Brisbane, Qld

OK so we weakened and took a drive up to Brisbane, South Bank to be precise. You may recall this is where the Expo '88 was held, an event which transformed an industrial dump into a world class stage for this extravaganza. But that was then and this is now. We have been there since 1988 but this time it was noticeably different, having been made into an upmarket destination for everyone who lives in or is visiting Brisbane. Judy was taken by the market, (but had no cash, so it was safe!) and we walked along the river to the ferry terminal. We have doe this before but we took the river cat up river to the Qld Uni terminal and back, and then wandered back into the South Bank precinct to find a restaurant for lunch. After an excellent meal we went to the Maritime museum based around the original dry dock built in 1888. Its main attraction is the only remaining River class frigate, the HMAS Diamantina. The whole museum is really good and really made my day. After a longish day, we paid our $30 (ouch!!!!) at the parking station to retreive the vehcle and scampered back down to the less rarefied atmosphere of Tweed Heads

Snaps -> Brisbane

Daily snap because you love them

HMAS Diamantina. Brisbane, Qld

Currumbin, Qld

Finally some weather worthy of that Qld slogan about being beautiful one day and fabulous the next. The wind has dropped and the sun has come out to play.

We had heard about Currumbin Rock Pools, which sounded interesting, but then Judy's hairdresser told her that if you go there, you need to go further up into the valley there are some more rock pools and waterfalls that are just fantastic....

We followed his advice and once we had doubled back onto the right road, we found ourselves at the top of the valley where there was a very pleasant walk up into the mountains, meandering alongside the swiftly flowing creek, tumbling over rocky falls from one pool to the next. Actually the water didn't look that inviting, it was a weird green colour and freezing. Obviously didn't stop some from jumping the safety fences and having a dip. The whole area is now a national park but in a previous life had been cleared of all the huge trees and then completely cleared to make way for a banana plantation. One thing they didn't think of back then was that the arsenic they used to kill the rats ended up in the river, along with the dead rats, thus killing everything else. As t turns out the bananas were wiped out by a cyclone after two years and they took to dairy farming instead. The timber felling continued up to the 1960's but since then the whole place has been protected and left to regenerate, which as the pictures show, is working nicely. The drive up into the valley is also worth the effort.

We also spent some time the next day wandering around Burleigh Heads beach and having a general fiddle about the beach side of the Gold Coast.

Some snaps from those last couple of days -> Currumbin, Qld

Snap of the day

(nothing to do with Currumbin, just JB fishin')

Up another mountain

The wind has abated a tad so Brian went for a walk along the beach. I stayed in bed! The sun was out so we decided to check out the mountains, lookouts, waterfalls and walks in Springbrook. It is only 30kms from the turnoff at Mudgereeba but the road is very narrow and winding through the mountains. It just keeps going higher and higher with a sheer drop and hardly any guard rails. I was keeping my eyes fixed to that road and got a little sweaty the higher and steeper we got. There were even a few sections that were only one lane over little wooden bridges with a drop that went forever. We drove through Springbrook and another few kms to Purling Falls. It was a lovely picnic area where a few walks originated. Some were affected by landslips due to the amount of rain they have been having up here, so we chose to stroll the 100 metres to the falls from the car park along a moss covered path through the rainforest. We arrived at a lookout that ends in a massive drop with a waterfall plunging over a sheer rock face. There was also another walk to the other side of the falls that crossed a beautiful creek that burbled over smooth rocks before starting its journey towards the edge of the waterfall. It looked like a perfect habitat for platypus although we didn’t actually see any.

Next stop was a lookout that claimed to be and called “The Best-Of-All lookout”. It was about another 4 kms up the mountain and about 2kms further on, the temperature dropped to 8 degrees and the clouds enshrouded the mountain. It was only a 350 metre walk from the car park but it took a little bit of time because the rainforest was just so spectacular we were stopping constantly to take photos. The highlight had to be a group of 1000 year old Antarctic beech trees whose roots and trunks were gnarled and totally covered in thick green moss. Just amazing. We eventually arrived at the lookout and the best view will have to be seen at another time. The cloud was so thick, it was a total whiteout. Back to the car in a light drizzle that could have been rain or just the cloud and decided lunch at the Springbrook General Store was the go as it was nearly 2pm and we were hungry. We weren’t certain we could get anything as it was a Monday and not a lot of people about but they ‘could make some toasties and a coffee for us’ which was just fine. We ended up spending an hour chatting to the two ladies serving there and they had lots of photos of the local fauna they wanted to share as well as some stories. One lady was from Texas in the good old US of A and the other originally from Victoria but were now definitely locals. It was good fun. Why is it that it always seems much quicker returning from these trips? Anyway, were back at the van by 4.30, Brian walked to the shops and I snuggled up in my blankie and read my book for a while.

