Today I spent the morning at the shopping centre doing the grocery shopping, getting photos developed, purchasing things for the kids like bathers, pj's etc and generally getting a little retail therapy. It is very tricky grocery shopping in a different location every time. It takes twice as long as usual as you have no idea where everything is. However, I am just loving Woolies and Coles, they have awesome specials and we are right onto the cheap fuel offers that go with these shops. Fruit and veg up here is very nice and cheap, I have finally found bananas for $7 a kg.
While I was at the shops, Glen and the kids had a relaxing morning at the park. They played mini golf, swam and made the most of all the facilities and at 12 when the water park opened, they headed straight for that. I think they would be happy with just that for the week as they have so much fun there.
After lunch, Bianca and Tony called in with Bianca's mum, as they had just picked her up from the Cairns airport and where driving past. The kids spent the arvo with Nicholas at the water park. A great afternoon. A relaxing barbi tonight as Glen and I wade through the glossy brochures trying to make plans for the coming days. It is a bit overwhelming as there is so much to see, but our main priority is going snorkelling on the reef and going on the skyrail to Kuranda. The birthday girl has requested this for her birthday so we will do that on Sunday. Anyway, batteries are recharging again which is great.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Day 49 - Cairns
7 weeks today. I can't believe it has been 7 weeks since we left. As time progresses, in some ways, living in the van becomes easier as we are so used to it now. We love the adventure of wondering what the next destination is going to be like. I think it is great not knowing what day it is and not having the weekly routine of work and school. However, being in "holiday mode" all the time does have its disadvantages, as our clothes continue to shrink!!!!! Only Glen's and mine for some reason. Luckily we are having a break before we do the other half of Australia, otherwise we would be up for a new wardrobe each!!!!
Today we head for Cairns. We have been very much looking forward to this as we have splurged a bit and are staying in the Coconut resort caravan park which is purely designed for families with lots of play areas and activities for the kids. We have also decided that we are going to stop here for six nights to have a bit of a rest and also celebrate Tori's birthday.
The drive up is mad. The condition of the roads in Queensland are just atrocious, in addition to this they are quite windy, there is often a lot of the agricultural machinery on them, all the over taking lanes seem to be blocked off for roadworks and the drivers pass on double white lines around corners, we encounter some real "crazies"!!! The scenery is just amazing, but Glen has his eyes firmly glued on the road as you never know what is going to come up next.
We arrive at the Coconut resort, a huge porperty, I think the lady said 28acres. They give us a tour in a little golf buggy, that is how big it is!!
They have a number of pools, two massive jumping pillows, an awesome playground, a movie room and games room and pancakes by the pool one morning, drinks and nibbles for the Mum's and Dad's another afternoon and open air movies showing at night. We probably don't need to leave the park to be honest, but there is also so much to see in Cairns. The kids are just busting to get in the water even though it is still overcast and quite cool. The first place they hit is the water playground. This massive pineapple fills up every 5 or 10 min, a bell rings, then the whole lot is dumped out. It is just awesome.
We set up the satellite dish without too many dramas, so tonight, we sit up in bed and watch tv!!
Today we head for Cairns. We have been very much looking forward to this as we have splurged a bit and are staying in the Coconut resort caravan park which is purely designed for families with lots of play areas and activities for the kids. We have also decided that we are going to stop here for six nights to have a bit of a rest and also celebrate Tori's birthday.
The drive up is mad. The condition of the roads in Queensland are just atrocious, in addition to this they are quite windy, there is often a lot of the agricultural machinery on them, all the over taking lanes seem to be blocked off for roadworks and the drivers pass on double white lines around corners, we encounter some real "crazies"!!! The scenery is just amazing, but Glen has his eyes firmly glued on the road as you never know what is going to come up next.
We arrive at the Coconut resort, a huge porperty, I think the lady said 28acres. They give us a tour in a little golf buggy, that is how big it is!!
They have a number of pools, two massive jumping pillows, an awesome playground, a movie room and games room and pancakes by the pool one morning, drinks and nibbles for the Mum's and Dad's another afternoon and open air movies showing at night. We probably don't need to leave the park to be honest, but there is also so much to see in Cairns. The kids are just busting to get in the water even though it is still overcast and quite cool. The first place they hit is the water playground. This massive pineapple fills up every 5 or 10 min, a bell rings, then the whole lot is dumped out. It is just awesome.
