21 August, 2011

Yesterday we wandered up the Island to Banksia Beach to the local Saturday morning Market.  It was fairly much the same as the Caboolture Market we went to not long after we got here but smaller (probably the same of most Markets if truth be told!).  All the usual things like fruit and vege, plants, garden ornaments, clothing, sunglasses, food and coffee, etc.   It was a lovely morning and well worth a visit – even if it was just to have a coffee and look at the boats in the Marina next to the Market.

Only tonight to go and we’re out of here.  We’re both saying it’s time to move on but it’s been great.  Heaps of relaxing, heaps of sun and warmth, heaps of walking and biking and heaps of experiences we’ll take away with us.   Speaking of biking, Gordon reckons he’s biked near to 300km’s.  He’s been biking to the pool, swimming 1km then biking home which is just on 10kms return.  Suffice to say I’m not quite up to that level but would have done around 100kms.   We’ve done around 3,000kms on the motor bike and had a good look round – as is always the way there’s so much more to see but you could live somewhere for months and still not see all the area around you.

Some of the highlights  …

Fishing – Gordon has had a few goes at fishing.   His mate Pete came up from Brisbane with his ‘tinny’ (dingy) and they went out on the Passage twice with some success but not big enough to bring anything home.

Gordon has had a couple of casts off the beach just over from the Apartment with some small success – small being the operative word here!!  The first day he ran out of worms so finished up sitting in the sun!!

Next time he had a good supply of worms (overall $14 was spent on worms with nothing to fry in the pan so it would have been cheaper to have bought the fish!!)   The fish he caught out on the beach were Whiting and are small.  It would take a few fish to make a meal I’d have to say.  I took a photo of ‘the catch of the day’ when a chap walked past said, ‘Hope you’ve got your wide-angle lense on there!!’   Gordon wasn’t that impressed!!!  The fish got thrown back of course!!   After a few that were too small the fishing was given up as a bad job!!   Lots of bites apparently, but nothing worth keeping.

Another highlight has been the little coffee shop down the road at Woorim called ‘Slice of Heaven’ run by a couple of Kiwi women.  I’m now on a first name basis with Chrystal ‘cause we’ve been there so often!   If you’re ever in Woorim you have to go to the ‘Slice of Heaven’ and have a slice of their fruit cake – yummm!!   There’s all sorts of NZ souvenirs in the shop which is really small with all the seating outside.   It’s one of those coffee shops that are tucked away in an unassuming place but has got real personality!

Shells have been another big part of my time here.  I’m a sucker for picking things up off the beach and each day I seem to come home with my pockets filled with all different shapes and sizes. 

I’m going to try to get a few of them home but may get them taken away at custom’s.  We’ll see …

My great friends Val and Trev lent me a sewing machine and I’ve had a ball.  On days when I’ve been feeling a bit melancholy or have the simple urge to sew I’ve been able to sew to my heart’s content!! I bought over my favourite CD’s so have been able to play my music and sew!!  Bliss!!  Val gave me some material and I’ve got bits and pieces from the local Op Shop.   The two main things I’ve made are …

The main part of a Quilt for Ella that I’ll finish when I get home …

… and a Wallhanging loosely set on our view of the beach with a little artistic license!! 

Again I’ll finish this when I get home.

I’ve really missed the kids – some times more than others.  I wandered down to the shops and bought some picture frames then printed some of the photo’s I took the night before I left New Zealand so have had photo’s of my kids round me.  

This photo of Ella has been sitting in the lounge – both Gordon and I have said

she just keeps catching our eye!!

Some of the flowers here are beautiful.  There are about 6 different hibiscus along the path at the side of the Apartment.

There’s lot’s of other lovely examples around but these two on the beach caught my eye …

The paper bark trees have also caught my eye.   I have no idea what their real name is or anything about them.  The bark looks just like paper (surprise, surprise!!) when it falls off and is a really stark white when it’s on the tree!!   They’re everywhere around here …

There are lots of cheap shops here (bit like $2 shop) and they all sell $2 DVD's.  Gordon decided we needed to have a back-up in case there was nothing to watch on TV so bought some DVD's.  One of them was Bonanza!!  

It was great - 3 Episodes of pure nostalgia!!  Of course, you have to be old enough to remember Bonanza - some aren't old enough!!  We watched one of the others and it was crap (!!) with one to go!!!  They're going home with us so if you want to borrow Bonanza give us a call!!!