All the snaps => click here

A snap of the day

 

 

Judy admiring the view from the Best-Of-All Lookout, Springbrook, Qld

 

Tweed Heads. Cont....

Sadly, its the last day of the holidays for the kids. Kathryn & Ben & Andrew took-off fairly early, while Amy&Steve&Emily&Thomas had an early evening flight.

The weather continued to be patchy sunlight with strong gusty winds making it a fairly unpleasant day for beaches or fishing, so a quiet hour or so in the park with Emily on the swings and a long coffee in the comfort of the mall.

I've added some more snaps to the Greenmount Beach album => https://picasaweb.google.com/CapitalCityWriter/GreenmountBeachQld

A snap? Why not have two.

Help me, I'm ....

...falling!

Later I took advantage of the weather to try and get some wild water shots at the beach, here's one, the others are at=> https://picasaweb.google.com/CapitalCityWriter/DuranbahBeachTweedHeadsNSW

A Sad Aside

The other day I heard that the house that i was born into and lived in until I was 23 has been bulldozed to make way for some new suburban Taj Mahal. I found the news disturbing because its part of my history, part of me and my family, and it's just not there any more. I have photos of course but it'sjust not the same as knowing it's there, knowing you can drive past and show your kids and grandkids.

The house was built entirely by hand by my late father in the late 1940's and was arguably fairly avant guard for its time. This is 1950s at latest. This house had built in wardrobes, and inside toilet, the cupboards in the kitchen had doors that slid up into the roof space and there was a built in 'breakfast nook'. It was double brick and the roof trusses were old school '3x2's spaced 18in apart.

It was a home for  two mum, dad and us 4 children. We had birthdays, at least my 21st, there and my sister had her wedding reception there. It hold many many memories of both good and bad times, of highs and lows, of growing up pain and joy. Just sitting here thinking about that house and all the things that took place in and around it in my life time leaves me saddened that the one thing that pinned those things and events and feelings to a place and time is now gone.


Basically it was built strong and proper by a master tradesman and made to last many families for many years and deserved a better fate than being torn asunder and levelled like so much rubbish.

The one thing it underscores is that you cannot take anything for granted: if you want to preserve it or record it for posterity - do it today.

1 Lily Street, Croydon Park, Sydney

Tweed Heads, Qld Cont....

A do nothing sort of day. Paul & Sue left at 7 this morning and we miss them already. had a late breakfast and an early lunch with Kathryn & Ben & Andrew. Even had a short snooze in the afternoon before a bit of a play on the beach with Emily & Thomas, well Emily mostly, Thomas was mostly asleep.

Finished the day at the Rainbow Bay Surf Club for an early dinner and then off home for an early night.

All the snaps from today => https://picasaweb.google.com/CapitalCityWriter/GreenmountBeachQld

A snap of the day

Sea World, Qld

Big day out at Sea World, through the gate at 930 and out at 5. Many changes here since Judy and I were here last: more rides, more displays, changes to the format of the shows. It's still a great day out and still a place of fascination for kids of all ages.

Emily found here place at the kids' corner with may rides on the merry-go-round, the flying aeroplanes and dump trucks. Some of the big children found fun in the corkscrew, aka Sea Viper, the Vikings Revenge flume ride, the Jet Rescue. Others took the monorail for a scenic look at the whole park.

The ,dolphin show was great, with three handlers in the water and 7 bottlenose dolphins going through their paces. Gone was the normal platform and hoops and balls, instead the handlers rode them like surfboards, rode them a pair of fine horses and were lifted up on their noses. The dolphins seemed to be able to jump higher than ever and all in perfect synchronisation.

Back in the main pool we found more changes. Gone were the waterskiers and speed boats. Instead we were treated to amazing acrobatics being performed on jetskis. Who would have thought you could do 6 barrel rolls in a row followed by a double back flip, or riding them underwater submarine style?

