Until next time Australia...

Well, when we landed in Brisbane, it was cold and rainy - a typical Vancouver spring day. When we were in Western Australia, we had met a lovely couple Hazel and Frank while wondering among the huge Tingly Trees and they had kindly offered their home in Brisbane as a "refuge". We had contacted Hazel before we left Townsville to ask if we could store some of our luggage at her home while we toured around the Brisbane area for our time left. But, during the drive from the airport to Hazel's home, David and I decided that we may be wise to keep the bags with us because if this was what the weather was going to be like, we may head home a little early. We did stop by Hazel's and had a very short visit with her and completely missed seeing Frank (sorry Frank!) and by the time we left her house, it was dark and still raining. As Hazel's home was on the southern end of town, we decided to head to the "Gold Coast". Not sure if that was a good idea because it was like pulling into Waikiki Beach at night - i.e. difficult to find a place to stay. We ultimately ended up at a Comfort Inn directly across the street from a Hooters - say no more. It was on that night we decided to change our air tickets and head home early by a week.

Now, if you had asked me if we would have spent any amount of time on the Gold Coast, I would have said "no way". Everything I had read told me it was very touristy - full of high rises and theme parks - not our cup of tea. But stay we did. The next morning, the sun came out and we managed to find a lovely little oasis on the Main Beach area of Surfer's Paradise. It was at a tourist park and we were lucky enough to stay in a brand new villa for an extremely cheap price. We lasted there 4 nights and couldn't have been happier. We were secretly hoping that the weather would turn lousy again to validate our decision to come home a bit early!

The first morning there, we discovered the Gold Coast Marathon was taking place with the route passing right in front of our place.







We did heaps of stuff such as take surfing lessons - gotta do it when you're in Surfer's Paradise! It was loads of fun. My low center of gravity gave me a few problems but I did manage to get up a few times in the two hour lesson we took. Everyone else caught on very quickly!







And, it was here that David found his coveted BBQ flipper!



The beach there is beautiful and stretches for miles and miles.

We drove to Byron Bay, another beautiful beach front community where there was a Sunday market happening on the day we visited. There was also a beach front art show.




Our last day was spent strolling around Brisbane - going to another street market where Adam volunteered to be a magician's helper (future career?). It was cold and cloudy so then we were happy with our decision to come home a bit early. But before we could leave, Sylvie had to take a swim in the outdoor rooftop pool of the airport hotel. Brrrrrrr....






Even though we feel that we covered a lot of ground on our trip down under, there is yet so much more to explore so we'll be going back. Don't know when but it's on the bucket list. We met a great bunch of people - hopefully some or all of them will come and visit us (not all at once though!).

We will miss:
- being greeted by "how you going mate?"
- meat pies
- swimming in the warm rivers
- swimming in the warm ocean
- being told our accents are "cool"
- the beautiful, silky, white sand beaches that stretch for miles and miles
- the climate
- the t-bone steaks
- the markets
- the great, free barbeques in the parks
- the beautiful butterflies - particularly the bright blue Ulysses butterflies
- the beautiful birds

So, after a gruelling flight home (will always buy direct tickets from now on) we are home and tending to the usual stuff that comes up - an overgrown yard (can't believe our neighbours didn't report us to the city!), a broken garage door, a broken dishwasher, orthodontist appointment, hair cuts and visits from bears.






The blog will be on a hiatus until our trip to Europe at the end of the month - unless of course we end up doing something interesting! We'll keep you posted.

Maureen

G’day mates. How you goin’ from Vancouver?

Yes we are back now. Australia was beautiful but there is no place like home. I mean it. When we got back it was warmer here than it was in Brisbane. Before we left Australia we did surfing lessons at Surfers Paradise. We failed badly. We fell as soon as we got up on the surfboard but I did like the surfing a lot. Then we did some pointless driving all over the place. I’m just starting to get over jet lag. The 1st day wasn’t fun at all and the same with the second day but on the third day I fell asleep easy. I’ve been having fun playing with my friend Alexander who lives down the street since we’ve been back.

See you,

Adam


How you going mate?

I’ll tell you about our new friends Jade and Darcy from Brisbane. They were at the same caravan park as us so we played with them in the pool and the park. We had lots of fun and hopefully we can be pen pals.

We are back in Vancouver and I’m happy to be home. I had my b-day at my grandparent’s house. We haven’t done much here. We’ve just ben playing with our friends from down the street (Jessica and Alexander).

I miss Australia.

Sylvie

The last week in Queensland

Well, we certainly couldn't have picked a better place to base ourselves in. Townsville has enabled us to check a whole bunch of things off of our "to do" list but has also started a fresh new list of things we wished we could have, should have and will have to do.

After our adventures on Magnetic Island - they've since spotted a saltwater crocodile at one of our swimming spots (good timing on our part) - and our adventures north, we decided to explore a bit around Townsville itself.