Just some quick thoughts that come to mind …

v  We’ve been paying $1 each for pineapples with some much nicer than others;

v  Oranges have been 5 cents each and we’ve been buying them to juice for our breakfast orange juice;

v  Haven’t bought any banana’s since we’ve been here with the cheapest we’ve seen at $6.99 and the most expensive $13.99.  Looking forward to buying banana’s when I get home …

v  I’ve gone crazy with buying present’s for Ella – but it’s just so hard when there’s so many great things out there to tempt me!!!

v  The push bikes have been a great success!!  We’ve both so enjoyed biking round the Island and they’ve been so convenient.  We’ve decided to keep them and going to store them at Cam’s with the hope we’ll get to use them again – fingers crossed!!

v  Skype has been really wonderful for keeping in touch although it’s a bit of a pain trying to get both ends sorted at the same time.  Mainly I’ve used it is to keep in touch with Ben.  We managed to connect quite a few times and I’ve loved being able to see and talk to him and Casey and Casey’s family with the real bonus of seeing Ella and how much she’s grown in the last 6 weeks.   I’m sure she waved at me the other night (first time ever!) – Casey and Ben thought she did too!!

v  We’ve been very impressed with customer service in the time we’ve been here – very refreshing!

v  The food on Bribie Island is to be recommended (what we’ve eaten anyway!) – we’ve been down to the

       Surf Club (walking distance for us) and had great meals every time;  been to the RSL in Bongaree and again impressed with the service and meals;  Scoop’s Icecream Shop at Bongaree serves up a delicious icecream (not that we’ve had too many of them!!);  and of course coffee down at Slice of Heaven (The Coffee Club at the main shopping centre was pretty good too!!)

v  The Apartment has been absolutely great and we think it’s been in a plumb spot for the view, the peace and quiet but still enough traffic to make things interesting, and for all the different boats, planes, people, dogs, cars, trucks and buses going past that have made life interesting!!

Overall it’s been a great 6 (nearly 7!) weeks and a wonderful experience that has served it’s purpose of getting away from the worst of the New Zealand winter and giving my heart a chance to rest and relax with a bit of exercise chucked in for good measure.

It’s time now to head back home and get on with life …

18 August, 2011

Each time we’ve headed north we’ve gone past the Wild Horse Look Out a few kilometres up the Bruce Motorway and I’d wondered what it was about.  Today we decided to head out and have a look at this lookout.

The weather wasn’t too flash but it didn’t matter – until we got there and it started to rain!!   I had naively thought there’d be a lovely road up to the top of the hill and we’d just rock up to the top, hop off the bike and ‘WoW’ look at that view!!   No, No, No!!   We got to the Carpark over a really rough road which is unusual for a start ‘cause almost everywhere we’ve been the parking, parks, roads and pathways are excellent.   Worse was to come …   We had to WALK up the hill from the carpark!!   The sign said it was only 700m but, honestly, I reckon it was just about vertical for the whole 700m (an exaggeration of course but it was bloody steep!!)  I can tell you I had a few stops on the way up and by the time I got to the top I was puffing – gave the old pace maker a run for it’s money I can tell you!!! 

How about this for steep?!!

When we finally got to the lookout (123m above sea level and I reckon we started at Om!!) the weather had really come in with low cloud and rain and the view slowly disappearing!!  It’s the worst day we’ve had since we’ve been here – Murphy’s Law!!   I’d hoped to be able to see the Passage between the mainland and Bribie Island and a good clear view of the Glasshouse Mountains but it was just grey sludge really.

The Lookout is there as a Forest Lookout, Telecom Tower and Public Viewing Tower.  You get a 360 degree view from the Tower.

Looking towards the Glasshouse Mountains to the west ...

Looking toward Caloundra in the north ...

It was a much easier walk down!!  From there we called into the Caboolture Aviation Museum and spent a couple of hours there.  Gordon is a flier (of planes!) and was really interested in a video they ran about flying the Mustang they have in the Museum.   There was an amazing amount of exhibits.   There has obviously been a lot of time put in by a lot of people over lots of years.   There was a MIG you could sit in, 3 other planes that were still operational plus the Mustang that was in the workshop.