Steve and Phil found the Jungle Gym and hung around all day... This is pretty good, its a three story high steal framework structure with interconnecting ropes and suspended paths. The intrepid were strapped into harnesses and securely attached to the guide rail of the structure. They climb and balance and walk tentatively all over the place like old salts in the rigging of a square rigged clipper ship.

See all the snaps here => https://picasaweb.google.com/CapitalCityWriter/SeaWorldQld

Snap of the day

Stev & Phil shooting it out with some randoms in the pirate ships

Tweed Heads Cont...

Bit of a boys day out, Paul & I went to find an old wrecking yard we saw from the M1 the other day on our southbound return from Mt Tambourine. Trouble is we were travelling north and there's a big bit of the eastern side of the road you just can't see. Not to worry, we found ourselves at Exit 66 which happily can be taken to get to the Gold Coast Highway where Rare Spares and Route 66 Spares is located. This is a treat for both of us as it's owned and operated by two old mates, Reg & Sandi Vine. Judy and I found them last year and promised to come back and bring my brother Paul. We all first met in the early days of the computer industry in about 1970. Reg worked for Control Data Corporation, stationed at the Bureau of Census and Statistics in George Street Sydney, where I had my first computer job and its where I met Judy who was a Public Servant and was the Magnetic Tape Librarian and later a Computer Operator.

Judy and I joined the Renault Car Club where we met Reg's wife Sandi. We all went our own ways eventually, and I met Reg again many years later when I worked for Wang in Canberra and he worked for them in Bathurst. We kept up a very sporadic contact over the years,visiting them at Runaway Bay and of course last year at Rare Spares at Labrador. Anyhow we had a really nice time chatting and drinking coffee before Paul and I took our leave, this time with instructions on how to find that elusive wrecking yard.

This time we drove right past it again, doubled back, got boxed in just behind it, asked directions and finally pulled up out the front of it. The attraction was an FJ Holden parked on the first floor verandah but the rest of the yard was just an overgrown jumble of not very interesting dead cars of the 80s. The only life form there was a fearless guard dog, so a few snaps was our lot and we were of again.

We all finshed up the day by having a pizza feast with our kids who had spent the day at Movie World.

Snap of the Day

Reg & Sandi Vine and Paul Black. Old mates meet again!

Murwillumbah, NSW

Rain set in mid-morning, so we wandered back to Murwillumbah again to check out the pool, our intent was to have a swim. We had also taken our internet thingy with us as it had stopped working and thought maybe it was some local problem. Needless to say it wasn't and we went and found Telstra who took two seconds to determine that we had used our entire 12 month allowance in 3 months. Rats. Threw money at the problem and it went away.

Had a really nice lunch at a cafe on the main road before having a wander about the shops, replacing the carving knife I seem to have thrown out with the pizza box last night. Drove around the back streets checking out the lovely old houses.

Gave up on swimming, went over to the railway station hoping to take a photo similar to one taken by Merv in 1951. Alas, those lovely old station signs have been replaced by 'modern' signs and have zero character. The North Coast line stopped here and folk had to take a bus the 25miles to the start of the Gold Coast. Before they built the line the two state governments involved started talking about going right through to Coolangatta, that was in 1889, and although the line closed in 2004, they are still talking about it!

We headed due east through the Caldera and admired the lush looking farms growing all kinds of stuff apart from sugar cane. I even correctly identified the stunted and strictly groomed small shrubs as camellias use for tea-leaves by the Madura company. Judy decided that we had better take a short cut and get back to our bread dough before it became over-blown, so we headed back, raining all the way.

Andrew and Kathryn and Ben are turning up tonight so we are off in a few minutes to pick them up from the airport.

Here's a snap, only Mervyn will know where it is and what it was used for.

