Nelson Bay (20.03.16)

Our next destination was Newcastle but after finding out Coffs Harbour was not we expected we thought we might have a similar experience in Newcastle so we opted for what we thought might be a smaller coastal resort - Steve just doesn't think he's on holiday unless it's by the sea! - so we headed for Nelsons Bay. As it was situated on a small peninsular it meant backtracking slightly on our route down the coast but as we were travelling on the motorway we thought that we we would be making good time so it wouldn't matter.

How wrong could a person be?  The Australian government have deemed it necessary to improve the road network in this area and add extra, much needed, lanes to the existing motorway. Mile after mile or should I say km after km, queues after queues of traffic and in our car lots of moans, groans, huffing and puffing. Neither of us could believe the extent of the roadworks, they are obviously getting the job done in one go rather than one segment at a time but it must be costing billions of dollars. In desparation and because Steves throat was dry from all the muttering he had been doing we pulled into a McDonalds for a drink, mind I wasn't complaining as it meant I was able to have a slushie.

After our short rest I was charged with finding somewhere to stop for lunch. I found somewhere I thought might be ok and which would pander to Steves fetish for being by the side of  the sea,  so we headed for Harrington. Did I do good? I most certainly did even if I pat my own back. Despite having had a couple of large, exclusive 'retirement villages' built on its outskirts, it was basically an unspoilt, old fashioned and  unpretensious town. It stretched quite a long way along the seafront which was protected by an impressive breakwater formed by rocks. Beyond this was a sand bar which made for an interesting view, it was odd to see the sand and the breaking waves at the back of what was a full tide

We had a delicious roast lamb with a difference,  lunch outside on the terrace at the hotel, sharing it with a couple of pelicans!

Not much to say about Nelson Bay apart from the fact we had torrential rain while we were there which completely ruined any photo opportunities. Oh and we had a delicious steak at Hogs Breath Cafe I wonder who thought that one up and why it didn't cross his ( bound to be a man ) mind that such a name might put people off!

Urban dictionary

As I was writing about Coffs Harbour I remembered that the lady in the tea shop called me doll. I remarked to Steve at the time it was the first time I had heard it used.

I decided to look it up in the Australian Urban Dictionary.

"doll", is a word used, to discribe pretty, beautifull, exquisite, adorable or just to tell someone that they are a nice person. 

Isn't this me to a tee?

Please accept my apologies for this one but it was on the opening page and I thought it was so funny but true!

Top definition for Australia 

The best fuckin' country in the world, Australia, is also the only place where Christ could never have been born, as in Australia, you cannot find 3 wisemen and a virgin.

Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy! Oi! Oi! Oi! 

Ozzy! = Australia!

Coffs Harbour (18.03.16)

We were advised to pay a visit to Coffs Harbour - a little and pretty coastal resort
When we got there to our dismay it was about the size of Wolverhampton!  I've no doubt that the original village/town that surrounded the harbour was little and nice but due to development, residential and retail it can no longer be classed as little. We arrived in grey cloud and showers so there wasn't any incentive to explore so we buried our head in the guide book until it was time to go out.

The following day after a late start and a swim in th re pool we headed out towards Belliingen on the waterfall way. The road was deemed a 'king' as it wound its way up, down and around. Unfortunately because we had such a late start we didn't get to see many waterfalls but there again the total distance of the waterfall way is about 165km so we weren't expecting to do the full distance.  We did however make it to Bellingen, a quaint little town that has retained it's old world charm, despite some residential development,  probably because the new mimics the old.

As we drove into the village we passed a recreation ground where the kids were playing football,  parents proudly spectating and cheering their offspring on to get that ball in the back of the net.  Next came the village green, or what was actually a field but nonetheless it was obviously the hub of village activities as the cricket match was in progress. I was expecting a duck pond to appear at any moment.

Around the next bend was the high street,  a wide road with shops and a cafe. Time for afternoon tea and a sticky cake or so we thought. Steve parked up and we crossed the road, climbed the steps to the door and opened it to be greeted by a 'closed' sign. Well, what else could we expect after all it was just after 4pm on a Saturday afternoon. It just would have been helpful if the closed sign had been positioned outside the door and then we wouldn't have disturbed the rather sour faced lady counting up her daily takings.

