outtahere Round-up
STAY Paradise Resort 122 Ferny Avenue, Surfers Paradise
1800 074 111, www.paradiseresort.com.au
Peppers Broadbeach 21 Elizabeth Avenue, Broadbeach 1300 663 786, www.peppers.com.au/broadbeach
4. EATING WHATEVER YOU WANT I'm not a big fan of the buffet. I dislike the thought of stuffing myself with as much food as I want from a limited selection that I might not normally order. Do not put Bazaar restaurant at QT Hotel in this bracket, as the creators have taken a seriously different approach. Rather than see it as a buffet, you should look at it as a tasting restaurant. Go on an empty stomach, as you'll want to taste everything. And don't load up to begin with; later on you'll be upset if you're too full to keep going back to peruse the smorgasbord of delights. The super-cool QT Hotel touts Bazaar as "a
traditional marketplace with a 21st-century twist". The restaurant is laid out in sections – cheeses, seafood, meats, incredibly delicious salads, homely pot roasts, fabulous wood-fired pizzas and Asian wok cooking – and the wall of desserts has sweet-toothed guests in raptures when they walk past, salivating at the thought of that final sweet course. You can also have meals made to suit; if you're a steak lover, choose a piece of meat and have it cooked to order. Dinner is an affordable $69 for adults and $21 for
children under 12. Kids under four eat for free. We let ours run loose and they learnt a lot on the way as the friendly waiters took them through the various selections. Thank goodness for that, otherwise we would have had at least one child gorging on endless plates of blue and pink prawn crackers teamed with piles of the wickedly juicy, fatty pork belly.
5. GOLDEN MOMENT (BONUS) Two of the kids fell asleep on the plane as soon as we boarded for Sydney at 6am. As his head began to droop and his eyes began to close, the youngest said, "Mum, you said we were going to the Gold Coast." To which I replied, "I did, honey, we're leaving it now, that was the Gold Coast." His brow furrowed in confusion and his bottom lip started to wobble as he tried to stay awake. "But I didn't go on the golden one! I went on Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes, and you went on the big mental one, but I didn't get to go on the gold coaster!" I laughed. During all those countdown sleeps he'd been dreaming of a golden roller-coaster. Who would have thought? I told him that sometimes holidays are not what you expect. He fell asleep smiling.
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EAT & DRINK Bazaar at QT Hotel 7 Staghorn Avenue, Surfers Paradise
07 5584 1200, www.qtgoldcoast.com.au
Moo Moo The Wine Bar & Grill 2685 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach 07 5539 9952, www.moomoorestaurant.com
Above, and below: The scrumptious everything-you- could-dream-of treats at Bazaar; the intense thrill of Arkham Asylum.
EXPLORE Sea World 133 386, www.seaworl
d.com.au
Warner Bros. Movie World 133 386, www.movi
MORE INFO www.
eworld.com.au
Dreamworld 1800 073 300, www.dreamworld.com.au
visitgoldcoast.com www.queenslandholidays.com.au
