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 …
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