Central Qld

I've been very slack of late and not updated the blog, mainly due to the fact we haven't done a lot of the tourist attractions and basically traveled from the Sunshine Coast to the Atherton Tablelands, FNQ leaving the east coast at Hervey Bay going via Monto, Emerald, Charters Towers to Townsville.

We stayed around Hervey Bay for a while to enjoy some nice sunny days but cool nights.  Coming into Noosa we cracked the windscreen which I had repaired at Novus, Hervey Bay.  The job was completed, but what I didn't realize at the time was the driver side mirror had been broken during the repair by the repairer.  I found this out when we had started travelling north so couldn't go back and thought this would cause an issue when I called to follow up.  I spoke to the proprietor who was away at the time of the repair and as a result he was most apologetic and had the mirror replaced without any question.  I wouldn't normally write about an event like this however because of the exceptional customer service from Ian at Novus, Hervey Bay to have my mirror replaced I would certainly recommend their service.

Had to take this piccie of kangaroo and joey 

Yep, cracked the windscreen going into Noosa so spent some time around Hervey Bay having the screen replaced.

Early morning not far from camp near Hervey Bay

More of that early morning mist as the sun peaks through

We traveled from Hervey Bay to Childers picking up some hot and spicy nuts from the roadside van in Childers.  Headed west towards Monto, camping north of Eidsvold adjacent to the Burnett River.  It's around here we could still see evidence of the 2011 floods which  was devastating in this area and of course Bundaberg.

Over night camp - Ceratodus Rest Area beside the Burnett River.  You could see evidence in the trees of the 2011 floods.  Nice camp spot 

Dawson River Rest Area, a very popular camp spot, we only stopped for lunch and continued on.  Good facilities and a gold coin donation.

Stopped for the night at a gravel pit about 30kn North of Rolinston.  No facilities but much quieter.

Fairbain Dam just out of Emerald, we stayed at Higher Ground Station Stay about 3km from the dam.

Our bush camp at Higher Ground Station Stay.

The Higher Ground Station Stay was a bush camp without facilities, although you could have power if require. Had to be self contained and take the sh**ter (toilet cassette) to the nearest dump point.  From Emerald to Charters Towers we found the camp spots few and far between.  What was available was very close to the road and sometimes cluttered with rubbish.  We stayed on the side of the road at a gravel dump with 2 other vans and woke to the rain that morning.  We left early morning and went into Charters Towers, pulling up at Macrossan Park 22km east for coffee.  This was a large free camp area along the Burkin River, would have had 30 vans camping, but as the rain persisted we had our coffee, a chat to another New Age owners from SA and continued towards Townsville in the rain.

Townsville from Castle Hill Lookout, if you have a good eye you can see the V8 track/pit area.

After a couple of days in Townsville we moved further north to Bramston Beach, where we meet up with Mike and Chris who we had met in WA last year.  We stayed for 4 days enjoying some sunshine, although not enough to fully charge the batteries and had a look around Innisfail and surrounding area. Lovely place to stay with beach access & on the cheaper scale of cost per night.

We were at Bramston Beach for the State of Origin game two -Trevor the caretaker organised the TV out by the camp fire and we all brought some finger food to share for dinner.  Unfortunately the local Queenslanders weren't too happy with the result.

Bramston Beach Council Park

Hels making most of the sun as we had seen plenty of overcast days.

Trevor (caretaker) arranged a TV to watch the State of Origin (2) unfortunately in the depths of Qld,  NSW managed to win the series, first time in 8 years. Mind you we had a few blue supporters who were very happy!

Looking North along Bramston Beach

From Bramston Beach we headed to Atherton to start our house sit for 2 months.  

Gold & Sunshine Coast

We've basically spent the last 4 weeks on either the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast.  On the Gold Coast we stayed at Burleigh Beach Tourist Park while Todd was home from work and on the Sunshine Coast at Alex Beach Tourist Park for a couple of nights and the remaining at Noosa Caravan Park, Tewantin.  The weather has been a real mixture with some great days and a couple of really wet days - generally though the days have consisted of cool mornings with the sun coming out during the day. 

