The Delightful South

I never thought this true-blue Queenslander would say this, but....

I like NSW...a lot!

We've been tripping around the coast of NSW for the past 2 weeks and as the pics show, there's been a lot to see and like and do. I wonder how many of these places you recognise.

N___________ Heads.

F_________ - T____________

N_____________

Friendly fellow campers at Canton Beach, near The Entrance.

Now the real fun begins.....

We had a blast during the 3 days of the Sydney Telstra 500...the final round of the V8 Supercar Championship for 2009. It was the first time it was held at Homebush in the almost dormant Olympic Park precinct. And it was a huge hit! Not just because the racing was amazing...which it was. But because of all the 'extras'....like.....

......the Showtime crew.....Yamaha freestyle motocross and the Hilux Heroes...

......being able to get 'up-close-and-personal' with the beasts....

.....access to the ute, mini and porshe pits (and all the big cute guys you find there)....

.....the crazy wonders you found round every corner (30 inch wheels on this baby!)....

.....evening concerts in ANZ Stadium. This was 60 000 or so for Cold Chisel. It went OFF!....

......panel interviews with the big names of the sport

(who do you recognise up there on stage?)....

....more posing with the beasts, including the famous 'Green Eyed Monster'.....

......being so close to the V8s you could almost touch them. That's Jamie Whincup on his victory lap after winning the championship for 09.....

....celebrating your team's victories and buying some cool merch.....

Certainly a highlight in the 'events' category of our trip. And we love that we were there for the first ever one at Homebush.

South of Sydney, the coastal beauty continues....

The Grand Pacific Drive......if you look real hard you'll see the 665m Sea Cliff Bridge.

W______________....hint! Home to Wayne Bennett.

Mystery Bay....awesome camping spot, despite the rainy night.

Beautiful place for a swim though.

The Whole Set!

We did it!

Finally, after 10 months traveling and more than 40 000kms, we collected our final 'most' point. This time it was the eastern-most....Cape Byron, NSW.

We explored the lighthouse and the cape, posed for photos and then celebrated with a swim at Byron's Main Beach and a hot chips on fresh white bread lunch.

Hmmmmmm! Life continues to be....oh so good!

Cape Byron.....looking from the south.

The lighthouse and Jon...the most awesome driver in Australia in 09.

You did it Honey! Hip Hip!! Now he wants a new challenge....something about getting up to the highest point in Oz seeing as we have already been to the lowest.

That's the most eastern point on Australia's mainland in the background....right between our heads.

Main Beach, Byron Bay....full of schoolies and backpackers.

Happiest of Days

We just had a fantastic weekend.......

Friday night was an unexpectedly late one. Dad was driving back to the lake with Nanna when the car broke down. So at 11pm Jon and I were called upon to undertake a rescue mission......drive south of Caloundra and extract the subjects from the roadhouse cafe. We successfully completed our mission, arriving back at the lake at 1am Saturday morning. My poor 88 year old Nan!

Saturday dawned too early and warm, but it was to be an exciting day as Nathan and Tatiana arrived, ready for their afternoon wedding. We enjoyed lunch on the deck with friends and family before the ceremony on the shores of the Noosa River by Sandy Cove. It was a great afternoon with family, which turned from a wedding into a dunk-a-thon. All the kids.....the little ones and most of the big ones....ended up in the river (some by choice and others thrown in) for a cooling swim.

The deck at the lake was the venue for dinner and the brothers-in-law manned the barbie, creating succulent morsels for the rest of us to devour.

Many CONGRATULATIONS to the happy couple!

Sunday started with waffles for breaky....on the deck. The fuel of champions, it charged us up, ready to play our first ultimate disc game. Jon, Dad and I got roped into the first round of the BUS (Beach Ultimate Series), organised by Nathan and played at Noosa. Great fun...with Jon proving to be the Ultimate Hero.....catching the disc in the end zone to win the game for the 'darks' 9-8! As fun as the game was, the recovery swim afterwards, was even better. And much needed....both to cool down and wash the sticky sand off.

We're both in recovery mode.....enjoying the breeze by the lake, minding the 'grand-dog' while M & D take a mini-break and packing up to get ready to head south.....again.

Loving Spring

There's just something in the air....

*cough cough*.......

It's smoke!!!!!

Sadly, lovely Lake Cootharaba is covered in smoke today and we can't even see the other side of the lake....most unusual. It smells and is ugly, but we are still sailing and smiling.

Gotta love Mondays.......breaky on the deck (which merged into coffee and cake thanks to the great company and conversation)......a sail.....lunch on the deck.......a siesta........another sail.......a walk........dinner on the deck.

The pics below show some of the fun we've been having in the south-east in late spring.

Looking towards the old jetty and 'or beach' on a clear day at the lake.

Jon carves up the lake on the kneeboard.

And catches lunch!

Kirsty does her best to stay upright.

"Happy Birthday Gran!"

The results of Sally's fab art classes and my niece and nephew's creative streaks.

Still on The List

If I made a list of my favourite places in Australia, Fraser Island would be so near the top. To me, it epitomises so much of what I love....sunshine, freedom, splendid scenery, beach living, 4 wheel driving, swimming, simple living, camping and adventure.

We've just spent 3 nights on the island with our parents...both sets!!...and Kirsty's sister, husband and 3 of our nieces and nephews. Perfect weather - sunshine and cooling breeze. Well-timed early afternoon low tides. 2 cars bogged....not the Nav (of course!) The worms were biting and the pippys were almost jumping into the bucket. Dolphins were playing in the south and sea eagles spread their majestic wings in the north. And the best bits - Lake McKenzie, Central Station, Eli Creek, Ocean Lake, the Maheno and all the beaches - were showing themselves off to full advantage.

Sadly, we couldn't get all the way up to Sandy Cape as they've closed a couple of tracks due to severe beach erosion, but there was still plenty to see and do to the south.

I absolutely love camping on the beachfront...despite the south easterly winds and sand blowing every which way....so it was great to have 2 nights camped on the dunes. And it was fun building sand cars and damming the creeks and playing tennis ball golf and all the other fun bits that go along with camping with kids.

Thanks everyone for a great time....and cheers! to the Tenacious Terracan, the Dominating Defender and the Courageous Colorado. You gave the Mighty Navara good competition but just weren't quite up to the mark. Maybe next time!