We did find another cafe but no sticky cakes which was a blessing really. The difference in the attitude of the lady running this cafewas very noticeable,  she was more than happy to serve us and I even got my tea in a pot. However,  even she started to clear the outside tables away while we were still sitting drinking our tea and coffee despite the opening hours posted on the door stated very clearly that closing time was 5.30pm and it was now 4.20pm. We very kindly decided she must have forgotten to alter her watch to reflect the time difference.

Big Things

In the 1960's there was a craze for big things. Evidently there were quite a few of these big things in Queensland but a lot have fallen into disrepair.
Here are 3 that we spotted
Pineapple in Nambour, close to Twin Waters
Prawn in Bellina on the road between Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour This crustacean has recently been renovated at a cost of $400,0000 - you are allowed to ask WHY?
Banana in Coffs Harbour

Has everyone gone bananas or has this crazy craze got out of hand?

Colourful Campers

I managed to get a shot of this lone camper van . Usually there are big groups of them parked together and there's always someone hanging around so it's difficult to get a photo without seeming intrusive.  As this one was on its own I seized the opportunity while its owner was away. The vans aren't all as graphic in colour or sentiment as this one, obviously this company specialises in paint jobs and aims to shock!!  It's probably being driven by a 65 year old barefooted born again surfer complete with dreadlocks.  (Claws are out today folks but they are alive and kicking in Byron Bay)

All the B's (16.03.16)

Brisbane to Byron Bay, all the B's with a few choice B's inbetween.

I think we will miss Brisbane as we quite enjoyed our time there and for us to say that about a city environment says it all. I would like to have stayed longer but we have to move on otherwise we won't get to Sydney on time, although we are both having misgivings about the house exchange and the fact that we have to move out for 3 nights (short story but when you hear my rants it gets far more protracted).

The day started off reasonably bright but as usual it clouded over and we had several hefty storms which were a bit scary ss we were driving through rain so heavy that the wipers could not clear the windscreen. Our route took us through several of the towns on the Gold Coast, so called because of the golden sand beaches. Boy, were we glad that we hadn't chosen one of them for a stop over. Picture Blackpool prom with all the tourist attractions, cheap souvenir shops and B & B's, now picture Benidorm with all its high rise apartment bocks. Mix these together and what you end up with is our impressions of the Gold Coast. We were getting more apprehensive about Byron Bay with each km we drove as all these towns merged into one so we didn't know for sure exactly where we were. Luuckily about 20km from our destination we passed the last high rise into open country, the sun came out and the grey clouds turned white.

Byron Bay is delightful,  first and foremost a surfers town but one which seems to have been able to maintain a pleasant seaside atmosphere and even though it was quite crowded there was a relaxed, laid back vibe. The beaches were the busiest we had seen and what surprised us was the mix of old and young, beach-bum and city gent surfers. Steve also had his share of bikini clad young girls to feast his eyes on. We didn't spot any older women catching a wave so perhaps its only older men who are reluctant to hang up their surf boards and grow old gracefully.

B for Brisbane and Barbara

We meandered around the city yesterday hopping on the ferry to get us from A to B, managed to find the shopping mall where all the big names were on show, and ended up on the South Bank. Just in case you were under the influence last night and couldn't remember where you went to bed there was a large display of brightly coloured letters spelling Brisbane. Everyone was taking photos and there was a couple of young girls climbing all over the letters so Steve suggested that I pose by the side of the B. For once I agreed to have my photo taken but I definitely didn't like it!

Leading from the swimming pool on South Bank there was a boardwalk which took us to the next ferry stop and across the river. We were perusing all the menus as we passed each restaurant. , looking for somewnere to have our evening meal. We eventually decided on a Bavarian Bier Keller (hope thats spelt correctly) where I had the most delicious roast belly pork with crackling to die for. Unfortunately the chef must have been a bit heavy handed with the salt and I drank so much I was peeing nearly all night - probably too much information! 

Mount Cool- tah, the highest point in the city was well worth the visit, even though it was a bit overcast the panoramic 360 views over the city were incredible and as I hadnt given the S for Steve in 'Brisbane' a thought Steve got his photo with the city backdrop. 

