Blogs from Nambour, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

Geo: -26.6386, 152.961Started day with kangaroo sausages and toast, surprisingly ok! After picking Maddie up from school at midday and taking her friend home to Buderim up in the hills, we went to another popular beach resort called Mooloolaba. Lynya and I did a spot of clothes shopping on the beachfront whilst the men drank coffee. We then drove a short distance to Mooloolaba shopping mall. Lynya and I hit the clothes shops again, whilst the men split up to look at technology related stuff. We met up for coffee at a cafe next to the river that ran through the mall, then home to prepare dinner (roast lamb). We discovered that it's a small world during our conversation before eating. Throughout our stay Lynya has been organising for an ex-work colleague, by the name of ... read more

An amazing, surprising, complex country! Scenery that gives you a look at every landform and landscape that provides constant spectacle. A road system, built to facilitate military movements during the Eisenhower days, that now carries Americans up and down, back and forward, constantly. An excellent road system that, in large part, could handle more maintenance. Wonderful national parks in the country where the idea began. Hog and cattle factories across the plains that make you feel guilty tucking into a typically tender US steak. A country where many people travel, lots of them in very large RVs and perhaps not too far from home. Iconic world cities that seem just a little disconnected from the surrounding lands. A great country to travel through with people who are welcoming, polite and surprisingly different, from each other and ... read more

Blackall Range Waterfalls. From Nambour, it doesn’t matter which direction you travel, The Blackall Range tourist drive gives spectacular views from both sides of the vehicle. We went out to the Bruce highway to pick up the plumbing parts I needed and entered the tourist drive from the Landsborough turnoff to the south of Nambour. We basically travelled in a clockwise direction around the shorter drive. Landsborough was settled when gold was discovered in the area during the late 1800s. It was also a starting point for timber cutters in the 1880,s chasing Red Cedar, Blackbutt, and Turpentine logs. It is still considered one of Queensland’s historic townships. Through town the road begins to climb the Blackall Range. The Range sits to the north of the Glasshouse Mountains, first named by James Cook in 1770 as ... read more

For those of you who are faithful blog readers you have probably been wondering where on earth we have got to. For the others, you are probably grateful that we have gone silent. The reason there has been no word from us is that we have been travelling a route that we travelled on our last trip and it would have been repeating myself. But a quick overview .... Like last time, we spent a couple of weeks in Gracemere, just outside Rockhampton where we enjoyed the company of John's family. He has two daughters, one son and two grandchildren living in the area and we spent some great times with them. The heat was unbearable and we found a wonderful escape from it at Emu Park, right on the beach. There is a shady park ... read more