Gold Coast

Like every good Victorian, late winter signalled the chance to head north to Queensland and we chose the Gold Coast for a few days at the theme parks. After a 6 hour wait at the airport following a flight delay, we were finally away. We arrived mid afternoon, took a wander around town, decided that Surfers wasn't much chop and we'd be better off just spend our days at the theme parks. We went to Movie World, Dreamworld and White Water World, which is a water park and part of Dreamworld.

View from the apartment



Superman roller coaster, Movie world. This was the first ride we went on and it was bloody fast and damn scary. After a couple more goes, it wasn't quite so bad



Kelley at Movie World



Me in front of the Bat boat, Movie World



Red kangaroo at Dreamworld



Croc at Dreamworld



Wipeout ride - Dreamworld



Giant drop, Dreamworld. You can see me, terrified, staring straight ahead focused on some point far in the distance. Either that, or I have my eyes closed.



This was probably the worst ride in terms of it not quite behaving like we expected. We went in a carriage together and every time we turned we swung dangerously close to the huge hydraulic arm. This was a 'one ride only' ride. You can see the Claw and the Giant Drop in the background.



The Claw, Dreamworld, a giant spinning swing.



Loq ride, Dreamworld. Boring up until this last slide where you get soaked.



On Sunday we took a day off from the rides and met Josh and Jody who were over for a wedding and went for a drive to Byron Bay. Was very fortunate timing that we happened to be in the Gold Coast while Josh and Jody were over and it was great to catch up.

Fence construction, Part 1

As evidenced by the photos below, the back fence was badly in need of replacement. So I got to it, the replacement to be made with treated pine.



All pulled down. Luckily the grandson of our 95 year old neighbour was round to visit his grandfather and saw it all sitting there, he came and took it away to burn in his fire which was an excellent result.



Chris came round one morning to lend a hand, here he is circular sawing and chiselling out the grooves in the posts.






First posts in.



Lining up



Getting the rails on



Post and Rail. Much to Alan's disgust. Alan is the 95 year old neighbour. I get the feeling he'd prefer the fence to stay down so he could come over and chat six times a day, about the same thing each time. Anyway, he has been keeping an eye on progress with great interest and kindly offered to 'keep an eye on the place' while we were away. No idea what he'd do if something went down.

Whitsundays

Kelley was fortunate enough to have a week long 'work' conference on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. I say 'work' because she had to attend all of three half days. The rest of the time was lounging by the pool, driving golf buggies and eating fancy dinners. But anyway, I've heard enough....she finished up early Friday morning so I took the day off and flew out to meet her. We made the most of the last hour of golf buggy hire and Kelley's work mate Julia took us for a spin around 'Hammo'. Hamilton Island is easily the most built up of the Whitsunday Islands.



Skye, Julia, Kelley and I



Hamilton Island Marina



We then took a ferry to long Island which was mainly a National Park and covered in bush. Nestled in amongst the palm trees was Long Island Resort, a little run down compared to some of the others around but fine for us.

Long Island Resort at Happy Bay



We arrived at the resort on Friday and we were both quite tired so we made the most of the spa bath and had an early night. On Saturday we set about utilising the facilities at the resort, tennis, basketball, a walk over the island, a demonstration, and practical application of observed coconut de-husking skills.

A break on our walk over the island.



Strange fungus



Sandy Bay



Happy Bay, where the resort was, was very shallow and when the tide went out there was a lot of exposed sandy mud - as these clowns found out, the hard way. Was a bunch of young blokes who had hired a boat for the day. They didn't really get their money's worth!



The whole Island had these strange wild turkeys wandering around. After a few discreet enquiries - 'can you eat them?' - I found out they were protected.



On Sunday we embarked on a full day sailing trip aboard 'Camira', a 26m catamaran and capable of moving along under some decent wind.



The trip left from Daydream Island which was a small island dominated by a very nice resort, complete with a living reef and a reasonably decent sized shark



The Camira was great fun and we circumnavigated the largest of the islands, Whitsunday Island. We stopped off between Hook Island and Whitsunday Island for a spot of snorkelling which was good, some coral and plenty of fish but not everyone was keen, probably about 1/3 of people did it. It was then on to the famous Whitehaven beach which was stunning and we celebrated wildly...







After a spot of beach cricket, it was back to the boat for lunch, around the eastern tip of the island where one of the crew was sure she saw a female humpback whale. God knows how she knew it was female and no one else has seen it yet..

It was good going sailing with the wind behind us and we made good time back to Daydream island.







Was such a shame o have to get packed up and leave on Monday morning. The ferry back to Hammo was rough and I was the only one to ride it out on the exposed top deck and although I got wet it was probably better than watching people throw up downstairs.

Al in all, a very relaxing weekend and a great place to really get away from it all.

Robyn and the kangaroos

Robyn was over for a few days for a bit of a break and some wedding related shopping. She was also treated to the latest addition on the Kelley and Fraser tourist trail, a visit to the kangaroos at the Greswell Nature Reserve and it didn't disappoint.



Especially this scary dude who was obviously a bit shocked by this strange new person....

Table manufacturing

A couple of shots to prove that the recent investments in power tool are actually being put to use. All is now in and advanced state and waiting the final coat of stain so by the time we get back to BBQ weather, we should be good to go.

Camping Mallacoota

Everyone goes camping in Victoria at Easter time so we decided to brave the camping ground crowds and give it a go ourselves. Easter was much later this year so despite the fact that the weather is traditionally sensational at Easter time, being later in the month we were a bit worried. But the forecast was reasonable and the reality was even better.

Since we had an extra day (Tuesday as well, for ANZAC day) we decided that it was a good opportunity to go somewhere a bit further away. Mallacoota got the nod, on the coast near the NSW border. It was a 7 hour drive each way and in Easter traffic it was a bit testing at times but not too bad.

The population of Mallacoota more than triples over Easter, the town is about 70% camping ground. It was pretty packed out too. It would be fair to say we had the most amateur looking set up too - the public facilities were not extensive s people had BBQ's. fires, mini spit roasters...the works.

Mallacoota beach - Mallacoota is situated on a river outlet and was very popular for fisherman, surfers and swimmers. I took my wetsuit but it was warm enough without it.





Crashing out on the sand dunes in a race with the kid whose body board I stole... The sand dunes were great fun for those who enjoy watching their significant other take themselves out in such a determined fashion - not so funny dealing with the sore neck that resulted though.



We were surrounded by National Parks and managed to get a couple of walks in.







A stop along the river.

Lionel Richie at Rochford

Fortunately the rain stayed away and we had a great time Dancing on the Ceiling to Lionel Richie at Rochford Winery in the Yarra Valley. Kelley cooked up a storm for a great picnic and the wine wasn't to shabby either.