brisbane nov28

CRIKEY!!

Is it always raining when i do blog updates? The west coast of Aus has had a huge amount of rain over recent days- maybe its our british influence. We sat through 2 days of major storms last week. 1 nut case was killed- he tried to take pictures from inside a storm drain....darwin awards(?) so probably a good thing his genes have been eliminated from society ,some 120000 homes in the Brisbane area were damaged and numerous trees and power lines fell.
Meanwhile lu, Maddie and Georgia went to surf school! At 7pm that evening, when after several hours away they still hadn’t returned, i did begin to plot my course of crisis action. However they got back, totally elated, having been bashed around by 4 ft waves for a few hours. Definately the best way to handle adverse weather.
Nightime however was different. Having told the kids not to worry as we were protected by the rubber wheels of the camper being in contact with the ground, things did get pretty bad. My plan centred on explaining that if you count the seconds between the lightning strike- which were awesome as we watched them over the ocean- and the following thunder roll, that is how ‘far’ away the storm actually is. The count started around 15 which was fine but it steadily fell until by my own nervous reckoning it hit 2 and a collective wail rose from the kids beds. I said they had been counting too quickly and it was definitely more like 5!
We survived.
That all took place on a cliff edge at a place called Rainbow Beach. Without and doubt the coolest place we have been so far. Our tour of west coast Australia’s finest campsites has produced some pretty ugly contenders- Serena, Ingham, Mackay and some beautiful spots, but Rainbow Beach blows them all away.
A tiny town of about 500 people, 3 coffee shops- all serving awesome pancake breakfasts, 1 surf school and a couple of browsy gift shops- the owners of which knew Mads, Geo and Bugs on first name terms by the time we left (that involved an ever increasing discount whenever they spent there, which was an upside). Unsurprisingly in such a spot, they have just finished building some pretty awesome, ultra modern, ocean view apartments, so i guess in 5 years time the place will feel very differently.

Caught by the waves at Rainbow

Camp Lucey

We had a great 7 days there made even better for us by the arrival of Jonny and Indra and their 2 daughters at the tail end of that. We met them what seems like an age ago in Mission Beach as they were on a 6 month trip to the North from their home in Melbourne and they caught us on the way back down at Rainbow. I am sure we shall be leapfrogging each other a couple more times over the next few months.
The weekend was spent just north of Brisbane at a place called Dicky Beach- so named as the SS Dicky beached itself there about 75 years ago- where i spent yet another afternoon getting thrown around in the waves with a surfboard trying to perfect my ‘hang ten’ technique. Jesus, it is a tough sport. What is most frustrating is sitting on the beach, exhausted after 2 hours in the water, and some young kid turns up, throws his board in and within 1 minute is riding a wave to die for. I have a long way to go and perhaps not starting at age 44 is the best idea.....
On Monday we visited the late Steve Irwin’s Australia zoo. What a fantastic day. We hit it pretty much as the gates opened at 9.30am and were 1 of the last to leave 7 hours later. It is obviously super touristy –the crocodile show arena for example holds 5000 people and is like a Wimbledon show court in scale- but there is a very strong message of conservation, environment and sustainability all in a larger than life Steve Irwin style- Allrighty.

At the zoo with a huge groc and the great Steve.

A short stop to more friends who we have met en-route, Louise and Tony, who hosted a barbie and sleepover that night for us made a long day.


Now Brisbane. We are camped some 5km from the centre of the city in a nice sleepy suburb. There is a great Mexican restaurant 500m away so we introduced the kids to Chimichangers, Quesidillas and reconstituted beans. No Tequila but memories of some of several pretty riotous nights at Jeepers in Wandsworth town flooded back to us.
So we now have 5 days of city culture ahead. There are some highly rated museums here, a great modern art gallery and more importantly for the girls with Christmas looming, great shopping. My credit card is gearing up for a battering......
Take care in the snow back home!
Andy

let's go, adventure!