Hinterland

It’s raining again – our holiday seems to be linked in to old songs! Not a lot of options in the rain so where else could you possibly go but to a rainforest. Mount Tambourine was the destination today and the Rainforest Skywalk. The roads are very steep and winding but the scenery is fantastic. At least the forest we were driving through was, the cloud was all encompassing so none of the views to the coast and beyond was able to be seen. It was a total white out of clouds. But along the road there were tall and straight flooded gums with the most beautiful bark of sleek olive green co habituating with piccabeen palm trees that just pierced the sky heading for the sunshine. Unfortunately, none of that today. The little village of Eagle Heights was a stopping point where we wandered back and forth amongst the shops until we found ourselves on the island of Corfu, or at least we think that was what the café where we had lunch was trying to achieve. Everything, all white and vivid blue, even the ceiling fans. Lunch was very nice though and we enjoyed the break in the warmth of Corfu. Our hunger sated, we headed to the skywalk.
Driving through more rainforest for a couple of kms brought us to the skywalk park. It is an elevated metal walkway that takes you high above ground level into the canopy of the trees. Staghorns, elkhorns and wild orchids are everywhere on the tree branches and trunks. It was drizzling at this stage and the trees were positively glistening with the moisture on their foliage. The actual metal walkway probably only goes for a few hundred metres and then it takes you to the forest floor down along the creek where the piccabeen palms are incredibly tall and line both sides of the banks. This walk is about 1km but you can’t help but just stop often and gaze about at the gingers, strangler figs, rainforest trees and palms that abound and really take your time to take everything in. It started to rain when we had nearly finished the walk but it just seemed so appropriate in this place that we could have walked it all over again.
We had hard steady rain all the way back to the Bruce Highway and as by this time is was just after 4pm, of course we ran into peak hour traffic. It took us 45 minutes to go 24 kms! It was still a lovely day but a bit tiring so no cooking for me tonight. We had takeaway pizza and red wine for dinner. A good way to end the day.

Snap of the day

Rainforest Skywalk. Mt Tambourine, NSW

Tweed Cont..

Happy Birthday Muriel

Slowish day today. Kept myself amused by walking to Coolangatta to find the spot where Merv & Shirley took some photos on their honeymoon in 1951.

    

This is the edifice that was erected on or about this very spot in 2001

Inside this Border Marker are some old photos, sadly no captions, but this one caught my eye.

It's the same house / shed as in Shirley's photo in 1951. I think that it's the Customs House on the border and the man is holding the gate open as the border was originally fenced and closed. One had to pay Customs Duty to take goods across, also it was closed in 1919 as a quarantine measure during a Spanish Flu epidemic. Also during WWII it was not closed, but used as a checkpoint to regulate movement of civilians and enlisted men, many on R&R. The fence was removed some time in 1950.

Oh well, I'm easily amused

Tweed Cont.

It's official. It is raining. Has been on and off for the last two days. Not cold at all so that's a bonus. Amused ourselves at one stage by driving up to Murwillumbah and through the mountain roads to Mt Warning, a huge volcano remnant. It's up in the most beautiful rainforest all ferns and strangler figs reaching for the distant canopy of the giant eucalypt trees. The one car wide road winds its way up the mountain side, criss-crossing the tributaries of the Tweed River. We were surprised at the car park to find it chock-a-block. Seems its the #1 walking track with the 9km, 5 hour trek to the top being the attraction. We thought we'd save it for another day.

On the way back down we stopped and took a few snaps and were just crossing the Tweed proper when Judy spotted a platypus right near the low level bridge. We went back and forth but apart from my one blurred image, it proved to be elusive.

Went out for dinner and a show last night at the Australian Outback Adventure, which was a different show to the one we saw last year but every bit as entertaining and informative. Dinner was a Frittata followed by the main of beef and veg and all topped of with an individual Pavlova. Yum-oh.

Woke up to more rain so went back to sleep!

Snap of the day/days/whatever

Mt Warning, NSW

Tweed 2

Long walks along the beach and around the headland. Hopping lightly between NSW and Qld at Dangar Point, a late breakfast, wander through the Coolangatta markets,a quick trip to Tropical Fruit Salad World and then back to a nice little cafe / restaurant overlooking the ocean. Oh, it's just all go! Spot of fishing,nibbles and drinks, a few hundred snaps on show for Paul and Sue, Echuca to Katherine.

Dinner and a show... well the TV was on. The beautiful weather held up fine and clear all say untill about 7 when it started to rain for about an hour. Let's hope its all rained out for another fine day again tomorrow.

