The Road Trip took an unusual turn last night and somehow we ended up 20 floors up in a hotel at Surfers Paradise.  Wasn't the start we'd planned but with road trips it's best to be flexible and and with lightning, thunder and a tropical downpour happening outside it was hard to turn down a free hotel room for the night. The sun is blazing up here on the Gold Coast today and there's only a small East swell on offer.  The hightide had all but killed the banks on the stretch from Burliegh to Surfers Paradise this morning and even old faithful Duranbar didn't have much on offer.   The beaches on the Gold Coast are suffering from some of the worst erosion I've seen in a long time.  There's been some large and prolonged Nor-East cyclone swells this summer and the beaches have retreated 20 or 30 metres inland.  From the promendare at Surfers Paradise it's a sheer drop 3 metres down to the water - bit scary when the foundations for a 78 story building is only 20 metres from the water.

On road now - catch you tomorrow ∆ Murray