(I’m not sure how long I can keep up this alliteration, but
I’ll try). Our next stop was the really pretty town, nay City, of Maroochydore.
We particularly liked Maloolaba, the town just down the coast from Maroochy. The
whole area faces a mega long stretch of pristine, sandy beach. There are cafes,
shops and further back, a few high-rise apartments. Not enough to make the area
feel as commercial as say Surfer’s Paradise, but enough that they twinkle
across the water at night. There are wide, beachfront bike paths that go for
miles and lots of grassy spots to check out the water view.
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| The girls engrave their names in nature while the sun sets. |
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The view across the water down to Maloolabah.
It’s location, along with the sights and drives we had, will go down in memory for me as one of the most enjoyable stops yet. We packed heaps into each day, it was huge! The first day we visited Underwater World at Maloolaba. The girls had a blast attending the different shows and posing with the animals.
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| Woah! |
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| Check out the lolly store we found outside Underwater World. The girls went nuts! They were like kids in a..... well, you get it! |
In the afternoon, we went for a trek through the rainforest at Buderim. There is a brilliant hiking track that starts as a boardwalk and goes to a meandering forest trail. This forest was like something out of Tomb Raider. I felt like Angelina Jolie waiting to see the giggling girl and the white butterflies outside the temple. There were knarly old roots across the path, ancient trees and big moss covered stones. Although the falls were usually a lot bigger than we got to see, it was worth the trek to see such a beautiful spot.
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God's canvas!
The next day we went for a drive up the coast to Noosa. We went via some pretty coastal towns and found some gems again. In particular, the scenic little spot of Coolum Beach was a highlight. We also went past some pretty cool landmarks.
| Australia's Largest Castle (not a real one, but still awesome) |
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| The (not so) Big Pelican at Noosa (I look thrilled...woops!). |
Next was the Ginger Factory at Yandin and the Nutwork Chocolate Factory too. We bought some tasty gifts and tried some fattening snacks. The Ginger factory tour was incredible. The girls were stoked to get a tasting plate at the end and loved the cooking tips on how to use all their products.
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| Ellysia wanted to eat this guy's arm off! |
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Woah Mum, check out all those candied ginger tubs!!
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| Yum!! (Lily made this dip the very next day). |
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Going with the theme of seeing Australia’s “big things”, we
went to check out The Big Pineapple. Nothing like climbing to the top of the most photographed piece of fruit in
Queensland! After much searching we even found The Big Cow.... yihaa! Conrad
really didn’t want me to miss out on this, so we drove around for ages. The cow
was an Ayrshire replica – my Dad would be proud!
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| If you squint, you can see us up the top. |
Usually better to avoid this end.
With the sun nearly setting, we decided to have 'lunch' at Ettamogah pub. This is a replica of the pub featured in the cartoon series by Ken Maynard. He started drawing the iconic Australian pub back in the 50s and went on to publish his cartoons for years in the Australasian Post.
The quirky looking pub on the Bruce Highway.
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We fell in a heap that night and woke early to pack up and
be on the road again the next day. Before we left we had to do a quick round of
the caravan park’s activities. As with many Big 4 caravan parks, this one had
so many free activities it was crazy. There was a jumping pillow, huge
playground, gym, half basketball court, games room, 9 hole mini golf, giant
chess, tennis court and an incredible resort pool. Here’s daddy getting in
touch with his inner child and me getting miffed at him for cheating at chess!
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| Look at me go girls! |
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| Hey! You moved that when I wasn't looking! |
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We were blessed enough at the start of the year to spend a
week on the Gold Coast as we journeyed through to a family get-together at
Bribie Island. So there was really no need to stop in here. However, we made a
special exception for our dear friends Liesl, J and their sweet little family.
We only spent 2 nights at the Big 4 (Gold Coast Holiday Park). Wow, this place
was a well-oiled machine! It had an amazing pool area, with a cafe and the park
even supplied a free pancake breakfast Sunday morning.
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| The view over the pool from the park's own restaurant! |
The other memorable thing about this stop was the area we
were assigned in the park. We told them our van was 24 feet and were told we’d
need to be in the big-rig section. The what? I guess I assumed we’d be, amongst
our caravanning cousins... the grey nomads, always viewed as the large family
van crew. You know, the ones disturbing other fellow aeroguard appliers as we
manouvered our big bunk van in amongst the little 19 feet bed-&-bath
combos. But no, not at the Gold Coast, our humble home-on-wheels became the locust
amongst the giants! It was funny to see our van dwarfed by a big Winnebago on
one side, absolutely ginormous 5th Wheelers on the other and even a bus! If
only we got a picture....doh!
3:53 AM
Posted by
Unknown
Our maiden voyage brought us to a lovely corner of the world...
beautiful Ballina. We really wanted to see Byron Bay and the coast around
Ballina, so we stayed at the Lakeside caravan park that sits right on the Shaws
Bay Lake (with Ballina Beach on the other side). The caravan park had its own
water park and mini-golf. These were big hits with the girls!
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| View from our campsite. |
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| The water park the girls loved. |
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| The coolest mini golf course I've ever seen! |
There was so much to see and do in this area, so we filled
up each day to overflowing! This was a good chance to see how schoolwork in the
morning and sightseeing in the afternoon would go. As we get into a rhythm, I
think we should be able to get school done by 10.30, leaving the rest of the
day to explore. The first afternoon we found an enchanting place called
Thursday Plantation. This is a working tea-tree farm with tea-tree maze,
huge sculpture gardens and rainforest walk.
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| The girls re-enacting this hedge crocodile's last victims! |
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| These freaky statues were life sized and spread over a huge area. |
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| The door to..... Wonderland? Willy Wonka's? Nope, just more forest hiking track... doh! |
The next day was a big one. We went to the Macadamia Castle
at Knockrow where we got to hang out with some little cuties (not just El and
Lil). There were kangaroos to feed, bunnies to hold, sleeping wombats to
antagonise and baby chickens to squeeze. I haven’t seen any Macadamias growing
anywhere, but plenty of types in the gift shop on the way out!
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| The visiting dignitaries. |
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| Yep, I now know what's up a knight's skirt (in this case, lots of metal, scaffolding & MDF, woohoo). |
On the coast road home we checked out some nice holiday
spots. Lennox Head was a beautiful spot. It has a river/lagoon on one side and
a long, sandy beach on the other. Also, who can forget the big prawn on
the outskirts of Ballina.
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| True story! |
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| I reckon he looks a wee bit grumpy from the front. |
It’s only taken 2 weeks of travel, but I’ve finally had a
moment to begin writing our blog. It wouldn’t be right though, if I didn’t
start back at the beginning... so here goes....
Our trip felt like it took forever to start! Each week
seemed to bring another delay. The van itself was overdue, then the very day we
arrived home with our brand new home-on-wheels from Melbourne, The Beast
(nickname for our 100 series Landcruiser) blew a head gasket, ugh! Thanks to the tireless effort of my incredible brother, amazing Hubby, and our friend/hero at the local auto parts store, the boys were able to get us back on the road in just under a week!
The “real trip” began on Ellysia’s 9th birthday
(9 October), after leaving Conrad’s folks at Valla Beach in NSW. Ballina here we come!
