Toowoomba to Warwick

Went to the Japanese Gardens in Toowoomba which were terrific. So beautiful .

Today left for Warwick. The Cunningham Hwy was very quiet. Stopped at Glengallan Homestead on the way. Grand old homestead.

Warwick was celebrating a Jazz and Jumper festival. Every tree on the main street was decorated.

Everything was buzzing. Jazz music on most corners.

Walked the whole main block looking at the old buildings. Nice little town.

Toowoomba

Left Brisbane's beautiful weather and headed out to Toowoomba. The drive was really nice and easy driving through the Lockyer Valley. This is where the floods in January caused so much chaos. Hard to imagine. The climb up to Toowoomba wasn't too bad until you were just below the ridge. The car was roaring by the time we got there.

The Highway coming up the hill

 Found a Big 4 caravan park right in the middle of a suburb so very quiet. Went for a picnic lunch to Picnic Point. The views down the valley were breathtaking.

Picnic point

Walked around the town centre and saw where the water flooded the town. The town isn't on a major hill but there is a slope.  Today went for a drive to Jondaryan.

Woolshed

There is the oldest woolshed in Queensland in the town with lots of old buildings that have been preserved. The woolshed roof still had its original tin  on it.

Had the guided tour which was fantastic.

Drove back to Toowoomba by the back roads to avoid the trucks. Lots of cotton farms.
Great country.

Sanctuary Cove and Australian Spectacular

Had a wonderful night. Started at Sanctuary Cove where we had a drink on the marina. So many flash boats mored there. A very nice area.

Sanctuary Cove

 From there drove over to Australian Outback Spectacular. It is a big show in an arena with 1000 people. When we showed our ticket we were given cowboy hats to put on. We then moved into a big saloon area. It was done out so well.

 There was a country and western singer entertaining us and around the edge was horse corals with horses in them.

Great atmosphere. We then moved into the arena where we watched the show while eating our three course meal. The show was wonderful. Plenty of horse riding and moving moments. The man from Snowy River was a big part of the show and also the story of the lighthorseman.They were both really well done .Would recommend it to anyone. Very aussie.

The main horse in the show

Yee Haa!!!!!!!

Gold Coast

Woke up late after our great night out. We went to Rob Henderson's house for tea.Rob was Barry's last principal at CBC. Had a lovely night and Robin had cooked a great meal. We watched the Derby first and that was a bit stressful.At least we were closer than last time.

Mantra Sun City

Left for the Gold Coast about 11am. Decided to go down to see where the boys are staying in August. Nice hotel close to the beach.

Beach

Sat on the beach and had lunch. So pleasant. Lots more taller buildings than last time we were there. From there drove to the Colonial Golf Course. It was so pretty. Lots and lots of lakes and the club house was very impressive.

Colonial Golf Club

We had a great day but the golf wasn't that good. We lost about 14 golf balls between us. Barrys slice was a little problem as nearly every hole having water on the right side. Barry reckons that the lakes are much fuller after our visit.  We finished 18 holes near dark but a great day on a great course.

Just another lake that Barry landed in

The 18th Hole

Brisbane City

Went into the city by bus today. They have a great system here where the buses have their own freeway. Easy getting into the city. The city was so vibrant. Lots of people around .

View from Mt Coot-tha

The Southbank area on the otherside of the river was so good. Lots of families out enjoying themselves. Wonderful.

Beach area on Southbank

 We went on a bus ride to see the sights and then got on the city boats which go up and down the river. They leave every 10 minutes which is terrific.

View from Citycat

Casino

Had a wonderful day in Brisbane.

Brisbane

Had a quiet day . Decided to have a game of golf in the Gold Coast. Went to Riverglades and had a great day. Only $ 19 for 18 holes. It was a pretty course but too much water. Lost 8 balls. Luckily we had a few more balls in the bag. You can book on igolf for  any club you want. 

We are also playing on Tuesday at a nicer golf course.

Tomorrow going into Brisbane.

Perth to Brisbane

Flew out of Perth at 1am. We had a wonderful time catching up with everyone. A bit sad to leave the family behind.  Had a tea for Lisa to celebrate her birthday.