 

Bridge versus People

Our first full day in Brisbane and our plan was to walk around the city centre so we started off across the bridge. One of the first thing we noticed was the signs offering hope and help and it then became obvious that the railings had been increased in height with the addition of a stainless steel canopy type structure which does not allow anyone to climb it especially as the edge of this extension had a jagged edge. All the steel work of the bridge was also blocked in with stainless steel sheet to deter anyone from climbing it.

Its sad to think of the measures that must be put in place to protect us from ourselves

Posters advertising help and advice  - phone provided with a dedicated line

Razor edge to deter climbers.

Brisbane (13.03.16)

Time to leave Twin Waters and head to Brisbane to meet 0ch which will make a nice chTV vange for me after being chained to the kitchen sink and cooker forthe past 10 days. I've definitely been in the holiday mood since we've been in Twin Waters, having done absolutely nothing that I haven't had to. Of course all  the mundane routines jobs:  tidying the flutters up, wiping the bathroom over, cooking the evening meal, (Steve was in charge of lunches, bless), washing and ironing, all got done and we even remembered to put the rubbish bins out for collection and, you all know how much I love gardening - don't,  we watered the plants!

Most of the time we have sat and talked, covering all sorts of subjects  putting the world to rights and discussing how we would spend the lottery money we are going to win one day - I can dream!

I've played games, read books and cokoured in my book. All the rage in the UK (and here it seems)- colouring books for adults so when Steve saw them in the newsagents he bought me one plus crayons for my birthday,. I thought the time would drag but it has passed surprisingly quickly. 

Steve collected the next hire car and we had two days to catch up on some sightseeing so we visited Maroochydore and Mooloolaba where we decided to join the kids in a swimming lesson. The surf was strong and the waves were big, it was impossible to stand up and we were being tossed around, like being in a washing machine. We had only been in the water about 10 minutes when the lifeguard called everybody in as it was becoming dangerous again. Although it was fun it was very tiring and I can see how easy it would be to be overcome by the waves especially if you weren't that confident in the water so I for one was quite glad the lifequard blew his whistle.

Our journey to Brisbane was delayed so we were late for our lunch appointmment. We had to detour about 18km north to go south because there was a decathlon event being held locally and they had closed the motorway and then the volume of traffic meant it was stop / start especially when the heavens opened and it rained stair rods! 

The hotel we stayed in overlooked the river and Story Bridge so the  view from the balcony was constantly changing with traffic crossing the bridge and ferries crossing the river. As you can see from the pictures Brisbane has its fair share of high rise office and appartment blocks, all of them illuminated at night.  The public transport system is very good, there is a free ferry service up and down the river and a free bus which does a circular route around the city.

 

Catch up

I've definitely been in the holiday mood since we've been in Twin Waters, having done absolutely nothing that I haven't had to. Of course all  the mundane routines jobs:  tidying the flutters up, wiping the bathroom over, cooking the evening meal, (Steve was in charge of lunches, bless), washing and ironing, all got done and we even remembered to put the rubbish bins out for collection and, you all know how much I love gardening - don't,  we watered the plants!

Most of the time we have sat and talked, covering all sorts of subjects  putting the world to rights and discussing how we would spend the lottery money we are going to win one day - I can dream!

I've played games, read books and cokoured in my book. All the rage in the UK (and here it seems)- colouring books for adults so when Steve saw them in the newsagents he bought me one plus crayons for my birthday,. I thought the time would drag but it has passed surprisingly quickly. 

Steve collected the next hire car so we had two days to catch up on some sightseeing so we visited Maroochydore and Mooloolaba where we decided to join the kids in a swimming lesson. The surf was strong and the waves were big, it was impossible to stand up and we were being tossed around, like being in a washing machine. We had only been in the water about 10 minutes when the lifeguard called everybody in as it was becoming dangerous again. Although it was fun it was very tiring and I can see how easy it would be to be overcome by the waves especially if you weren't that confident in the water so I for one was quite glad the lifequard blew his whistle.

School kids enjoying their swimming/surfing lesson at Mooloolaba

Street Market

As street markets go this one was quite a good one. Its quite large and extremely popular, not only were there a lot of local visitors there were lots of coach tours ferrying people to the market that cant be missed.

