the GPS coordinates are not useful”.  What..how? I am in the back of this helicopter trying to keep this patient calm and can’t see  a thing back here. Don’t worry he says..a crewman slid back and attached a harness to me that attached to a metal rope that ran the length of the chopper.  He then slid open the huge side door and said to crawl forward. Hold yourself here, lean out and point to it when you see the field where we can land.  So I found myself, wind blasting in my face, straining to find our hospital and then from there finding the LZ which is just a small dusty field accross the street from it.  Somehow I manged to find it and point it out.  I crawled back to my seat in the rear and was thrilled to hear the click of my seatbelt as I sat back down. 
 
As we landed a squad of soldiers from the 82nd secured the LZ . They rushed our patients across the street and into the sanctuary of our field hospital.  After a few snapshots with my new French friends I met back up with Nat who was just returning from his oddysey. 
 
 I don’t know if the two patients I dopped off by helicopter are still alive tonight..I will check on them tomorrow.  One was a woman who was 6 months pregnant.  But I do know that they are under the best medical care possible and have a fighting chance.
 
I do know  that one of the patients that Nat had in the truck will die.  The American hospital ship only agreed to take three out of the four..and only after Nat begged that they take the ten year old girl.  The 20 year old man was not so lucky.  Nat had to return him to Diquini and back to his spot outside under a makeshift shelter to die.
 
A big thank you once again to the 82nd Airborne and to the French Armed Forces.
 
Send my love to all,
JM”

Pic 1 – written by JM: “Girl we evacuated. 
She lost one eye (probably both), most of her nose, and fractured her jaw when a concrete block fell on her face. She is currently blind but hopefully will be able to use one eye in the future.”
 
Pic 2 - “We pile in patients for the long, bumpy ride down to the evacuation site for USNS Comfort. Nat convinced them to evacuate 3 out of the 4.”

Stop that ute!

A lady was telling her neighbour that she saw a man driving a pick-up truck down the M1, and a dog was hanging onto the tail gate for dear life!

She said if the ute driver hadn’t been going so fast in the other direction, she would have tried to stop him.

The ute driver is a taxidermist with a great sense of humour!
Can you imagine how many people try and stop this guy…?

Top Ten Things You Wouldn’t Know Without Movies

1. It is always possible to park directly outside any building you are visiting.

2. A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.

3. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.

 
4. Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communication systems of any invading alien civilization.

5. It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts – your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

6. No one involved in a car chase, hijacking, explosion, volcanic eruption or alien invasion will ever go into shock.

7. When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.

8. You can always find a chainsaw when you need one.

9. Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds, unless it’s the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.

10. Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment you turn the television on.

It’s the must have toy for the Gold Coast!

Unbelievable!

The Eds.

It’s hard to work out if these pics below are extremely clever, or just plain lazy!

Either way, we got a good laugh out of them, hope you do too.

The Eds.

The myGC Ed’s advise you to cancel any trips you may have planned to Cerro Azul, Panama… Well at least until we find out what on earth came out of that cave!

These photos have become the focus of wild internet speculation after four kids in Panama claimed they were confronted with this creepy 150cm tall creature, which emerged from a cave and started climbing over rocks “as if to attack them”.

Fearing for their safety, they beat the E.T. look-a-like to death with sticks, throwing its body in a pool of water and running away, they told Panama’s Telemetro television station.

Their skeptical parents returned to the lake the following day, only to be stunned (not to mention grossed out!) when they found the eerie body washed up.

One local told the Panama news that the water monster was “Gollum from Lord of the Rings”… And we have to agree on that!

The ‘monster’ is apparently being investigated at Panama’s National Environment Authority, where one zoologist has suggested it could just be some form of mutated sloth.

You be the judge… Either way… We’re going to have trouble getting to sleep tonight!

The Ed’s.

If you’re keen to find out more, read further on the story here