Birthday Girl

 The flight back only took 3 1/2 hours. In the waiting lounge at the airport this drunk guy came past and said what flight he was on and said aren't we pleased that he was on our flight. We were praying that he wasn't near us. Got on and he was right behind us and you would never guess but he was a Collingwood supporter. Classic. He was so tacky but thankfully he fell asleep half way through the trip. Very colourful language. Even got out his harmonica and started playing it. He was told to stop that pretty quickly.

Quick Trip Home

Got out of the carpark very easily with the caravan. It was  7.30am and let Tom Tom lead us to the caravan park. Wanted to go where there was no tolls. He took us right through Brisbane in peak hour traffic.A very interesting trip. The caravan park is very clean and big wide spaces. Nice to have an ensuite for a change. Have the annexe up for the first time on the trip. Very tired so slept most of the day to catch up.

Brisbane Holiday Village

Brisbane to Perth

Decided to fly back to Perth to surprise my sister for her birthday. We arrived on her doorstep on Saturday and really surprised her. We definitely shocked her. Had to have a wine to settle the nerves.
Lovely to see everyone. Only here for a short visit then back on the road again. Nice to see the beautiful Perth weather again.

Sunshine Coast - The Hinterland

Woke early and headed off towards the sunshine coast. It was a 500 kms drive . The road was very busy. Huge trucks all the way. The weather was nice and the rest stops were really the best that we had seen along the way. The one at GIN GIn was really impressive. We decided to stay up in the Hinterland to be close to the Glasshouse Mountains. The road up the hill was a little steep but the caravan park was just before the road got really steep.

We can see the sunshine coast from the park. Got set up and then went for a drive up the hill. The lookouts were fabulous. You could see the glasshouse mountains and to the coast.Went for a walk in a rain forest and then drove on to Maleny.

We tried to find a platypus in one of the creeks but no luck. Tomorrow we are off to drive around the mountains.

Heron Island

Wow. We have had the best 4 days  at Heron Island. It is the most beautiful spot.

The Harbour

Its like your own little secluded island. There were less that 100 people on the island so whenever you were walking around the island you felt like you were the only people on the island. The water was so clear and a pretty turquoise green. The island is right on the Great Barrier Reef so coral and pretty fish everywhere.

 the weather was perfect so we could snorkel every day. We even swam with sharks. I coulnd't believe it. We went out on the outer edge of the reef and saw some beautiful things.

Barry chasing the big ones

 I didn't last very long but Barry snorkelled for ages. We even snorkelled with Mantareys. That was an experience. Incredible. The resort was all 5 star so the food and service was non stop.

 We had cocktails on the beachfront every night.

Cocktail Hour

We didn't want to come home. Headed back to Gladstone this afternoon. Had cuppa soup for tea. Back to reality.

Airlie Beach to Gladstone

Left Airlie Beach on another beautiful day. Drove through lots of sugar cane country and saw a sugar cane train.

We dropped into Sarina Beach for lunch and continued along the Bruce Highway. Stopped at a free camp at Clearview. It was right on the beach so very nice. The water still had that torquoise colour. Went for a long walk along the beach.

Woke up to the best sunrise .

 So beautiful. Had another quiet day on the roads. Lots of trucks though. Tried to get off when we could to let them pass.Came across a  roll over at one stage and had to detour around a side road. Big truck full of ammunition had ended up upside down on the highway. Drove all the way to Gladstone . Found the caravan park pretty easily. Plenty of room , only thing we are under the path of planes so a bit noisy. Hopefully no planes tonight.
Went down to the marina to see where we catch the boat to get to Heron Island.

We even asked some of the passengers who came off the boat how it went. They were all positive so hope it will be ok.
We are right next to a golf course so Barry went over late and played two holes before it got too dark. I have got a lot of sandfly bites so decided not to play.

Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

Started the day by feeding the parrots in the caravan park.

We were then picked up by the courtesy bus to take us to the boat. We had to pick up other people and the bus went up such steep roads to get them. I was petrified.

 The day was so beautiful. No wind and the water was like a millpond.

We took about 25 minutes to get to Daydream Island to pick up some more people to come out with us. The islands are all so close. The trees go right down to the water.

We stopped at Whitehaven Beach and had to be taken in to the shore by a little rubber boat. I didn't fall off. We had a swim and it was just so nice. The beach is very white and fine. A very special place.

On the way home went past Hamilton Island and saw all the mansions. When we got back to Daydream the boats engine failed so we had to be rescued by another boat. A very dramatic finish to a great day.