Easter 2006 Long weekend

Bud and I drove up to Mum and Dads for the Easter Long weekend. We didn't really do all that much, just relaxed.

Below are some of the photo's of the birds that come in each night as it gets dark. The next door neighbour feeds them, and they come in plentitude.

Sat 15 Apr 2006 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland/Hervey_Bay | permalink

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Australia Zoo, Sunshine Coast

On the way south again to Brisbane, we stopped at the Australia Zoo (yes, the one owned by Steve Erwin). I must have driven past it 20 times now and never stopped, mainly from the "Crikey!" overload thing.

This time was different however. All attempts to spot a Kangaroo for Bud had failed misserably. While a Zoo is a poor comparison to actually seeing one in the wild, it was a sure thing.

The Zoo actually turned out to be supprisingly good. The infrastructure and staff were well built and friendly ;). THe animals seemed extremely happy, and vertainly in the case of the Kangaroos, very well fed. I suppose they might get sick of the 100th child of the day coming up to them with a handfull of Roo pellets, but they never showed it.

Thu 22 Sep 2005 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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Whale Watching, Hervey Bay

Whale Watching on Hervey Bay, my third attempt, the previous two being seasickness, bad weather and no whales... I was apprehensive.

The weather was perfect, the sea calm and flat, the sun warm, but not hot, and the whales plentiful and playful. Well, NOW I know why they call it the whale watching capitol of the world :)

The boat had barely made it to Platypus Bay when a couple of whales were spotted. They were a pair of teenage (sub-adult) whales about 5 metres long. Very curious, they circled the boat, spy-hopped, flipped and rolled near us for about an hour.

Another tour boat drew nearer, and the whales headed off to see that boat, but came back pretty much immediately - we had the better groupies - a bunch of teenage girls screaming and yelling. Even when a shouting match between boats started up, we still won.

I suppose the whales must think we're all nuts.

Mon 19 Sep 2005 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland/Hervey_Bay | permalink

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Blackdown Tablelands N.P.

Andrew had the day off to go diving with me, but 0.5m visibility and 1.5m swell meant that we changed our minds pretty quick and went for a drive instead.

I hadn't been to the Blackdown Tablelands since I was a kid, so we headed out west of Rockhampton to the 700 metre-above-sea-level escarpment. Its about a 2 hour drive from Rockhampton, and then a rapid climb up onto the plateau on very slippery pea-gravel roads.

The tablelands flora changes very rapidly as you climb, from the grasslands and sparse trees on the plain below to tree-ferns, and lush green forest at the top.

The park is littered with oddly erroded sandstone boulders and vast golden orb-weaver dens. One group of rocks looks like something a party of travelling hobbets might find a particularly pleasing spot to spend the night, boulders strewn around in a great circle with ferns and grass at their feet.

Majestic views of the Fitzroy River basin are on the winding 4WD track through the forest, and at the end a 2km walk to the Rainbow Falls, stepping down through lush rainforest, the path all but overgrown with tree ferns at some spots. Unfortunatly the falls were but a mere trickle.

Fri 22 Apr 2005 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland/National_Parks | permalink

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Ballina to Hervey Bay

What a way to start theday, breakfast at a beach side cafe, watching the dolphins play in the surf.

Some images of the storm and the Urangan Pier.

Mon 18 Apr 2005 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland/Hervey_Bay | permalink

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Townsville to Sydney

Exhausted from the diving, but otherwise not really pressured, the drive back was considerably more relaxing.

We drove from Townsville to nearly Mackay, Airlie Beach, and stayed the night with Jason. Was good to catch up again, if only briefly, and look around his new pad. He sure does know how to pick the spots.

Next morning we headed on to Hervey Bay, but stopped for a couple of hours and had lunch in Rockhampton with Bug and Andrew and crew. Of the entire vista of human experience, limited quality time spent with good frieds demonstrates just how short minutes can appear - in this case each minute felt like 55 microseconds.

We had seafood in Hervey Bay with M&D and got a good nights sleep before the longer haul back to Sydney bypassing Brisbane.

All in all an enjoyable and relaxing trip.

Tue 14 Sep 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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Brisbane to Sydney, HOME!.

The drive home, as always, boring and uneventful - but a good time to reflect on the amazing places I've visited, and the absolute success of my plan to have no plan, as it were. A rough outline, a quest so to speak, is all I will ever need for a holiday again - the benefits are many.

With the loss of an hour at the QLD / NSW Border, the trip took me 11 hours, 7am to 7pm.

Jonte came to the rescue with Sushi. My god did it taste good.

