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Visiting friends with my brother and nephew

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My lovely Taiwanese/Aussie friend and her son, my godson, now live at the Gold Coast.  My brother and nephew had met them whilst I lived in Beijing so I thought since it was about four years since they had seen each other we should visit.

I used my frequent flyer points to book us all flights and one Wednesday in February we departed.  We arrived late in the afternoon and my Godson took an instant like to my nephew and for the next three days didn’t let him out of his sight.

On our first night my friend Evonne took us out to a local Chinese restaurant where I was able to practice my Chinese and also enjoy some good food and meet another of Evonne’s friends who also lived on the Gold Coast.

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We ordered a range of dishes including the obligatory eggplant for me and my brother ordered a couple of typical Aussie/Chinese dishes which he and his son enjoyed.

Over the next couple of days we enjoyed some shopping and one afternoon went to a friend’s of Evonne’s who lived in a beautiful home overlooking the river.  I enjoyed some great tasting Chinese tea and afternoon tea snacks whilst my brother and nephew enjoyed time in the lap pool.

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That evening we had another great meal at the Garden Restaurant within the Casino.

This restaurant has an indoor and outdoor area with a grass area for the kids, an outdoor bar and decking to sit on a Sunday listening to a local band but this evening we sat inside.

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I ordered the risotto and Evonne, my brother and the kids had meat dishes.

Us adults ordered a share dessert called the Garden Chocolate Patch which came out on a huge plate with chocolate soil, chocolate mushrooms, iced milk chocolate truffles, flour less chocolate cake with salted caramel white chocolate ganache.  Unbelievably good!!  And the kids had a selection of house made ice-cream.

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Such a lot of food so the next morning I took myself out for a long walk.  Whilst the weather was not great; a little overcast, it was still a lovely time out in the fresh air.

Image 47Image 46Image 44Then as if we hadn’t had enough to eat the previous evening, we went for brunch at this lovely little cafe within a rather large shopping centre.  The meals matched the size of the shopping centre; huge!!

And as for the juices, well they were truly amazing. My brother and I ordered the Passionfruit Granita which was a mixture of passionfruit and lime blended with ice with mixed berries and mint leaves – it looked amazing and was absolutely delicious and so refreshing!!  My nephew who had a caramel milkshake – told me it was also great.

Then after a relax back at Evonne’s, we departed for the airport to take our plane home.  Great few days!!