As well as another hefty bill at the dentist this morning, I got ,something that I’ve never had from my dentist before; a show bag. It contained all manner of tooth hygiene implements and paraphenaelia inside and not a lolly to be seen anywhere. I also left with a renewed enthusiasm for looking after my teeth which is a little tricky when all normal sensation in my mouth is “corrupted”. Albeit, Jemma the dentist at Totally Teeth Burleigh Heads was sensational and she didn’t sting a bit (apart from the wallet part).

We headed from there into Surfers Paradise where one of Ray’s butcher shop mates met us for coffee. He was holidaying with his family and managed to escape a shopping spree for a couple of hours. They caught up on all the Melbourne gossip, talking like a couple of old biddies. After a couple of photos with the famous Gold Coast Meter Maids (which you now have to pay for) we left and headed to Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. The Gold Coast Meter Maids are famous for “feeding” the meters of unsuspecting tourists who then avoided hefty parking fines around the Gold Coast area. They are a bit obsolete now since traditional parking meters are no longer used but they still walk around the city and now you pay them to have your photo taken with them in their shimmering golden bikinis and sequin hotpants. Ray and Rusty were all too keen to hand over their dollars for a photo with the local beauties.

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We knew one thing that Ray needed for his birthday so to Myer we went. After sampling all the aftershave known to man, we gained our own personal fragrance assistant to help us with our decision, and I suspect to stop us from making a complete mess of the fragrance department. 
Finally, fragrance decided upon, I was efficient in mentioning that the purchase was for Ray’s birthday and that we didn’t even consider going anywhere else but Myer. The more we chatted to the assistant about our travels the more generous she became. We scored a free bag and a handful of designer fragrance samples. 

We went to the toy section which was conveniently located right next to the baby clothes and I found the most gorgeous winter coat to send to Ryder. It will keep him warm because we are not there to do it with our hugs and kisses. I love being an Oma, so many more reasons to shop. 

Ray checked out the furniture department looking for the perfect Opa chair. Some of my earliest memories are of climbing over the arm of my Grandpa’s chair and sitting in his lap. Ray likes this idea and also of having “his” own chair. So, the search is on. Unfortunately this item wont fit in the caravan or post home so it will have to wait until we find ourselves back in Melbourne…oh yeah…and a house to live in.

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We wandered around and finally bought Caleb a grid maths book . (They are surprisingly hard to find). 
Enjoyed a quiet night surfing the net and deciding what to do tomorrow.