Snap of the day 

Tweed

The chores caught up with me again and I had two loads of washing to get done with one eye on the weather as showers were predicted. We were wanting to book tickets for the Outback Spectacular so went to find the local NRMA shopfront. Their tickets are considerably cheaper than anywhere else so that was our first stop. Successfully bought the tickets, so went on down to Coolangatta beach for a walk along the pathways.

It is the most beautiful spot with the paths meandering along the beachside for kilometre after kilometre. The sand was very white, the sun was glistening on the water, the surfers were patiently waiting for the right waves and all was well with the world. Paul and Sue passed us at one stage on their bikes and were continuing on to see how far they could go. We stopped for a coffee and sat in the sunshine soaking up the ambience. You could get used to this coastal lifestyle. Lunchtime rolled around and we decided to join the locals at Greenmount Surf Club to have luncheon on the balcony overlooking the beach. Food doesn’t really rule our life, it just sounds like it! While we were waiting for lunch, we watched the world go by from the verandah. Dads with their kids on the front of their skateboards, kids kicking footies around, people rollerblading and bike riding, people just out for a stroll, all with the beach and the Surfer’s Paradise skyline as a backdrop. What a lovely spot this is. We were scoffing our chicken schnitzel burgers and good they were too, when we were joined by Paul and Sue. We spent a bit of time just chillin’ out and sitting in the sunshine.

The sun was starting to get a bit lower in the sky, so I needed to have my fishing fix for the day. The river runs around along our van park, so I just walked down to a nice sandy spot and threw in a line. Bang. Almost straight away a nice little bream.  It wasn’t a bad size but a tad small to keep. I had great fun and by the time I’d used all my bait, I had caught 6 or 7 bream. It was dark by then and I really couldn’t see where I was casting my line so was happy to call it a day after I had sacrificed my last prawn. Drinks and nibbles with Paul and Sue before dinner. Nice.

Snap of the day

Tweed Heads, NSW

Drove into a buffeting headwind all the way from Tewantin to the Tweed Heads turnoff, very uncomfortable,made even less comfortable by the trucks and buses roaring up behind us and blowing us all over the show.

Got into the van park about noon, and as the ubiquitous van park map and notes didn't expressly say we couldn't wash the van, we did so as soon as we stopped. Went to the big shops to get lots of food and came back in driving rain. Paul and Sue turned up later in the arvo and after tea and scones we went for a long stroll down the river, which is just as well because it's now bucketing down again.

No snaps to day, it's just not the day for it.

Tewantin last day

Sadly, the sky is clouding over and the temperature is dropping. Rain threatens so a day at the beach is out of the question. Instead we toured up to the Timbeerwah Lookout for views to the coast and Noosa and right around for 360 degress taking in the rest of the coast and the hinterland. Toured further up through Cooroy, Pomona and Boreen point up on Lake Cooharabaand back down to Tewantin.

Went fishing down the river, finally found a spot out of the wind and Judy settled in for a session that resulted in a few fish and one large crab that did the right thing and dropped off before it go to the wharf.

Not much else happening, so an earlyish night ready for tomorrows trek.

Snap of the Day

Eumundi Markets

Sorry Ben, Happy Birthday!

It being a Wednesday and us being within 200k of Eumundi it is obligatory that we travel to the said township and engage in the tradition known as market crawling. We've been here probably 1/2 a dozen times or more over 20 years and you know, I don't think that anything much has changed. Sure the layout is a bit different but the goods on offer? These people are stuck in a perennial craft based time warp. Life is literally passing them by in front of their stalls. Leather belts, skirts and tops, various food items, 'art' made out of bits of coloured tin or scraps of wood. Perhaps a hat or a piece of jewellery? Maybe a anklet or tattoo? You've seen it all before and you can't help but wonder just how much of this stuff any one person actually needs. I notice a few of the stall proudly claim to be 'original' Eumundi Market stall holders, and some of them look it. We stopped and Judy fondled some beads. The head magically appears above the display and leaps into the spiel of how fabulous that particular piece is and how it's the artists very own work and that they wear it themselves normally but if you truly like it and promise to treat it with respect love and devotion, they'll let you have it for say, two-ninety-five. You look up interested and they add "...hundred dollars". You place it back down with reverence and move on to yet another hat-a-d scarf stall. "Yes madam, that suits you perfectly!" You turn with interest to see who is getting stitched up with what, and you see a woman with a piece of torn and shredded rag around her neck. "That's a beautiful scarf, I think it's the last one and it looks perfect on you," she says and gives the mark a thumbs up. I stifle a guffaw and an elbow in the small of my back pushes me on..  A crowd has gathered around a man holding up what looks like a clear inner sole filled with liquid and gold beads. He is in full voice as to how it will cure all the ills of mankind, "just slip one into your shoe sir, it's a miracle!" I am tempted to ask if he has one to slip into my thongs but find myself  shuffled on again, just in time.