Apart from the usual local produce stalls, clothes stalls and knick knack stalls there were lots of craft stalls. Paintings, sculptures, silk flower arrangements, handmade candles, handmade bookmarks ( they were really nice and the lady was telling us that her 12 year old son had come up with the idea and she had gone into the manufacture of them but we were certain with the advent of the kindle she was fighting a loosing battle ), needlecraft stalls and wood carvings to name but a few.  The only trouble was I thought some of the goods were expensive but I know from personal experience that its virtually impossible to factor in an hourly rate for the time you spend in making a handmade item. It was a constructive time for me as I now have some crafty ideas but I'm not about to spill the beans incase you might be the recipient of my endeavours.

Twin Waters (29.02.16)

Today was the day we moved into our house exchange in Twin Waters. This is an area that has been developed around a river inlet but excavations during the build process were designed to give as many houses as possible access to the water by the formation of lagoons.  All the houses are individually designed and no two are the same so we were thrilled to find ourselves in a beautiful house with a view over the lagoon, however there were warning signs that there might be creatures in the water which may cause harm so swimming was discouraged. 

We were aware that we were living in someones house so knew that we would have to take care of it, not that we go around trashing hotel rooms you underrstand but it took me a couple of days to settle in and to stop trying to pick up the tiny pieces of foil from all over the kitchen work surface which were actually little shiny particles emedded into the material!

We only had the hire car for another few days and consequently we needed to explore the surrounding area in the first few days we were in residence. So we mapped out a plan which involved visiting the small and picturesque villages inland of Twin Waters, a trip to a famed street market, a visit to a sea life aquarium and an aviation museum. Steve was determined not to drive for a few days, after having driven for the last six weeks he deserved a rest but at the same time we knew our activities would be restricted without a car. 

I was looking forward to some home cooking, something basic without all the pomp and ceremony associated with restaurant meals, i was thinking along the lines of sausage and mash and a cottage pie maybe. Although we had cooked whenever possible we had also had to eat out quite often and a lot of the dishes were very similar,  I think they all had 'crispy skinned salmon' lurking somewhere on the menu and one 'jus' or another while I was dreaming of a good old fashioned gravy!  I'm not sure if I've already mentioned it but most of the hotel rooms have a full sized fridge, a microwave or a 2 ring hob but some are fully equipped and even have washing machines and tumble driers in them. Anyway, back to the point, we not only mapped out our itinerary we planned our menu and a shopping list which we knew would last us until we collected the next hire car so add a trip to the supermarket to the list.

Rear elevation of house

View over the lagoon

Micromail

Is this where Mr Microsoft stores the spam email?

On our travels in regions of Australia where angels fear to tread we noticed this novel use for dead microwave ovens - post boxes. Both airtight and watertight, is there a better way to keep you mail safe?

Not quite certain how the neighbours would react!!

Cruising at Sunset

Steve must have been in a romantic mood because he suggested a cruise to see the sun go down over the banks of the river. The boat was far from glamorous,  in fact it was one of the ferries that run up and down the river during the day. We think that the skipper must have seen an opportunity to make an extra bit of money by offering to run his boat at this time to attract a different type of customer. . His gamble appears to have worked because the boat was full.  Neither he nor the boat were licensed to sell alcohol so in all the adverts you were told to bring your own (byo) drinks and the glasses would be provided.

The skipper was a cheery fellow who kept us entertained with a few jokes and stories. We were one of the first of several pick ups he made along the river but at 5.15 pm it didn't feel particularly romantic.  However it gets dark quite early here and by the time the last people had climbed aboard it was dusky. We had paid a visit to the bottle shop and were in possession of a bottle of rose wine so we collected a couple of glasses from inside the boat and made our way up the stairs to the outside deck so we would have an uninterrupted view of the sunset.

First off we motored up and down several of the inlets where the cost of the houses is high. I'm not sure whether the skipper knew the people in the houses or whether he was using other water users as his excuse for blowing his horn a few times.. he told us about one owner whose kids complained that they didn't have enough room to play outside.  Being a kind and considerate father he purchased the house next door and then knocked it down and lawned the whole area so in essence the kids now have a $4million play area. True or not only the owner knows for sure but the story kept us entertained for a few minutes.