This poster took my eye …

Every time we go out and back to the Island we pass a huge sign advertising a new take-away outfit called Beefy’s.  What do ya reckon they sell?   Pie’s!!  As it’s getting nearer and nearer to the time for going home we decided we had to try at least one ‘Beefy’s’ – well I talked Gordon into it really but he didn’t put up too much of a fight I have to say!!   There were about 15 different pies to choose from and it was set up like McDonalds or KFC.   Overall it was still just a pie but it wasn’t bad and now I’ve been there and done that!! 

This is the sign we’ve driven past too many times to count …   Now I know what it’s about!!
 

16 August, 2011

Today we took to the road and did another bike ride.   We went up to Noosa via Eumundi which is an Historic Town that is reknown for it’s huge Market’s.  We weren’t there at the weekend but I can image it would be huge.

Out to the coast to the Noosa River and we meandered along the River to Noosa Heads and stopped for lunch at Noosaville.   Noosaville is where Gordon wanted to go for the winter this year but I kinda talked him out of it in favour of Bribie Island so I was a bit nervous wondering if it was going to be better than Bribie …   It was different but not necessarily better!!  I liked that Noosaville is on the River and we were there on a sunny day so it was beautiful looking over the water.   It would have been a bit of all right – may next year!!

Photo taken up the river near the Marina ...

Looking out towards Noosa Heads ...

Taken from the Leguna Lookout - Noosa Head and Beach are at the right, the River runs from right to left and round to the Lake.  The 2 Lakes in the fron are Marina's (I think!)

We had lunch at Rosie’s in Noosaville with Elvis greeting us at the entrance …

… in his Blue Suede Shoes!!

From Noosa we went through the Junction down the coast via Coolum which is an exposed beach that was an amazing colour and great surf.

We stopped at Caloundra hoping to see the top end of Bribie Island.   We found a lookout that had a small channel of water between Caloundra and a sandy spit – Gordon reckoned it was Bribie Island but I reckoned it wasn’t far enough away.  A local looking guy was standing next to me so I asked him and sure enough – it was Bribie!!   I was wrong – again!!!   It was low tide and it seemed to me you could have walked across the sand.    It was getting late so we didn’t get much of a look round and I forgot to take a photo – dahhhh!!

It was a late ride home and yet again we realised how quickly it gets dark here … nothing like home with a twilight ... one minute it's daylight and 10 minutes later it's dark!!

12 August, 2011

What a busy day!!  I decided I was going to do a decent bike ride today so in the morning I met Gordon at the Aquatic Centre where he goes swimming at least every second day (where he says, he ‘thrashes the water to a foam’!!)   From there we biked to Bellara for a coffee and onto the Bribie Bridge.  We sat watching and it’s amazing just how much traffic goes over the bridge.

I walked part way over the bridge to take some photo’s.   The bridge shook so much I found it difficult to take photo’s!!

That's the Glasshouse Mountaing in the distance ...

Now!!  Here's a chance for you to be part of my Blog - you can become a member and put your idea's forward ...   What do you think this huge lump of concrete is?   It's got thick metal rings on top and at two ends …   That's the Bribie Bridge in the background - I wonder if that's a clue!!   I'm going to go to the Information Centre to try and find out what it is and will let you know if I find anything out ...

Carrying on from my photo's of the biking/walking pathways I was impressed with the track going under the Bribie Bridge - how cool is that!!

This is a great place to bike!!   We pedalled out way along the shoreline from the Bridge to Bongaree.  I lost Gordon 'cause I kept stopping to take photo's!!   This is another view of the Bridge ...

And this is a wee inlet that took my eye ...

And that wasn’t the end of the excitement for the day for me!!   In the afternoon I wandered over to the beach to catch up with Gordon who was catching some Vitamin D.   I was immediately drawn to a big sandcastle that someone had made on the beach.   It was amazing and obviously a lot of work had gone into it …

As I was taking some photo’s of the castle a young man came down from the picnic area to tell me he and his family had challenged themselves to build a sandcastle and adjoining village before the high tide!!    I checked up on progress on my way back from the beach and met all the family.   Monica (Mum) told me that her family were visiting Bribie Island for a couple of days and had decided to do something together.  They bought the sandcastle bucket and spades in Woorim and at that stage had spent 4 hours on their creation.