Fri 19 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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Brisbane Region, Tamborine NP, Lake Moogerah.

Luke had managed to get the day off, so we went for a bit of a drive into the area south of Ipswitch, west of the Gold Coast.

We stopped at Lake Moogerah, and did one third of the walk to the peak nearby - it was very tough going. After that, we drove to nearby Governors Chair, and walked to the lookout, an exposed rock at the top of a sheer cliff, with a magnificent view of the Boonah region.

One the way home, we headed up Tamborine Mountain, into Tamborine National Park. The drive took us through lush old growth rainforest and stopped at a delightful little campground near Cedar Creek Falls.

With all the recent rain, the Cedar Creek Falls were running well, making a mighty roar that could be heard well before it could be seen. I spent some time taking photographs of the main falls and the rockpools.

Heading back to Brisbane, we went to a Monica and Gareths house for a BBQ. It was very good to finally spend some time with Monica, we worked out its been about 8 years - far to long. Rhys made it also, and Gareths brother Gavin.

Thu 18 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland/National_Parks | permalink

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Gladstone to Brisbane.

I headed off first thing in the morning to Brisbane, getting in at about 3pm.

Luke hadn't finished work yet, so I had a bit of a poke around in the Queen Street mall, and found a photographic gallery by XXX XXX, which was fantastic. Most of the places photographed by XXX I can now proudly say I have visited.

I caught up with Luke, and we had dinner with Joshua and Tracy whom I've not seen in ages. We ducked off and had our obligitory Guiness for St Patricks day.

Wed 17 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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Rockhampton to Gladstone.

I bummed around Rocky with Andrew - pickup up some things, dropped his car off for a repair, saw a movie, etc.

I then drove to Gladstone, and then Banaraby, 150kms south of Rockhampton, to catch up with Jason. We had a bit of a look at his beautiful Arabian horses, and had a home cooked dinner.

Jason's property is far from the city lights and has a magnificent view of the night sky. We had a bit of a play with the camera to see if we could take photo's of any stars, and got passable images of the Southern Cross and Orion.

Tue 16 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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Upper Stoney Creek.

Today I drove to Upper Stoney Creek in the Byfield state forest with Katherin (Bug) and had a swim and a bit of a look around. After the recent rains, the water was running and was very clean.

The decks that were there last time had apparently been washed away. They've been replaced with a more natural loooking boulder water entry and some fences have been added.

We swam upstream as far as we could, and then clambered further to find the rapids and sat around in the natural spa formed by the rocks and the water.

Fish and chips for lunch on Yeppoon beach rounded out the day, and a bit of a snooze in the early afternoon. I could so get used to this holiday idea... Poor Clair happened to call me just after lunch. I did warn her that she wouldn't want to know what I was doing.

Mon 15 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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Hervey Bay to Rockhampton

Nothing eventful, drove back to Rockhampton, stopped in Gin Gin as always for lunch.

Fri 12 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland/Hervey_Bay | permalink

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Hervey Bay

Bumming arround in Hervey Bay. Rest.

Thu 11 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland/Hervey_Bay | permalink

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Rockhampton to Hervey Bay (My Birthday!)

Drove down to Mum and Dad's in Hervey Bay with Andrew. Hervey Bay still looks like paradise. 1 cm waves, blue sky, deep blue water, white sand.

I got a call from all the guys at work for my birthday, which was nice.

We had a great meal at the 'Prince of Wales' restaurant on the esplenade, and drank some of my S.A. wine. Mmmm.

Wed 10 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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Rockhampton, Mt Archer

I caught up with Bug today (Katherine) and had some breakfast. We went for a drive to Mt Archer, watched a movie, my first in ages - The Missing, which was really good.

The rest of the rocky guys caught up with me later that night, we had a BBQ on Mt Archer, Paul and AM and Emily, Nigel and Elise, Simon and Mitsy, and one extremly bold possum.

Tue 09 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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Longreach to Rockhampton

Growing up, I remember this drive taking eons. Today it was over in a flash - I've certainly learned a thing or two about distance and patience on this trip.

It was great driving through all the little towns I remember - they simply haven't changed in the last ten years. Bluff, Emerald, Anakie, Alpha - sleepy little sunburnt spots where time is clearly standing still.

Once in Rocky I washed the car to get rid of what must have been 15 kilo's of dead locust and grasshopper carcasses glued to the front, and then went and caught up with Andrew and the other guys at the UNI, did a bit of geeking out.

Mon 08 Mar 2004 | /Trips/Australia/Queensland | permalink

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