As we turned back down the river the sun began to slip down the sky. It was like molten gold and the sky turned a hundred shades of orange, it was a very dramatic sunset.

Boards, Breakers, Rips and all things Surfing

Crete doesn't have the monopoly on wind believe it or believe it not. The plan today was to go to the eastern beaches to see the surfers strutting their stuff and hopefully catching a wave, after all we were at the beginning of surfers paradise. Ther are certainly enough camper vans with surf boards strapped to them, the occupants either on the beach or horizontal on the bed within the van, the bed which was errected on day 1 and has remained in place ever since.  We were even prepared for the day out with swimming gear, hats, suntan lotion, factor 50 of course and bottles of water. I had even remembered my hairbrush and a plastic bag to put the wet gear in.

Trust us to get the day wrong!  Not from a date point of view but from the climatic conditions. I daren't mention the weather word for fear of starting Steve off on his hobby horse.  It had suddenly become very windy, very similar to Crete infact when it blows a hooley, coming from nowhere.  En route we heard on the local radio that the coastguards had closed some of the beaches because of a change in conditions and the rips were dangerous. (Been here less than a week and I've already got the lingo and for those of you who don't understand the undercurrent was too strong)  We decided to carry on to have a look for ourselves

.When we arrived at the car park we sensed it was bad news for the surfers, there wasn't a camper van in sight, they had obviously gone off to some shady spot to lie horizontal in their beds talking of past times when conditions were perfect. When we got to the beach itself the sight and size of the breaking waves was incredible. As each wave broke there were more and more following it, each one at least 6 feet high. It was completely deserted,  not even one hunky guy in board shorts displaying his 6 pack for me to drool over - I can dream of past times too when conditions,  especially my condition was a perfect size 10!

 But wait, what's this, is it a bird, is it a plane no its a kite surfer! He came out of the spray and mist caused by the breaking waves, twisting, turning, jumping, giving it air and his piece de resistance was a somersault! We stood, mouths agape, in awe of his skill watching as he passed before us. He carried on and on and to be brutally honest it looked as if he couldnt have stopped if he'd wanted to. Was he foolish to ignore all the warnings about the dangerous conditions or was he confident in his ability to master the sea? One things for certain if he couldn't manage to handle his kite with the wind against him he'd have a long walk back, the beach is 9km long!

Steve and I gave up the idea of swimming, found a shady spot outside a bar and over a cup of coffee we talked about the times when the conditions had been perfect and decided that there had been quite a few of those times over the last 37 years. Its not all about surfing, wink, wink!

Bit of a teaser

Caught sight of this - can you guess what it is??

Slushies

It's another of those random photos I've come across.

For those of you who don't know I'm a fan of slushy, iced drinks, especially the cocktails that you can buy and freeze yourself.  Steve even bought me a slushie machine for Xmas. 

When Amy was travelling through New Zealand and Australia she used to drink frozen coke from McDonalds all the time. Imagine my delight when we drove past a Hungry Jack (Burger King to you and I) and caught sight of the advert for the frozen drinks at $1 each.

After Steve had taken a few trips round the block trying to get into the car park I got to my first frozen drink. This flavour was sour apple and it was delicious and deserving of a mention and a photograph. Steve emailed the photo to Amy just as a tease as I consumed the frozen drink which was the first of many.

Seasonings

I was looking through the photographs I have taken and came across this one. Strange what overcomes you when you have a camera in your hand.  Novel way of offering salt and pepper instead of the usual little paper packets.

Mind you there's nothing beats the old twist of salt that was found in a packet of Smiths crisps, especially if you managed to put it in your mouth in error!

Individual portions of salt and pepper in a plastic pod

Eats, eats and more Eats

We both got up this morning vowing not go eat again until our evening meal, after what we ate last night we shouldn't want to eat for another week!  Isn't it funny though, if I eat late at night and go to bed with my tummy full then not only do I have a bad nights sleep I usually wake up hungry. Anyway our resolution didn't last very long when we found a bar servivg baked camembert cheese with assorted nuts. Unfortunately it didn't stop there because as we walked further on down the street we just happened on an ice cream shop. 1 chocolate chip and 1 burnt caramel ice cream later the vow not to eat again changed from tonights evening meal to tomorrows!  All we had the energy for that afternoon was a dip in the pool followed by a siesta.