Monica and her husband had brought their 3 children from America to see

something of Australia and were having a couple of days on Bribie. 

I kept popping over to the beach for the rest of the afternoon with my trusty camera waiting for the high tide to fill the moots around the castle and village, but to no avail!!  I gave up when it was dark but when I went over this morning the high tide had taken the lot!!

As an anecdote it was really lovely this morning when Monica came looking for me to give us the groceries they hadn’t used!  Thanks for that Monica!   It was lovely meeting you and your family …  

It was a great day - I biked further than I have in many, many years;  and was a small part of a lovely event on the beach ...

9 August, 2011

We took off for another Tiki tour today - one of our 'close to home' seeing what's down this road tour.  One of the turn-off’s went down to the inlet from Pumicestone Pasage called Ningi Creek.  We go through Ningi every time we go out onto the Bruce Highway but we hadn’t been down this side road before.  It was lovely!!   Gordon dropped me off to wander along the shoreline and take some photo’s while he went down the road a bit further to wait for me.   As I was clicking away a chap walking his dog wandered along and I started yakking away to him (as you do!!)   He was a bit of a character – I’m thinking about 65 – 70 years old, white hair in a pony tail and his dog was blind!!   He was telling me a few things about Ningi – Ningi in aboriginal means oyster and if you say Ningi Ningi it means “plenty oysters” (if you say something twice it means 'plenty').   Ningi is very important in aboriginal historyas a place of food because of the oysters.   The shoreline is lined with mangroves.  The area is tidal so it gets muddy for quite a bit of the day - great mangrove country.   There’s a lot of private jetty’s.  I thought it was amazing that we were standing in the peace and quiet when only 100 metres or so over there was the noisy highway!

This is 'Graham' who's lived in Ningi for 40 years and is really keen on nurturing and retaining the aboriginal history in this area ...   He was a character!!

There were lots of boats in the mangroves that obviously hadn't been used in a while!!

From there we went back onto the  main road and into another side road just before the Bridge over to Bribie where we found a little bay with an old guy sitting on his camp chair fishing.  Again it was peaceful and quiet with a great view of the Bridge.   It was interesting to see the Bribie Bridge from a different angle …

Also on the same turn-off we got a different angle of the Spinaker Sound Marina where my favourite Prawn Boats are moored.  I’ve watched these prawn boats come and go past our beach and love the sound and look of them.  They remind me of Forest Gump’s Prawn Boat!!

I’m also fascinated with Pelicans and have only seen 3 so far.  The last couple of times I’ve been here I’ve seen dozens over at Redcliffe and enjoyed watching them, so have missed not seeing lots of them.   This one solitary pelican at Spinaker Marina was number 3 …

It was great to find something interesting and a bit different just a few kilometres from home ... 

8 August, 2011

I decided I’d take some photo’s around Woorim to remind myself of how much I’ve enjoyed the peace and quiet.  Thought you might be interested too!!  

This morning I went for a walk round the road then out to the beach along a sandy road.  I find it amazing that I can walk along these tracks and never meet a soul (and today I didn't see anyone on the beach either!).  I guess it would be very different in summer …

This is a banksia tree and the cones look like dead hedgehogs when they're on the road!!

This is the end of the track coming out at Skirmish Point just round the Island from Woorim

In the afternoon I took my trusty bicycle for a bit of a spin.   The council here is great at providing tracks for walking and biking.  I've found out that all bikes have got a bell on them so you can ring your bell if you come up behind walkers or other bikers and they have to get out of your way – I think it’s hilarious!!   The other day I’d stopped on the bridge over the canal to take a photo and heard this bell ringing;  didn’t take any notice;  heard it again and it caught my attention so turned round and this old guy was frantically ringing his bell at me ‘cause I was taking up all the path over the bridge and he couldn’t get past!!  He wasn’t a happy biker!!

There’s a biking/walking track next to the main road’s all over Bribie.   When I was staying over at Redcliffe there was the same all along the coast so it’s not just in the Caboolture Shire …

This is part of the biking/walking track from Woorim to the Bongaree turnoff. 

The track is only about 3 or 4 metres from the road but it feels like you’re biking through the bush – it’s great!!   I took these two photo's from teh same spot ...

There's National Park all along the other side of the road which seems strange when you're going down this busy road!!   Not like the Natioinal Parks I'm used to where it's quiet !!