I have devised a plan: we create a web site and invite people to submit pictures and spiels of the most useless thing they can find at any market in Australia. First prize is a visit to Eumundi Markets and $10 spending money. Perhaps we need a Eumundi Market App, just press the button and get shown any stall and listen to the sales pitch. It'll be a big hit, you can get your Eumundi market fix and never leave home.

My favourite part of this market is a U shaped alcove where you can get your palm read, back rubbed, crystals on your eyeballs, healing hands placed anywhere you desire while you close your eyes and think positive thoughts of unblocking your chakratic energy streams while the owner of the hand stares off into the near middle distance dreaming of how they will spend your hard earned dosh that they have relieved you of. For all I know you could probably get your fortune told by a one eyed Siamese cat. People will pay for almost anything it seems, no matter how far the facts of anatomy and physiology are stretched in the name of pure quackery. Actually, in a way I'm glad there here - at least we know where they all are at least twice a week.

Having bought yet-another-top, Judy now has to travel to Sunshine Plaza to get a new top to go under the new top and another one to go with it in case it got lonely in the drawer. I'll never understand.

We have lunch at a dodgy place at Coolum Beach. We've been here before and tested out the macarons and forgotten that the woman is French and the service is a bit tardy. One old fellow next to us wandered backover to the counter at one staged and asked ever so politely if they had to take the pie he had ordered and heat it up. Oh so subtle, but totally lost on them as they thought he was genuinely interested in the methods used in their patisserie. He was way to polite to explain that he was just hungry and wanted a feed before nightfall. Regardless, we bought a vanilla slice like you've never seen, a lemon meringue tartlette (read small) and a chocolate and something or other macaron.

These we ate back at the van with a nice cup of tea and reflected on our day's activity.

Snap free day I'm afraid.

(but here's one I prepared earlier)

Sunset, Noosa River. Qld

Exploring Noosa

The weather is still quite cold overnight, so stayed in bed for a while – even Brian slept in – then after breakfast went down to Noosa Marina at Tewantin, to take the ferry down the river into Noosa Heads. We bought a day pass so we could hop on and off. It’s a tad difficult to really take advantage of this as it’s just too long between ferries to see much. We disembarked at Noosaville which has really grown since we were here last. There are heaps of eateries and boutiques. We checked all the shops out and then decided on an early lunch at a lovely cafe overlooking the river. Brian had a steak sanger and I had calamari, both really good, and sipped our coffees in the sunshine. We finished in time to pick up the ferry again – luckily it was 15 min late – destination Noosa. Hastings Street hasn’t changed that much except there seems to be a few empty shops and restaurants and perhaps it isn’t as upmarket as it was before. It isn’t really surprising as Noosaville has really taken off and is much cheaper than Hastings Street. We still did the obligatory stroll up and down the street and as it’s mainly in shade we headed for the beach to lie in the sun. It’s about 18 degrees but the wind is cool so didn’t stay on the beach too long. We had to head back to the jetty for the return ferry trip to Tewantin but just had to stop for an ice cream first. Yum. The trip back up the river was really relaxing, it’s lovely to be on the water. We might hire a boat while we’re here to explore the river a bit more. I had another go at fishing but once again, no luck. Gave up and decided we would go to the golf club for dinner then back to the van for the night.

Snap of the day

This one's for Lauren, who gave me a heart attack back in 1999 when she paid $30 for a pair of thongs with pretty flowers - they're still $30 at the same shop!