We set up the satellite dish without too many dramas, so tonight, we sit up in bed and watch tv!!
Monday, 5 September 2011
Day 48 - Tully
That night the kids decide to have a sleep over in Nicholas' room with Fred the pug. They think this is just great and Fred doesn't seem to bothered by the additional room mates!!! He snores which sends the kids into fits of laughter but they all get to sleep.....eventually!!!
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Day 47 - Tony, Bianca and Nicholas in Tully
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DADS
We wake up in the shed after a very safe night's sleep. It is Father's day, so the kids bombard Dad with gifts and breaky in bed. Tony's parents, John and Marie, arrive at about 8:30 and we have cuppas and catch up. They can't believe how big the kids have grown as the last time we saw these guys I was just pregnant with Tori, I have sent them photos over the years, so it was nice for them to see the kids in person.
Just before lunch we head towards Tully to catch up with Tony and his family. It is a bit overcast and showers are forecast for the area. We head through Townsville and up through the Yasi effected area. Their is still evidence of the cyclone, however, we marvel at how the quickly the houses have been rebuilt, rooves replaced and how the trees have shot back. We pass many sugar cane crops and Glen and I feel very happy to be back in Queensland. The kids can't believe the funny little harvesters that are being used on the crops and they are also amazed by the mountainous country with the hilltops sticking up through the clouds.
We haven't seen Tony since 1999, so we are looking forward to seeing him and meeting his fiance. As we get closer to Tully it begins to rain. Cheers come from the back seat as the kids have missed winter and they just love this outdoor weather. We arrive at Tony's to a lovely brick house on a hill surrounded by green fields filled with cows and bananas plantations, mountainous rainforests in the distance provide a backdrop, just beautiful. We meet Bianca and her son Nicholas who are just lovely, we also meet the rotty, Diesel, the border collie, Tory, the pug, Fred and the cat, Jersey. Yes, Tori is horrified to think they have a dog named Tory, who is named after the state, and this creates much confusion for her whenever anyone calls her name!!!
Before long it is like we have only just seen these guys last week, we have so much to chat about and it is great to just relax and have a laugh. Nicholas is 9 and he happily let's the kids play on all his things. Cody just loves the power wing and the girls get on the scooters, and best of all, the driveway is a beautifully bitumised road up a hill, what a great place to ride, so this keeps them all very busy. I anticipate at any moment there is going to be a major stack, but luckily this doesn't happen.
We have a barbi for tea and it doesn't take long for a few cane toads to start to appear. Nicholas immediately goes and gets his weapons, spray bottles filled with dettol, and he takes Cody and Shannae on a cane toad hunt. The dettol on their back kills them. It seems to be a common practise over here. Luckily the cane toads aren't too bad in September, but in the wet season it is a different story.
We wake up in the shed after a very safe night's sleep. It is Father's day, so the kids bombard Dad with gifts and breaky in bed. Tony's parents, John and Marie, arrive at about 8:30 and we have cuppas and catch up. They can't believe how big the kids have grown as the last time we saw these guys I was just pregnant with Tori, I have sent them photos over the years, so it was nice for them to see the kids in person.
Just before lunch we head towards Tully to catch up with Tony and his family. It is a bit overcast and showers are forecast for the area. We head through Townsville and up through the Yasi effected area. Their is still evidence of the cyclone, however, we marvel at how the quickly the houses have been rebuilt, rooves replaced and how the trees have shot back. We pass many sugar cane crops and Glen and I feel very happy to be back in Queensland. The kids can't believe the funny little harvesters that are being used on the crops and they are also amazed by the mountainous country with the hilltops sticking up through the clouds.
We haven't seen Tony since 1999, so we are looking forward to seeing him and meeting his fiance. As we get closer to Tully it begins to rain. Cheers come from the back seat as the kids have missed winter and they just love this outdoor weather. We arrive at Tony's to a lovely brick house on a hill surrounded by green fields filled with cows and bananas plantations, mountainous rainforests in the distance provide a backdrop, just beautiful. We meet Bianca and her son Nicholas who are just lovely, we also meet the rotty, Diesel, the border collie, Tory, the pug, Fred and the cat, Jersey. Yes, Tori is horrified to think they have a dog named Tory, who is named after the state, and this creates much confusion for her whenever anyone calls her name!!!
