Travelling Around Australia: June 2011

24^th May 2011 to 13^th June 2011

The Gold Coast was great. After setting up at the Treasure Island Tourist Park, we went to Ciro and Wendy’s for tea with Louy and Phil, who were up here on holiday. It was great catching up again. We also caught up with Vicky on Wednesday, who at the time was staying at Palm Beach. We went for a leisurely stroll along the beach with her and then went to the local surf club for lunch. We had a lovely day.

On Thursday we went to Movie World with Louy and Phil. I had never been to Movie World and really enjoyed it, particularly the Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3D experience, the Hollywood Stunt car show and the ride on the Wild West Falls Adventure. Phil took a ride on the Superman Escape a superfast 15 second experience. As we watched him he had a permanent smile on his face. Later he told us it was totally involuntary and only due to the G force! Ha ha. Greg and Phil braved the Batwing Spaceshot, I’m afraid I would have left my stomach on the ground if I had tried it. Louy didn’t take a ride on anything but she enjoyed the day and the shows and spending money on her beautiful granddaughter Presley.

We enjoyed the pool and spa facilities at the tourist park a lot, so nice to be swimming in May. It is a very beautiful park, a bit over priced from what we are used to, but we treated it as a mini holiday before we got back to bush camping. A bit of luxury never hurt anyone.

On Saturday night we of course went to the footy (GO the Mighty CATS!). The Cats won by a lazy 11 goals. Although Gold Coast started well, they couldn’t maintain the pace and Geelong ran all over them. Still have a lot of love for Gazza. At the footy we sat with my friends Wendy and Terry, who came up from Geelong, we saw Wado, a colleague from Deakin, and our friends Shirley and Gary, also from Geelong. After the footy we went to Jupiter’s Casino and ran into a number of other friends from Geelong. So the Gold Coast was a worthwhile stopover in more ways than one. Disappointed we didn't catch up with Wazza and my favourite man Hayden. SOB!! It’s always nice to see people from home and it will probably be the last time for a while.

Sunday we enjoyed a beautiful lunch at Fishermans Wharf Tavern in Southport with Ciro, Wendy, Louy and Phil. It is a great venue overlooking the marina, with Sunday afternoon music and the food is fabulous. Our last night there we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Ciro and Wendy (Louy and Phil left that morning) and the night sky sent us a fond farewell with a ripper of a lightning show, it was a spectacularly cracking storm.

Sorry folks I didn’t take any photos on the Gold Coast. Most people have been there and I wasn’t inspired to post photos of somewhere that most people have been. The Gold Coast is a beautiful tourist spot with great weather, lovely beaches and nice places to visit, but everyone has been there and I prefer not to post anything that has been seen before by so many.

We left Tuesday morning and headed about an hour north of Brisbane to Neurum Creek Bush Retreat. This gorgeous spot is in the Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast hinterland region, nestled below Mt Mee in the southern part of the D’Aguilar Range and National Park. It is very close to Lake Wivenhoe and was affected by the recent floods but has recovered very well. In fact the very spot we camped had been 1 metre under water and the creek below us peaked at 7 metres. There is still evidence of the flood with fences down etc and a tree right near our camp still has a steel farm gate and post perched precariously in its branches. The locals tell us that the water receded very quickly and they have done a wonderful job of recovering, with the retreat in really good shape.

Neurum Creek Bush retreat is a very popular destination, due to its closeness to Brisbane. When we arrived on Tuesday, we were one of only 4 others camped there. By Friday night there were 100 other campers who had arrived for the weekend. It is a well maintained park, which offers limited facilities, but it is very pretty and ideal for a weekend getaway or longer term. We were once again able to have roaring campfires and cooked some fabulous meals in the camp oven, including roast rack of lamb and beef stew. The weather here was fine for our whole stay, with average temperatures of 24 degrees with the sun shining brightly. The creek itself is normally a great spot for canoeing and kayaking, but due to the floods it was a bit dirty and had lots of dead trees and other debris in it. Unfortunately we were unable to use the boat and the kayak here.

Mt Mee has some great 4WD tracks, which had only been opened the week before after recovering from the wet and we took the opportunity to explore them. One track we ventured on was a moderate track, but there were some hairy moments. Greg drove first and I thought we had come to a dead-end, but in fact it was a muddy steep incline that I didn’t think we would be able to traverse. But we did it quite easily. When it was my turn I was a bit hesitant, but again we made it over. I love the experience of four wheel driving; it is extreme fun. The Mt Mee state forest has some lovely scenic spots including the Gantry shelter which operated as a sawmill until 1981, the Bulls Falls and Rocky Hole. Unfortunately Rocky Hole was closed due to flood damage; buy we took the walk to the Falls. Along the path we came across a huge python on the side of the walking track. UGH! It was lying in the sun and judging by its big fat belly had just feasted on some other creature. Of course I took off, so the photo is courtesy of Greg. We had a picnic at the Gantry and then had a look at the Somerset Lookout, which gives fantastic views over the Great Dividing Range and Lake Wivenhoe. It was a sunny day, but a bit hazy and the photos are not as spectacular as the view we were greeted with.

On Monday we drove only an hour to our next destination, still part of the Moreton Bay region, but we went from the hinterland to the coast to a little place called Coochin Creek. We drove through the Glass House Mountains to get here and of course stopped at the lookout to take some shots. The mountains are eroded remnants of volcanoes which were active millions of years ago and are very scenic.

Coochin Creek is near Beerwah, which is the home of Australia Zoo. Nice bush camping here with no facilities, but we can again have a campfire which makes cooking a lot easier. It was 27 degrees the day we arrived; oh so nice and warm. There is great access to the creek, which once again is more like a river, with a great fishing spot on the edge of the park and the boat ramp 1 km down the road.

Our third day here was so cold, apparently one of the coldest days on record. It sure felt like it. Thankfully the fire took the edge off and our camper offers great shelter. The long weekend was approaching, so we decided to stay until after then, or we may not have been able to find another spot to camp. The weather didn’t improve much while we were here, with a lot of rain at times, so we were a bit limited to any activities other than walking and collecting firewood. But hey that’s what camping is all about. My crossword skills are coming along nicely and 500 is our favourite card game. In summary, we relaxed a lot at Coochin Creek.

As I post this blog, the rain has started and it has been steady for a few hours. It is expected to last for a few days and as we aren't leaving until Tuesday, our activities probably won't change much. The aforementioned stuff with of course a Johnny, vino and/or beer in hand will accompany all of them.

If you do read my blog, I would appreciate a comment. Thanks to those of you who never fail to comment, but as we are so far away from home, family and friends, it would be nice to know if my blog is of interest or interesting and if the time it takes me to write, download and post is not wasted. Just hit the comment button and let us know you're around. We do love and miss you all. xxxxxxxxxx

Our next destination is Cooloola Recreation Reserve in the Great Sandy National Park, just south of Fraser Island and north of Noosa. There is apparently no phone or internet access at this spot and given the closeness of the Queensland school holidays we may stay as long as possible to avoid the risk of not being able to get in anywhere else. So folks you probably won’t hear from me for a while, but be rest assured we are happy, well and totally enjoying our adventure and will post an update ASAP. Cheers til next time.

A small selection of photos: