Here in Australia, Queensland is known as the sunshine state. Well I think we must have brought the rain with us because it has been doing nothing but. We arrived beginning of January, after having a great couple of months in Vancouver. Expecting brilliant sunshine, and have been disappointed so far in the weather. A few good days in Sydney enough for a couple of rounds of golf and some bush hikes to keep us busy.
ZENA
Lauren and Donna in the Gold Coast have kindly been taking care of Zena since we left June 2021 and Lauren nicely brought Zena down to Sydney at Xmas time so she was here on our arrival. Cuddly and vocal as ever we get to hang out until we can figure out the best options for her.
Brisbane
Time to head to Brisbane and the visit with the parents. Arrived with the news that the tree surgeons were coming by to take down the pine tree in the middle of the yard. They showed up next day with 5 burly looking guys all ready to stand around while one of them took the tree down. And that was it! All the limbing and disposal of the tree was left to us, so we got busy being lumberjacks with chainsaws and branch trimming saws and proceeded to get rid of that sucker. According to the experts there were 14 trailer loads taken to the tip over a span of 5 days. A few hours work in the morning each day before it got too hot then relax with a dip in the pool.
After that we decided that it was time to go camping with a stop in Mooloolaba to visit with Mike and Helen. We had a good few days with them hanging out and doing boat porn, trying to find the right boat for them in the Mediterranean. As it turns out Mike and Helen would like to come and cruise the Med this year while Helen has her time away from teaching. Fantastic! The more the merrier. Along with Pete and Deb it will be 3 couples hanging out together. Now if we can only find that boat for them.
Mike and I went to a local driving range to loosen up before we went to the course the next day and we were hitting balls down a chute. Never seen anything like that before. You needed to be accurate or else you’ll just be hitting the mesh.
Went for a couple of hikes as well. First to a local hill with a gentle slope.
Then to one that was supposed to be a little more challenging. We got there following GPS and set off for what we thought would be a good challenge. Realized that when we got to the challenging part they wanted you outfitted with a safety helmet, and all the other climbing gear. We had a look at the ascent and figured that would be okay but then getting down would have been more difficult. So we said forget it. In the meantime some 20 something year-old took off her shoes and proceeded to climb that like a little mountain goat. Made me feel just a little older. We settled for the 3 km walk around the base of the mountain.
After a few days we headed out for real camping to the town of 1770 and Agnes Water. Camp sites were not to hard to find. Stayed at the Big 4 Breeze campsite on the way up in Tin Can Bay across from Rainbow beach. This is where we would have come in across the Wide Bay Bar entering the Great Sandy Straits in the boat 3 years earlier. Wow! Has it been 3 years. Great to see it all from the other side this time.
Next was 1770, this is somewhere we would have liked to take the boat into, however it is very shallow so this will be the first time to see it. Quite a long drive that day and we were looking forward to it. We discovered that there is not much there. Figured we would have a couple of nights there in the tent before it started raining and it ended up raining both nights we were there but the second night was a real downpour and it just so happened that we were out at a restaurant because it happened to be Valentines Day. While we were dining we listened to the rain come down thinking are we really going to enjoy sleeping in the tent. Thankfully we were eating at a resort so we booked a room and had a very dry night. With a jacuzzi! Came back the next day and the tent was relatively dry.
Next stop Bundaberg. Jacqui was nice enough to book us into a resort right on the golf course in Coral Cove. Enough of that camping business for a couple of nights. Had the opportunity to play golf the next day at the very well maintained course with the longest golf hole in Australia, a 656 yard Par 6. Managed to make par; driver, five wood, five wood, chip on, 2 putts! The resort unit was well laid out with tennis courts a pool and an in the unit jacuzzi. Good couple of nights. From there went back to sleeping on the ground and getting some beach time.
Headed back to Mike and Helens for a couple of nights. We were only going to stay 2 nights but ended up 3 nights because that’s when the skies opened up and it just poured for days. Our drive back to Brisbane involved avoiding all the closures on the Bruce Hwy and taking the backroads. Stayed a couple more nights in Brisbane in the pouring rain. While we were there the patio filled with water and we had to go out and unclog the drains. The rain was so bad that we stayed up until midnight that night in order to drain the patio twice. We then headed to the Gold Coast to pick up Zena
Stanthorpe
An overnight stop on the Gold Coast and we were off again, this time to Stanthorpe which is about a 3 and a half hour drive inland. This was so that we could visit with squash pal Lisa and her husband David who had bought some land out that way and built a beautiful home. Some squash and then 9 holes of golf with the Roos plus an evening out to the RSL. Said goodbye the next morning and set out on that long 7 and a half hour drive to Sydney. It wasn’t raining when we started but the closer we got to Sydney the more rain has fallen.
Sydney
When we left Brisbane I thought we had seen enough rain, but noooo, it just kept raining in Sydney. They have had massive floods this year that have surpassed previous years flooding. The weather “rain bomb” as they are calling it here, has followed us down the coast. First there was the “atmospheric river” in B.C. this past November and now it is the “rain bomb” in Australia. Flooding seems to be a lot worse here than what it was in BC.
Now that we are here in Sydney all we have left to do is pack all of the items that we purchased for the boat. New wind generator, new Raymarine Axiom chart plotter, salad bowls, food containers, various odds and sods, We needed to get our bags to 30kg each, plus one box to ship, and still we end up leaving some items here to be picked some time in the future.
Heading back to Montenegro on March 20 if all goes according to plan. Our flight goes to Dubai and then to Belgrade in Serbia, which is getting very close to the conflict happening in Ukraine at the moment. Feeling a little anxious about that and fingers crossed that the whole thing doesn’t disrupt our plans .We have taken a lot of care while we have been here with COVID still rampant, wearing a mask, avoiding gatherings, and now we have some insane tyrant thrown into the mix. Once we get back on the boat if things get bad we will just set sail the other way, hoping it doesn’t affect our friends plans for the summer but heading towards a war zone is probably not the best plans at the moment.
It was so wonderful to catch up with you both again. Thanks so much for coming out our way to catch up. Our pleasure to have you stay and we hope we can visit you in your part of the world sometime soon?
Take care and safe travels❤
Great post guys – you’ve really packed a lot into your Aus trip – nice to see the pics that match our catch up calls ??