Swimming pool to ouselves

All the villas backed onto the gardens, you can just about see the barbeque, the wooden building to the left hand side.

Our villa was the one on the right

Bargain accommodation. We picked this 2 bedroomed villa, complete with full kitchen, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble drier for $100 per night. there were only about 20 villas on the complex, lovely gardens and a swimming pool. The villas are actually owned by individual people who use them as summer homes or they are rented out to holidaymakers. Presumably they have to pay ground rent or something similar and also a management charge but you frequently see these type of houses for sale. 

Birthday Treat

Dressed in our best we turned up on time,  the table had been reserved but it was at the end next to a driveway so we opted to go inside instead. I chose to have a sample menu consisting of 3 spit roasted meats - beef, lamb and pork, Steve went for the big one involving a roll with some sort of cream cheese starter, a main course of beef, pork, lamb, chicken and chorizo sausage and to finish grilled fresh pineapple  Again these were all spit roasted but with different spices and sauces, all in all there were 11 different dishes but he reneged on the chicken heart so he only eat 10. Along side of this there was a list of side orders from which he could choose 5 and then to top it all he could ask for as many slices of meat as he wanted and reordering the side dishes was no problem. The waiters were very good, they kept an eye on what was being eaten and just before he finished one variety of meat they came with a massive squewer with the next meat on it and carved it at the table. I sampled little bits of his meat and helped out with the side orders but as I had my own generous portions to contend with.

Now let me tell you about the drinks, Steve had a beer, I had a mojito or a sort of mojito. The waitress said that the 3 cocktails listed were all the same apart from the spirit, one was voka, one white rum and I can't remember the third but they all consisted of crushed mint with sugar, ice, the chosen spirit and lime juice.  I said "and then topped up with soda water to make a mojito" to which she replied "whats a mojito and no soda, just lime juice". Feeling brave I said I would try one and even though it nearly knocked my socks off it was the best mojito I've ever had. Well you just have to don't you, have another that is! Its a good job that the restaurant closed and we were back in our room by 9.20pm because if I had had the opportunity to have a third non-mojito cocktail Steve would have been carrying me home

 Meat on the grill

Steves menu

Noosa (24.02.16)

Onto Noosa and this is where the 'holiday' begins.  We are here for 6 days and then we move onto our house exchange in Twin Waters for 2 weeks. It might seem as though its already been a holiday, it's certainly been a fantastic time,  despite the weather not being as good as it should have been in New Zealand. I think both of us are beginning to feel a wee bit weary so although we will continue sightseeing the pace will be slower, after all my motto in Crete is one job a day so why change. When we started this trip I had worked out our itineraries and I had a definite 'must do' list. So far we have stuck to the chosen routes, some of them traversed purely to get from A to B, and the must do list is full of ticks. This area, the sunshine coast, has many attractions, some beautiful beaches and picturesque scenery, all deserving of our attention so lets get started.

 Noosa itself is a fairly large and very busy town/area, a llittle pretensious but with a reputation to live up to.  If Kaikoura was Blackpool, Wanaka was Windermere then Noosa is St Tropez, full of pretty people, pretty shops and pretty restaurants. However, the ladies that lunch and carry their latest purchase in designer carrier bags rub shoulders with the young who eat hamburgers at McDonald's while carrying their whole wardrobe in their bacpack, and don't seem to care. Its an eclectic mix of people but it seems to work attracting many visitors, holidaymakers from near and far and locals who consider it the 'in' place to be seen.  

We headed for Hastings Street, definitely the place to be seen. Question was how do you get to see and be seen when parking is at a premium and you join a queue of cars crawling up and down hoping someone just happens to vacate their space in front of you allowing you to pull in. Steve always gets lucky and this time was no exception. Although it was my birthday I had decided that we would celebrate tomorrow night instead in order to give us time to find somewhere we could have a nice meal but in a town that is famed for its many restaurants and diverse cuisines where do you start?

 We eventually chose a Brazilian restaurant and booked a pavement table for 7.30pm which was last orders. 

Noosa Parade

Noosa Sound

Noosa Sound

PS

Steve must be correct in his assumption that I am becoming an anorak -  I couldn't resist this one!

