Q1

The annual midwinter break/business conference is on again. After spending the last few years in Northland we decided that we would once again get on a plane and go somewhere a bit warmer This year its Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia. The Gold coast is 25 odd Km's of resort hotels and apartment towers and is a favourite winter destination for Kiwis looking for a break from the wind and rain of NZ. Surfers Paradise is a bit misnamed however. The beach is very nice...long stretch of white sand, clear water etc, but the waves are not what you would call primo surf. This is no North shore Hawaii with a monster break like pipeline.To me it feels like Las Vegas without the casinos. Or the desert. By the sea. I don't really know why I think that as it's totally different but anyhow.... It's been 12 years since I've been to the Gold coast and things have certainly changed.  The building boom of the early 2000's threw up dozens of new apartment blocks along the beach. The tower we're staying in is called Q1 and it was finished in 2005.  Apparently it's the tallest residential tower in the world. We are staying on the 60th floor and the apartment is absolutely stunning. 250 sq metres, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, Tv room......this beats stying in a hotel room. The elevator is incredible...it moves at 9 metres per second and makes your ears pop!. The view from up here is awesome. It's going to be hard to top this place next year.

The only thing that puts me off this kind of property is the safety issue of living in a skyscraper. It's certainly not for those with young children. The outside terrace would be a constant nightmare if you had a couple of kids running around. The other thing that struck me was the way the air currents swirl around and through the building. In some places, particularly around doors, the wind screams through like a jet engine and opening the door you can feel a massive difference in air pressure. If this place caught fire I believe it would soon be an uncontrollable inferno due to these updrafts and currents. If I lived here I seriously think that I would take a base jumping course and have a couple of parachutes hanging in the wardrobe just in case. You also need to be extra careful not to drop anything out a window as it would probably kill someone if it hit them. There are signs in the building stating that the penalty for throwing objects off the balcony is 14 years jail time. So if your partner is one of those people who likes to throw plates when she gets upset, you might want to think twice about this kind of living. There are lots of good things about living in the sky. Security is really good...no worrying about some burglar climbing in the window when you're 300 metres up. In fact, you won't even have to worry about forgetting to close all the windows when youre going out. The elevator only works when you swipe your magnetic apartment key over it so no unwanted visitors either. Great for when the mother in law shows up unannounced. Another advantage is that Mosquitos are'nt an issue here...even seabirds don't fly up this high. There are even helicopters flying around below us. You also are unlikely to encounter any of Australias hazardous wildlife either which is a really good thing as even the ants here can kill you. One of the fun things is the garbage chute. No buying special bags or sorting out your trash here. Just throw in in the hatch and it's gone. Theres something really satisfying about the sound of your rubbish bouncing of the sides of the chute down 60 floors. In all, this kind of apartment living is one I could get used to. We met some people who were staying on the 19th floor which led Glenn to comment that they might as well have slept in their rental car.