Before long it is like we have only just seen these guys last week, we have so much to chat about and it is great to just relax and have a laugh. Nicholas is 9 and he happily let's the kids play on all his things. Cody just loves the power wing and the girls get on the scooters, and best of all, the driveway is a beautifully bitumised road up a hill, what a great place to ride, so this keeps them all very busy. I anticipate at any moment there is going to be a major stack, but luckily this doesn't happen.
We have a barbi for tea and it doesn't take long for a few cane toads to start to appear. Nicholas immediately goes and gets his weapons, spray bottles filled with dettol, and he takes Cody and Shannae on a cane toad hunt. The dettol on their back kills them. It seems to be a common practise over here. Luckily the cane toads aren't too bad in September, but in the wet season it is a different story.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Day 46 - "In a shed" - Charters Towers!!!!
We left the rest area this morning after a relaxing start. We then drove through Julie Creek and Richmond then stopped for a few supplies and lunch in Hughenden. We can't believe outback Queensland. It is "Rodeoville" and feels like we have just stepped into Texas. Everyone is wearing their big cowboy hats, boots and belts with the big buckle. All the roadhouses are like the American diners with a cafe full of booths, a bar and lots of pokies!!!
So we head for Charters Towers. We were in Charters Towers in 1999 visiting a friend Glen made when he went to Montana years ago, Tony. Some of you may remember Tony as the larrikin from Queensland who came over for our wedding. Anyway, his family is still in Charters Towers, so we look up Tony's Mum and Dad who are kind enough to let us park the van in one of their sheds for the night. Their cattle farm is about 50km out of town, so we also make plans to catch up with them in the morning.
So another 570km today. And a very unusual camp site for the night in a massive shed. We set up our camp site as usual and we can't help but laugh at the picture we make camping in a shed.
So we head for Charters Towers. We were in Charters Towers in 1999 visiting a friend Glen made when he went to Montana years ago, Tony. Some of you may remember Tony as the larrikin from Queensland who came over for our wedding. Anyway, his family is still in Charters Towers, so we look up Tony's Mum and Dad who are kind enough to let us park the van in one of their sheds for the night. Their cattle farm is about 50km out of town, so we also make plans to catch up with them in the morning.
So another 570km today. And a very unusual camp site for the night in a massive shed. We set up our camp site as usual and we can't help but laugh at the picture we make camping in a shed.
Friday, 2 September 2011
Day 45 - The side of the road!!!!
Well........boring.......another day of travel. Yesterday 750km, I don't think I mentioned that yesterday did I???
Today 630km. We crossed the border into Queensland, stopped briefly at Mt Isa. We went to the tourist centre but, as it was 2pm, we had missed all the tours for the day, so decided not to stay the night and just keep on trucking, so that is what we did. We ended up staying at a rest area about 70km west of Julia Creek. A good rest stop as it had toilets, however, it was also very close to the road, so it sounded like every truck was about to come in the van with us!!! Luckily there weren't too many!!
Today 630km. We crossed the border into Queensland, stopped briefly at Mt Isa. We went to the tourist centre but, as it was 2pm, we had missed all the tours for the day, so decided not to stay the night and just keep on trucking, so that is what we did. We ended up staying at a rest area about 70km west of Julia Creek. A good rest stop as it had toilets, however, it was also very close to the road, so it sounded like every truck was about to come in the van with us!!! Luckily there weren't too many!!
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Day 44 - Barkley Homestead
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGINA!!!!
Today we just drove and drove and drove and drove!!!! We left at about 7:20 and didn't stop until 5pm apart from toilet and fuel stops. We turned off at the Three Way Roadhouse, which is about 25km north of Tenant Creek, and then we started heading east towards Queensland. We have decided not to go to Ayres Rock as it was still about another 700km on to Alice Springs and them even further out to Uluru. So we are saving that for our second stint after harvest. So a lot of nothing out here. We pulled in at the Barkley Homestead for a barbi and a movie night on Mum and Dad's bed!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGINA!!!!
Today we just drove and drove and drove and drove!!!! We left at about 7:20 and didn't stop until 5pm apart from toilet and fuel stops. We turned off at the Three Way Roadhouse, which is about 25km north of Tenant Creek, and then we started heading east towards Queensland. We have decided not to go to Ayres Rock as it was still about another 700km on to Alice Springs and them even further out to Uluru. So we are saving that for our second stint after harvest. So a lot of nothing out here. We pulled in at the Barkley Homestead for a barbi and a movie night on Mum and Dad's bed!!!!!
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