Maddie and Olivia’s Update on Sunday the 16th of November
Hi everybody, how are you? It’s Maddie and Olivia.
We know that Mummy and Georgia left you saying that we were going off to Fraser Island from Harvey Bay. Well on the 12th we left the motor home at the caravan park and got picked up by a huge four wheel drive coach. Alex, our wicked driver and tour guide, with a very strong Aussie accent was really funny and every time we got to our seats to go to a different venue he said things like ‘All righteooo!’, ‘Let’s go!’, ‘Adventure!’, ‘No Dramas!’ Now imagine that in the strongest Aussie accent you can think off. From the caravan park we picked up a few more passengers and the set of for the Urangan Boat Harbour, where we took a boat to Moon Point on Fraser Island. The first stop we made on Fraser was to Central Station for a rainforest walk. After the apparently ‘interesting’ rainforest walk we hit the stretch of beach and drove along the shore. It was an amazing sight. We stopped at Elli Creek and waded along the knee high crystal clear water holding up our shorts trying not to get our pants wet. In the end Maddie gave up, stripped off and daringly dived into the freezing water where everyone stared at her in amazement. Even our darling father was amazed...

Views from Indian Head, Fraser Island

For lunch we stopped at Happy Valley. Although, the atmosphere wasn’t that happy as we got caught in a rain storm. I felt like a hot cup of tea and when no one was looking, sneaked a takeaway cup and lid. Georgia on the other hand wasn’t brave enough to do it. After lunch we stopped off at the Maheno Shipwreck. It was really weird knowing that over 50 years ago people actually were on the ship and used it day to day.

Maheno at low tide.

That evening we stayed in a campsite in tents with really comfy beds. It was great to have a good night sleep. The following day we stopped off at two lakes for a swim and walked a 25 minute rainforest walk. To get to the first lake, Lake Wabby-the only barrage lake on the island- we had to walk 1.8km and most of the walk was across heavy sand dunes in hot weather. You can imagine the whinging and whining that was coming out Olivia. The second lake, Lake Birrabeen on the other hand was more like a 20 second walk, luckily no whinging that time. The second lake was supposed to be good for conditioning your hair and skin. We said goodbye to Fraser and got dropped back of at the Caravan Park.
The next day we said good bye to Hervey Bay and drove to Rainbow Beach. Our campsite is 50m from the beach and there are no mozzies here- it’s great! Unfortunately Georgia wasn’t well all day but Mummy, Daddy and us two headed down to the beach and had a fun time. Although, because the current was so strong, Olivia would have got dragged away so quickly if she hadn’t held on to Mummy and Daddy’s hand. Even me. Maddie found it extremely tough. Yesterday we bought some body boards. Daddy and us two had a fab time at the beach. Georgia still was under the weather. Also we watched the movie ‘Rain Man’ in the evening, with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. It was really good and a movie which Dustin Hoffman won an Oscar for in 1988.
This morning we went out for pancakes for brekkie. Daddy had a surf lesson and Georgia, Olivia and I were in the crashing waves for four hours! We loved it. Right now we are all pretty sunburnt and sitting in the camper waiting for a big storm to hit.

4.45 am sunrise at Rainbow

Tomorrow, more surf lessons. We are staying in Rainbow Beach for at least three more nights, including tonight. This is a great place.
That’s all for now, missing you lots,
Maddie and Olivia xxx

hi georgia and mum here......

11.11.08
Mum and Georgia before breakfast thought they would update the blog.

After nine days at the Whitsundays, we finally packed up our bags and moved on. It was hard because it is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been to, and we will always remember.
Our aim was to get to Hervey bay, with a few stops along the way. Our first night stop was in scary Sarina,( psycho killers unite). The motor home company arrived at 6am with a new van for us to start us on our way. Sadly no bigger, but with a battery that worked.
We seemed to drive miles and miles and miles through major sugarcane areas with not a soul on the road.
We stopped at the Capricorn caves which were a series of 27 dry caves discovered in 1888 by a Norwegian searching for kangaroos. It was weird walking on hundreds of tons of guano poop! One of the caves was used as a cathedral for weddings and concerts. The acoustics were said to be more perfect than the Sydney Opera house.
We drove straight to Yepoon, where we stayed for 2 nights. We all remember listening to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech as we arrived into town, quite a special moment. Hopefully this is a special chance for the U.S and the World to get back on track.
The next stage was to drive to Agnes Water/Town of 1770. This is where Captain Cook first landed in Queensland and guess what year that was...?

