Forever Friends

We have just spent a lovely few days with our friends at Tannum Sands. Lynn and I had been planning this get together for months as they live very busy lives and it is hard for them to find free weekends. Graham is still working full time at Gladstone as Operations Manager at one of the LNG plants.  They, like us, have purchased a caravan and fully intend retiring and travelling around Australia.  That won't be for a couple more years for them so we have in the pipeline a couple of small trips together that I'm already looking forward to.

Lynn and I go back a long way to the Julia Creek days.  As soon as I was introduced to her we just clicked as friends and truly are like "sisters from another mister". She was our next door neighbour and we even timed our pregnancies together (without knowing) although Lynn went on to have four gorgeous babies, we stopped at two. As true friendships go we can have months without contact and still pick up again where we left off.  I am so blessed to have friends in my circle that are like that because I am not the best at keeping in touch......

So.... back to Tannum Sands.  We were booked into the Tannum Sands Discovery Park that was an easy walking distance from Lynn and Grahams home.  Tannum Sands is a very liveable area with miles and miles of sandy beaches dotted with fishermen who seem to haul in fish all the time.  It has a relatively small population and from what I gather, most of the residents work in Gladstone that is a 30 minute drive away.

Over the course of the three days that we were at Tannum Sands, G & L took us to Agnes Waters where they have a beachside rental home.  Lynn designed it herself and she deserves a pat on the back because it is beautifully designed and fits magestically into the surrounds. We drove around Agnes and Seventeen Seventy before finding a great fish and chip shop that had Red Emperor on the menu that is one of my favourite fish.

The next day Graham drove us into Gladstone to the brand new Cruise Ship terminal area.  The council have designed the North Shore area to meet the needs of travellers and we commented that being avid cruisers we would be very happy to dock at this port.  It is lushly planted with lots of greenery and plenty of shady paths. But, best of all there is a Harbourside restaurant (I think it was called Auckland something) where we stopped for lunch washed down with refreshing beers.  I had the grilled snapper with garlic prawns and salad. So delicious.  

Graham blew a shoe on the way to lunch.  It was quite an ingenious repair job.....

We made our way home for a nanny nap and that night we went around to L & G's place for sundowners and the best hor d'oeuvres platter I have ever seen!  Forgot to take photos.  Our hosts filled our glasses with Veuve Clicquot and we drank to Christmas and New Year.  It was a great end to a lovely three days spent with our forever friends.