First up was a drive inland - about 135 kms - to a place called Charters Towers. We went on a Saturday and got there late morning. Good thing we got there when we did because everything but the McDonald's closed down by about 1 in the afternoon. This was a lovely little town full of the nicest people. It took us an hour to walk two blocks because of all the conversations we got involved in. We spoke with an 80 year old woman in the information kiosk who recounted some cool memories she had of World War II in the area. We enjoyed the museum - there were some really great exhibits there. On the drive home - this one is for you Joey! - we spotted a "Road Train". These suckers are BIG and can be as big as 50 meters long! Watch out if you try to pass one!



Next up was a drive back up north for about 60 km to a national park called "Paluma National Park". This was a great day as the park was loaded with warm swimming holes and rocks to slide down. There was also a super scenic drive up the hill. We would have loved a repeat trip here but sadly, time did not permit.













Then, after hearing about The Whitsunday Islands from our friends The Martins, we decided to drive the 300 km south to Airlie Beach - the stepping off point for these 74 beautiful islands. The drive down was very picturesque - loads and loads of sugar cane. It's harvesting time now so the stalks are very big. We also drove by lots of fresh fruit stalls - it's now the season for rock melon (cantaloupe and watermelon) - so we loaded up on that. Once in Airlie Beach, we decided that we'd put our tent to use - we dragged it along with us so we should get some use of it! The weather was great so why not?! Luckily for us, the campground was right across the street from a tavern which had great dinner specials. The meal on the table you see below cost $30!







As our time was limited, we decided to take an Ocean Rafting trip to see what we could of the Whitsunday Islands. It was great fun. We were on a Zodiac with an aluminum hull - I'm guessing 30 feet - and we bombed around on the water. First up we did some snorkeling which was nice but not a match for The Great Barrier Reef. Then we went to the most beautiful white sand beach that I have ever seen. The sand was white as white can be and super soft. It was picture perfect. It was a great day.










The gang got to feed these beautiful birds at the campground - one even landed on Sylvie's head (didn't poop though!). And, after a quick change by the car, we took a dip in the Airlie Beach Lagoon and headed back to Townsville.





So, here we are. It's July 1st. Sylvie's 9th Birthday - happy birthday sweet Sylvie! She just wanted to hang out at the homestead here so Adam cleaned the pool and they spent most of the day swimming here. She requested Fettuccini Alfredo, some T-Bone Steak, ice cream with some Tim Tams (these yummy Australian cookies) for dinner. Tomorrow, we are off to Brisbane for our last two weeks down under. All we know is that we have a car booked. After that, it's anyone's guess. Wish us luck and stay tuned for what happens!





David's POV -

Once we got to Townsville from Magnetic Island, we realized that we would not be making it back to the island. There is just so much to do and see on the mainland.
As Maureen says, Charters Towers has to be one of the friendliest towns we've ever been to. The museum was really special. It was piled to the rafters with stuff yet to be displayed. There were filing cabinets stuffed with photos and the like that they didn't seem to have a problem with us digging through. And, everything was quite hands on. I could have spent a week there. But, they too, were closing... at 2 pm.

We also hit upon another mentionable "lot burger"in Charters Towers Adam gives it a first place. I thought it was up there but without the pineapple and dog it couldn't be considered a true lot.

The Paluma drive really reinforced the reason that we came back to this area for a second time. I just can't get enough of those fresh water swim holes.

The Whitsundays was kind of a whirlwind tour where one could easily spend a lifetime. The beaches of silica sand and crystal clear water are what those postcards are made of. And, it's real.

Our time is running short here in Australia. We have a final flight to Brisbane before we fly home in two weeks. More later...




Hello everyone Adam here,

It’s been awesome in Australia and we’re leaving today to Brisbane. We have two weeks there, more on that on our next blog. Last week we went to 3 water holes (river). The water was actually quite warm. One was more of a jumping type there were lots of high rocks. The second was for sliding and I don’t know what the 3rd one was good for. Then we went to Charters Towers and had the best works burger (bun, patty, egg, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mustard, mayo, and beetroot) it was missing pineapple and a hotdog though, but it was tasty.

Then we went to Airlie Beach. There we had two of the best dinners we’ve had in Australia even though we were in a tent. Then we did one of the scariest boat rides ever apart from when my dad drives our boat.

Bye for now.


Hi everyone Sylvie here,

Yesterday it was my b-day. I got a sarong dress and a sarong skirt.
We went in the pool here and it was sunny but today it’s supposed to rain.
We’re even going on the plane today to Brisbane . Ok lets go to the past.
We went to some water holes and we went to all different one .
One there was some slides. Another there were great places to jump from.
We went to this one were I fell on my leg. The boys went in but I didn’t.
Ok yesterday I put lemon on my toothpaste and it was discusting.
We went to go camping. We slept in a tent. I did not have a good sleep.
We went ocean rafting, we went snorkeling and we went to 2 awesome beaches.
Then we went back home.

That’s all I have to say
TTYL