Bush Turkeys & More of Yeppoon

We have taken to the world of communal washing lines, showers & camp kitchens like pro's. It is safer hanging clothes out here than in Moonah, you come back and everything is still there!

Here are the bush Turkeys we were telling you about in the last post...

And here is a photo of Antony & Alex, it was a pure accident that there were dressed exactly the same... we didn't even realise it until i took this photo, like father like son!

Stoney Creek and Byfield National Park Photos

Here are the giant palm trees, Stoney creek & crocodile footprints! We sat down for a bit to eat in Byfield, and while we were eating a group of bush turkeys decided to join us...they were hilarious. The chased each other and fought over the crumbs we were throwing at them, they are very very fast runners, and quite vicious towards each other!

From noisy Bundaberg to peaceful Yeppoon!

Yeppon is a lovely, tropical, peaceful little town on the Capricorn Coast, about 40km from Rockhampton. There are palm and coconut trees everywhere, and beach after beach. We stayed at a lovely quiet camp ground, and Antony did very well to get the van backed in to the site, as it was quite squishy with the next door neighbour's Annex pegged a little on our side! At first we couldn't find our power source, so i asked the park keeper, turns out it was through the hedge and up the ramp...of course it was!!! :) We even had a little 'pet' while we were there, a gorgeous little green tree frog that had made itself at home in the ladies amenities.

We spent some time in the beautiful Byfield National park, where the rainforest reminded us of Mt Field, only instead of Manferns it had palm trees! And we knew it was Croc inhabited from the inprints in the sand next to the river. It was quite surreal to be so close to where a croc or crocs had been recently, they were probably watching us from just below the surface....

We had planned to go swimming in Stoney Creek water hole, but 2 things stopped us, #1 the water was freezing as it came off a mountain, #2 there was a warning sign advising to not tread on the rocks under the water as they may not be rocks, they could be spikey stone fish and the spikes can go right through your feet! As Alex is more of a walker than a swimmer we thought it best to not risk it. The water in Stoney Creek was amazing though, so clear and a beautiful soft bluey green colour.

Movie world and more!

while we were on the Gold Coast we went to Movie world with 5 of our friends from Tassie, and it was awesome! here are just a couple of photos of our great day....

Onwards to Bundaberg

The Caravan trip begins!!!

We left the Gold Coast behind, picked up our caravan and drove all the way to Scarborough.. (Which is not very far at all.) just to test out all the bits and pieces and make sure everything worked ok.

The next day we set off for Bundaberg the home of RUM!

as any good Australian should we visited the Bundaberg Rum Distillery (which smells delicious by the way) we also supported the local's by buying some of their products!!

aside from our support for the local produce we also visited the Bargara beach and playground area and lets not forget QLD transport.

Bundaberg is a lovely place to visit especially of you like the sounds of ambulance and police sirens that seem to continually go throughout the day and night, and Rum of course.

Gold Coast

Antony was in a wedding of long time friends Steve and Tiarn on the Coast, so we spent 8 days there. It was fantastic because we had some of our closest friends from Tassie come and stay with us, as they were going to the wedding too! We

had a ball at Movie World, did lots of swimming and lots of walking.

Our little Mascot

This is our little travel Mascot. It is the first little doll our beautiful Jasmine received, so we thought it was a perfect idea to have her with us. RIP gorgeous girl, we miss you more than anything.

Inside Mr Smiley - before we set it up

These are taken with the Pop top down, Alex and i can stand in it like this, but Antony needs the extra room for his, umm, head....LOL

More photos of our home!

Moto Moto and Mr Smiley (Alex's names for the car & the van)

Finally - Our Home - The Van!

We chose a 17 1/2 foot Regent Tourer Poptop that has hardly been used. It has solar panels, air conditioning, Gas stove/grill, microwave, heaps of storage, a double bed, a single bed and a dinette that can be turned into a bed for when Grandma stays with us in Perth at Christmas!

Heading North from Sydney

Well, with my (Lauren's) birthday over and done with in Sydney, and the lovely weather subsiding, we started heading North. We had planned to stop twice on the way from sydney to QLD, one night in Port Macquarie and one night in Byron area....but when we were about 1 hour away from Port we saw a sign stating that the Gold Coast was only another 540km's away...and we were hanging out to be back there, so we kept driving!!!! Alex was very put out as we had told him once he wakes from his nap we would be stopping very soon after, well he woke 4 hours before we ended up stopping :) But it was worth the 12 hours driving, as we arrived and it immediately felt like home again. We found an appartment for $95 night inc hot breakfast and settled into our old lifestyle.

Relaxing in Grays Point

Here a a couple of photos of where we stayed... from the balcony! It was so sunny and warm, and peaceful.

Reading in the sun on the balcony, listening to the birds...ahhhhhh

Taronga Zoo!

I had to have this as a separate entry as there is so much to write. We caught 2 trains and a ferry to get to the zoo, and it was a fantastic day. It was sunny blue skies and 20 degrees. We rode in the sky safari, and saw some amazing animals. A huge highlight was seeing the baby elephants! the are so gorgeous, one of them was so 'new' it still had fur. I recommend a full day from when the zoo opens to when it closes, as we were there for about 6 hours and still didnt get to see everything!

We had a very relaxing time in Sydney. We stayed in Grays Point, where we were surrounded by National Park, so trees and birds were in abundance. We went to Taronga Zoo (i will do a separate blog on that), ate way too much and i had a lovely Birthday where i had croissants cooked for me for Breakie, then had lunch at the Camelia Gardens with friends and my boys. We also caught up with family on Antony's side, so Alex got to meet and play with his 2nd Cousins. I am so lucky to have married into such a fantastic family. (the photo is of Alex with all but one of his cousins!)

Canberra to Sydney

From Canberra to the beautiful weather of Sydney, where we stayed with a wonderful life-long family friend in Grays Point. On the way we saw the Big Merino, a 15m high sheep in Goulbourn...he is HUGE!

More of the ACT

While we were in Canberra, it was -1 to -3 every night, with one night getting to -4.9! But during the day it was beautiful blue skies, still cold but very pretty. On the left is a photo of the Memorial and its 'pool of reflection', which is surrounded by the roll of Honour, walls and walls of the names of Aussies that have fought, and died for our country. On the right is where i placed a Poppy next to my Great Grandfather's name. Lest We Forget.

Our Capital....

The last time we wrote we had just arrived in Canberra, Australia's Capital, where we stayed for a week with family. We visited New Parliament House, which was just amazing (we know where our Tax Dollars goes now...keeping the marble stairs/entrance clean!) the National Zoo, The war memorial - which i highly recommend if you can go childless so you can take it all in, & Questacon which is 6 levels of hands on scienctific experiments and we totally recommend it with or without kids! The above photo is Alex posing on the marble stps of parliament (i think he is practising his 'Crane' for those of us old enough to remember Karate Kid) :)