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!

We've Done It!

In one sense I guess you could say our round Australia adventure is over. We have completed the lap, arriving in Biloela where it all began way back in February. BUT we are NOT done yet!

Grandma is shocked? dismayed? bamboozled? by Jon's post-lap analysis. Grandfather thinks it's a great story.

Not quite the finished product as we plan to keep on driving. But if you look really closely you can see where the mighty Navara has taken us since February....south, west, north, south, west, north, east, north, south.....all over really! 37 000+ km.

And the best bits.....definitely July-September which was spent across the top of WA, NT and QLD hitting all the 4WD 'Big Ticket' items like: The Kimberleys, Gulf, Cape York. Tassie and the Victorian High Country still rate a mention in the 'best bits' list.

We get to go back to Fraser Island next week.....wonder where it will rate?

Blackdown Tableland

Once again we have found a little piece of magic....right in our own backyard. Just a few hours north-west of Gladstone is Blackdown Tableland NP where you can: 4WD the loop track; bushwalk amongst wattles, palms and eucalypts; swim in a clear cold pool at the base of a waterfall; sit back, relax and watch the birds and butterflies; camp amongst the big trees in the well set out NP campground and soak up breathtaking views from the escarpment lookouts. God's creation is awesome! And we had a great couple of days checking it out and enjoying it last week.