Sunshine Coast

I really do like the sunshine coast. Always have. We decided to head to the “Noosa North Shore”, this isn’t a flash suburb like you might expect but the main access to the beach “roads” to camping and fishing spots here. To access the area, you have to wait in line, be very patient, soak up the tranquillity and queue up for the 8 vehicle ferry that takes you across the Noosa River to areas north. We were not silly enough to actually drive onto the beach with our car, but the ferry was very busy with lots of others with their campertrailers and small boats making the trip. This is an amazing area with approximately 75 miles of pristine beach with fishing the major drawcard. You have to wait for the low tide so you can travel the 20 kms to the camp area along the beach and there are plenty of incidents where people get bogged. In fact we witnessed one today.  We were at the first access point and a small 4WD was totally bogged. There was a group of about 5 men with Irish accents – so we assumed they were back packers with little experience - desperately trying to push the totally bogged car forward, with a few women watching and encouraging them on. We suggested it might be better to try to reverse out instead of revving the engine and getting nowhere. They tried and it was successful, so now what to do. They lined up the car into a nice soft fresh deep sandy spot and hit the gas. Yes, bogged again. We watched them do this a couple of times before I couldn’t stand it any longer. I suggested they might  try driving on the hard wet sand first and head for previous car tracks that might be a little firmer to drive on. Yay, success. They parked in the car park and walked back to the beach.

We headed back to the village of Tewantin, a delightful place and sat in the sun and had some lunch. The pool at the caravan park is heated so we thought a swim was in order as Brian felt the pool this morning and declared it warm. He jumped straight in and came up spluttering declaring it a tad cooler than he thought! We basked in the sun for a while until it went behind some trees and decided Noosa Beach was the place to be. The days are quite warm but unfortunately they are having a bit of a cold spell here so it didn’t take too long before it got a wee bit cool to sit on the beach as the sun really lost its warmth quickly. Oh well, back to the van for champagne and nibblies in our trackiedacks and jumpers.

You'll be needing a snap.

This one is for those who don't know what a vehicle ferry is, we used to call them 'punts' and they were all up and down the coast. Ah, those were the days.

Vehicular Ferry or Punt. Noosa River, Tewantin, Qld

Tewantin, Qld

The reason you stay 3nghts in Tannum Sands is so that you can erase the previous days tortuous travel from you mind and refreshed, you go back out to the Bruce Highway (who are they kidding?) and do it all again. Anther 400K in 6 1/2 hours. It's truly atrocious, even the new bits are totally wasted, just a continuous string of potholes joined by broken tar. There's lots of evidence of road work (didn't actually see any actual work going on) and guess what? They are replacing the single lane goat track with an upgraded single lane goat track. It's not that there's no traffic, it's just a solid stream heading north with no letup the entire day. The best part is that they have these 80k / Road Work signs and no work and in the middle for apparently no reason and covering at most a stretch of 50m, a 60k sign! We finally hit a section announced with a Start Motorway sign, and the surface immediately go worse until it to it too had a 80/60 speed sign. Finally, to our relief we came to the End Motorway sign and back to the original but better roadway. What a nightmare. Stopped at Childers for a break and some tea. Stopped at Gympie for lunch at a lovely little park complete with lakes and  gardens and walkways over bridges.

The last 60k down into Tewantin wasn't so bad and we finally parked ourselves in a lovely van park just up the road from the river and its many delights. Tewantin has developed somewhat since we were here last, its come upmarket with marinas and shopping precincts, but its hardly surprising given the nearness of its famous neighbour, Noosa.

Enough already, I'm ready for a rest.

Snap of the day

Mum, Dad and the chicks. Alford Park, Gympie, Qld

Tannum Sands, Qld

Bit of a slower day today, taking a long walk in the morning around the foreshore and finding the inevitable cafe on the headland. From the lookout we could see some 30 odd coal ships 'swinging-at-picks' as they wait to come into the port of Gladstone and fill from some of those many trains we say the other day. Judy decided that she wanted fish and chips for lunch so I went back to the chippy next to the cafe, unfortunately the chips were just a sodden blob of oily potato preserved in salt and the fish, a nice looking sweet-lip, was overcooked to oblivion.

We took the opportunity in the afternoon to take the car to the car wash and scrub it up somewhat, now the van looks even more putrid that it did before, that layer of red dust transformed to mud by the three days; drizzle is just clinging on.

Ended the day on the wharf at the Boyne Island boat ramp where Judy finally snagged a small flounder after a few hours and given that the tide had turned an hour ago and the sun had been replaces by the moon and stars, we called it quits.

A snap, yes i took some photos