A catch-up

The saying that time flies when you are having fun is most appropriate for us.  We certainly keep ourselves busy.  

Christmas and New Year has come and gone but I thought I would start there.  Our son had reminded us that we haven't had Christmas together for quite a few years so that is where we decided to spend Christmas 2024.  It would not be "us" if we didn't decide to tack a bit onto this trip to make it more memorable so we decided to have a week in Hervey Bay and then after Christmas we would spend New Year with my youngest sister at their new home hear Tamborine.  And after that we would make our way home via Cania Gorge.  In between all of that we would go to Toowoomba to have a private memorial for mum where her ashes have been placed in the Garden of Remembrance.

So after bringing the Winnebago out of storage and parking her at the Palm Cove Caravan Park for packing, we were on our way. Our first stop, on our trip south, was a favourite place - the Big 4 Eco Resort that is just south of Townsville.  The park has huge grassed drive thru sites that were perfect for us towing my little yellow Suzuki.  The place also has an on site restaurant that serves up decent meals but we happened to be there for pizza night so that was our one and only choice.  However, they were pretty darn good!

After a bit of a restless night getting used to the different bed, we hit the road the next day with Cape Palmerston our next stop.  It was unsurprisingly empty at the caravan park, as most of the grey nomads have headed home for Christmas and also avoid being in the tropics for summer.  When we arrived we headed straight to the beach for a long walk to stretch out our legs after many hours of sitting and then sat outside for nibbles and drinks with only the numerous kangaroos as company.

From Cape Palmerston it is 400k to our next stop, and another favourite, Tannum Sands.  This park was also devoid of caravans so it was a very enjoyable two night stay with lots of long walks along the esplanade.  It did rain quite heavily on the second day but that did not worry us in the least.  

Back on the Bruce Highway to Hervey Bay we were faced with a lot more traffic as many holiday makers were enjoying a pre Christmas break.  I have to say that the Bruce Highway, from north of Gympie to Townsville, is in a very bad state of disrepair and needs a huge amount of money spent to bring it up to a reasonable condition.  It's little wonder there are so many fatalities along this stretch of road.

Hervey Bay was a lot quieter than it was in August when we last visited.  But this is their low season so it is the perfect time to stay.  There are many bikeways/pathways around Hervey Bay so Philip cycled most days while I preferred to walk.  The only "touristy" thing we did was a tour to K'Gari (Fraser Island).  We have been to Fraser previously but Philip became quite sick on that stay so we didn't get to see or do too much.  This tour covered all the bases on Fraser and it was very enjoyable to sit back and let someone else do the driving.

After a week in Hervey Bay we were ready to head to Marco and Suzie's place for Christmas.  We arrived on Christmas Eve to help with any preparations, but my daughter-in-law is very organised and had almost everything pre-prepared.  Christmas Day at "Evergreen" is a brunch and it is an "orphans" Christmas where anyone that does not have family to enjoy Christmas with, is invited.  We started the day with "Passion & Pain" cocktails (champagne & vodka passionfruit) that whacks us with a fair punch!  But it gets the day going and we all sit down to a magnificent brunch around 11pm.  By about 3pm we were ready to call it a day. The rest of the crowd migrated to a neighbours place where they partied into the wee small hours of Boxing Day.

Boxing Day is a sausage sizzle on the banks of the Mary River.  It is a much quieter day for obvious reasons but nevertheless still enjoyable.  There were only eight of us for lunch, plus all the puppies, and we spent our time going from the water to the shade as it was quite a warm day.  The puppies were completely worn out with all the excitement!

Everybody left the river by mid-afternoon and we spent the rest of the day on the Evergreen veranda, shooting the breeze with Philips step-brother and his wife and later that evening we all sat around playing board games that was lots of fun!  

We stayed five days with our son before hitting the road again to Toowoomba.  This will probably be the last time we will travel this road with mum no longer with us and probably the last time we will stay in Toowoomba.  We stayed in Toowoomba for two nights and on the second day my two sisters and their husbands joined us for the private memorial to celebrate mums life.  We invited Father Malcolm and his wife to join us that made it very special.  Each of us spoke about our favourite memories of mum and it was truly a wonderful way to say our very last goodbye to mum.

The next day we drove to my sister's place near Tamborine where we stayed for four nights including New Year.  They live on the most beautiful acreage and it is a family affair with three homes that house my nephew and niece and their respective children.  The minute you drive through the security gates and along the long paved driveway you get this feeling of peacefulness and beauty. It is very similar to what we experienced when we were living at Julatten.  We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and are already looking forward to the next time.

Our journey home from Tamborine took us via the M1 to the Esk/Brisbane Valley turnoff where we enjoyed a beautiful scenic drive across Wivenhoe dam.  I don't think we have driven this road before but it certainly won't be the last.  The stop tonight was at the Goomeri Showgrounds.  It is a basic campground but enough for our needs that include drive-thru sites for when you are towing a vehicle.

The next day was only 300km to Cania Gorge that is just north of Monto.  We were very pleasantly when we arrived at the Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat. Wow!  This place is amazing with gorgeous large grassed sites and birdlife is beyond amazing.  Each evening the owners feed the birds and you are invited to join them for the feeding.  Philip was in seventh heaven as he does love his birds.

Our second day we woke nice and early and prepared ourselves for some hiking around Cania Gorge.  It is not a large gorge by any stretch of the imagination but the small area has a very diverse landscape.  We walked three of the walks that took us around three hours and covered more than 10kms.  

Our trip after Cania was a bit of "same old, same old" but it was without incident and for that we can be grateful.  The overnight stops were Clareview, Alva Beach and Mission Beach before parking the van right back where we started at Palm Cove Caravan Park.  It is so much easier to unpack and clean the van when it is close by and after two days the Winnebago made its final journey back to the storage shed at Craiglea (Port Douglas).

January has passed us by in a whirl.  We sadly came home to the news of the passing of one of our  friend's brother in a tragic jet-ski accident.  The family had numerous wakes to farewell their brother and it will take them all some time to get over the shock of losing someone they loved.  

Philip celebrated 69 orbits of the sun this month and rather than going out somewhere we elected to stay home and I cooked my beloved a three course lunch of Focaccia with Buratta & roasted cherry tomatoes, Beef Wellington with Potato Pave',  Chocolate Brownie and Berries.  It was pretty delicious even if I do say so myself and Philip seemed to enjoy his day very much.

Some of our favourite restaurants have also been on the calendar in January with the very best meal at Salsa in Port Douglas that never fails to please and deserves all the accolades that it gets.  The food presentation is always on point…….

The only unexpected thing that has happened to us lately is our shower screen shattering.  We were not home when it happened but our neighbour told us it went off with a very large bang and as the glass put a hole in the toilet seat we can only be grateful we were not having a shower or using the toilet when it happened!

I will leave you with this final photograph of a magnificent rainbow that stretched from one side of the ocean to the other.  This photo was taken by my friend from our balcony.