During our stay there Maddie, Dad and i went to surf school. The people over here are so committed to educating the way of the water, the tides and lifesaving skills. It’s not just about

learning to surf.
We discovered some kind of jelly fish so that put us off going into the water. Later we found out that the little creature that we were so terrified of was called a jelly blubber that Australian kids throw at each other for fun... what do we know?

Our last day on the road before Hervey bay. We stopped off for a tour of the world famous Bundaberg Rum Distillery. Words could never describe the smell of the molasses in the air. Such a pong I’ll never forget it! I don’t think Olivia ever took her fingers off her nose. There has been many an evening when dad has lost use of his legs from drinking Bundy and coke.
That same afternoon, we finished the drive to Hervey Bay.
From here tomorrow we are off on a sand safari to explore Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island and on the world heritage list. Mum’s worried about sand flies and bugs again; she’ll use her new potion that the locals have advised. A mixture of dettol, Citronella oil and Baby oil, and boy she smells good.
Will update more after Fraser.
Missing u all so much. X

nov 3 - airlie beach, 7am, hot

A major day- after an unbelievable 6 weeks on the road- i have finally worked out how to use our blog... so much for forward planning whilst we were at home!
I think rather than try and catch up in 1 go- boring for you to read and equally mind numbing for me to write, i’ll do it in bite size pieces.
Right now we are back at airlie beach- if you are looking at a map, it south of Townsville, north of mackay and the closest part of mainland aus to the Whitsunday islands.
This is the 8th day we been here now so i guess you could say we have got a bit stuck but you know, it’s the closest place to perfect that lu or i have been to, maddie and Georgia love it also and the camp pool has a slide, so Bugs gives it a big vote also. I reckon however we’ll move on by mid-week.
We just got back from a weekend away from the van – 2 weeks in a room no larger than our kitchen at home so i think we were due it. An 8am ferry on Saturday, followed by a 5pm ferry back on Sunday with a night at the daydream island resort squeezed in the middle. Great beach, great pool, couple cool margerita’s and starched bed linen. Downsides- hotel aircon played havoc with my sinuses and lu’s uncontrollable shopping tendency, but we can get over both of them!
My suspicions about our camper’s reliability are also increasing, fuelled by a flat battery when we got back to the ferry carpark. Aussie racq were very quick but that due almost entirely to being 2 miles from a population centre. An outback road may not yield the same response. This on top of geo locking us out of the van on Friday (the day saved by Bugs the cat burglar....) and a couple of other minor issues.
I spoke to the higher company about it- very understanding and i suspect when we get to Brisbane (about 1250km) we may be in for a change.
one of our overriding impressions of this trip has been how unbelievably ‘nice’ everyone seems to be- without it being in that vile American over serviced way: From the guy at immigration when we first got to Sydney; any number of shopkeepers we talked to; general tourist info people; the breakdown guy last night, but also people at the camp kitchens we been using or just parents of kids maddie, geo and bugs have befriended , these are a really friendly bunch. No doubt some drunken as....e will try to spoil that view but he can wait. There was also the weird town of Ingham- home to Australia’s largest Capsicum festival (how many are there?!)- which had a bit of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre feel about it, but we didn’t stop there too long so it doesn’t really count.
I attached some pics- mainly from our day trip to Whitsunday island and the jaw dropping Whitehaven beach we visited last week. The girls are all growing really fast- (i am even noticing it- could be the sun). Look out for bug’s new teeth, maddies new hair cut – could you fail to spot it- and lu’s new ‘120 a day’ sit up stomach!
Take care, keep in touch.