Burleigh Beach Tourist Park, we swapped gum trees for the concrete jungle

The first week on the Gold Coast with Todd was a bit of a shock getting caught up in the daily bustle of the GC as we had been inland for a while where things were a bit quieter.  Was nice to have walks along the beach and pathways, even venturing up to Burleigh hill for walks in the National Park and of course sunset drinks with Todd. Great to end the day watching the sun set with a couple of coldies!

Having sundowners at Burleigh on the hill

 Curlew birds in the caravan park, normally hard to find in the bush.

We moved from Burleigh after a week as Todd was called back to work so headed for Bribie Island to visit Heather and John.  The timing of this visit coincided with the replacement of their carpet so was able to lend a hand removing and replacing some of their furniture. We also checked out the museum which certainly is worth a visit detailing some of Bribie's history . Aboriginal presence in the area spans thousands of years. The island was formed when seas broke through the northern end of a long sandy peninsula between 1822-1839; free settlement following the end of convict transportation in 1839; by 1920's Bribie Island had become a great destination for mass tourism - the steamship ' Koopa' began regular trips carrying 1200 passengers daily. The bridge was built and opened in 1963 with a $1 toll lasting 12 years. We drove over to Woorim Beach (eastern side of Bribie Island) for a walk on the beach & visited the southern Gun Emplacement built in WW11 as part of the defense of Morton Bay

Inside the Bribie Island museum

Bribie jetty, just across from the park

After leaving Bribie we travelled to the Sunshine Coast to Alexandra Beach for a couple of days, stopping on the way for a coffee at the Ettamogah Pub (too early for a beer).  From here we took in the sites of the southern section of the Sunshine Coast - Buderim and Maroochydore.  A day drive up to Mapleton, Montville and Maleny in the hinterland, included a visit to Mapleton Falls, Kondalilla Falls NP and McCarthy's lookout to see what we could of the Glass House mountains.  From the photos you'll see that there was not a lot of sunshine around so was pleasant to do the "scenic" drive in the comfort of the car and the short walks between showers of rain.

No caption required, only check out my new friend Ace the guard dog.

Alexandra Head beach looking south towards Mooloolaba

View over Obi Obi valley from Kondalilla NP

Walking track in Kondalilla NP

Not the best veiw of the Glass House Mountains, should also be a rainbow in there somewhere!

SUNNY!! coast in a traffic jam

To explore the northern section of the sunshine coast we moved to Tewantin, a nice distance from Noosa to avoid the bustling social activities of Noosa itself.  Made a day trip to the Eumundi markets (well worth a visit) and the Ginger factory then back through Coolum returning to Tewantin along the coast road.  We also made another day drive around to Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach returning via Great Sandy NP and along Teewah Beach, Coloured Sands to Tewantin.  At the end of the day we treated the 'Tojo'  to a car spa after coming off the beach - 3 minutes of high pressure jets from all angles to wash the sand out of all those crevasses.

Eumundi markets

Double Island point from eastern beach

Double Island point from Wide Bay (Rainbow Beach)

Sun sets on the surfers at Wide Bay

Fishing off Noosa Spit, gotta be keen!

By this time we had spent 2 weeks on the sunshine coast so returned to Burleigh for more "Todd time" which included more sunset drinks on the hill at Burleigh, a morning trying stand-up boarding which resulted in me bruising or fracturing a rib, not as young and flexible as I use to be!!  Even coordinated our visit with the Broadbeach Blues festival which we attended for an afternoon.  Also watched the first State of Origin match at Nobby's Surf Club which was not the result the Qld crowd wanted - atmosphere was great with plenty of noise although think we were the oldest ones there!

Went to take some photos from Burleigh Hill, my little thing (camera) didn't measure up!

Blues on Broadbeach

Todd on his stand up ..... can't be that difficult!

OK I've got this far, focus, focus, steady ....... splash!!

Well I'll leave Todd out there, that'll teach him for not putting trainer wheels on my board.

Bugger ..... he makes it look so easy.

We had a great time catching up with Todd and Tenelle but needed to say 'see ya' as we packed up starting our trek north to enjoy the warmer weather.