No more I promise!

A walk on the wild side

We had booked an extra night in Bargara just in case we were delayed at the turtle conservation centre but as it happened we were back by 21.30 at the latest so  had a lazy day, swimming in the pool and relaxing in the sun.  We strolled around the gardens of the accommodation which were in parts natural forest, took photos of the lily pond and were almost certain that we had seen something jump into the water. Waiting around for whatever it was to reappear became pointless, everthing in the liky pond remained calm but it gave me the opportunity to photograph what I think were  parrots. On the way back to our cabin we spotted some kind of lizard running across the lawn coming to rest at the far side. He was quite large, about 18 inches long, and he did the decent thing  and posed for a photograph. It seems srrange seeing these creatures in their natural habitat inatead of in cages.

I have taken lots of photos of perfect golden sand beaches which stretch for miles but that's probably because this  coast is well endowed with them. However the beach at Bargara is heavily scattered with black volcanic stones so I've thrown in a couple of photos for good measure.

Bargara (22.02.16)

 From Rockhampton to Bargara, a coastal town near Bundaberg. Since arriving in Australia I've been drinking Bundaberg ginger beer but its more well known for the production of rum. Tours to the distillery include a tasting of the rum and then onto see how the ginger beer is fermented. However, as much as I would like to have had a small drop of rum we were in Bargara to see the turtle rookeries at Mon Repos.

From November to March the female loggerhead turtles return to the Mon Repos beach to lay their eggs and then about 8weeks later the hatchlings dig themselves out of the nest and make their way to the sea under the cover of darkness. During the season by day the beach is public but after 6.30pm it closes to protect the baby turtles and it's now that you can go on an evening visit to see the turtles either laying or the babies breaking out of their shells.

The visit is from 7pm until 2am but it very rare that you are there for that long. It is quite orchestrated as the rangers know where the nests are and the stage of development they are at but even then are at pains to tell you that there are no guarantees that you will see anything. When we arrived there were quite a lot of people already there being booked in and allocated to  a group.  It took ages as mr pensioner was crossing your name off the list and mrs pensioner was sticking labels on your chest to indicate your group.  Eventually with bright pink stickers attached to our person we sat down in the ampitheatre to await our turn.

It wasn't long before our group, of which there were about 30,  joined 2 rangers to head for the beach, there were to be no torches or photography until told. Thank goodness the moon was shining, as it illuminated the way for us and it remained warm enough to stand around. We followed the ranger up the beach, occasionally getting our feet wet as the waves rolled in and out.  The trek to the nest didn't take too long and when we got there a young girl volunteer had been excavating it. The senior ranger inspected the eggs and decided that they were ready to hatch so he cracked the egg and the baby turtle emerged.

Meanwhile the second ranger was kneeling down on the sand, about 3metres away from the nest. He had a head torch on which he was shining directly into the nest. When the first baby turtle emerged from his egg and headed towards the sea it set up a chain reaction and loads of the eggs hatched at the same time. By instinct the babies all trekked towards the light from the headtorch thinking it was the moon, their normal point of reference. As they neared the ranger he picked them up and popped them in a wire basket where they squuirmed about, climbing all over each other, sometimes ending upside down.  The ranger reassured us that at this stage and only this stage they were able to turn themselves back over. When the last few stragglers had been popped in the basket it was time for photos. The tiny turtles were brought around the group and we were all given an opportunity to have one placed in our hands even thought the rangers never let them go. Their little flippers were scratchy as they tried to gain purchase on anything solid. I couldn't  believe how tiny they were and how many of them - mom can lay up to 130 eggs!  

When we had all seen them we had to form 2 lines down the beach about 3 metres apart. Then anyone carrying a torch could form a line in the middle, legs apart shining their torch at the ankles of the person infront. The ranger with the head torch waded into the sea and then it was all systems go, the babies were released from the basket and in a scurrying mass they followed the line of torch light in between the legs towards the safety of the waves. The sea rolled in and took the babies with it and as the flow ebbed they were taken off on the beginning of their lifes journey. Survivors will return to the Mon Repos beach in 30 years time to lay their eggs and the cycle will continue.

moonlit sea

In the palm of my hand