South East Queensland

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Hey,
So here are some catch up photos and things from the last week or so in sunny Queensland.
Last week we decided to break the beach routine and go into the hinterland, as they say here. We went inland from Maroochydore to the Blackall Ranges. There are some amazing parks there, luscious green with some huge waterfalls and monoliths. We just did a day trip, so only did a couple of walks (and its a bit hot to be walking for hours).
We went to Montville and Mapleton which are really cute little towns, similiar in style to Titirangi, but with far older buildings. The town has gone for an old europe feel, with german clock shops, candy shops, italian grocers, french toy shops, english pubs, etc. From there we went inland to Kondalila Falls and Mapleton Falls, which are the kind of waterfalls that are too steep to photograph!
And on the way back we took the token 'Big Pineapple' shots in Nambour, part of the Queensland 'big' things.

We decided to spend the long weekend in Brisbane, so we drove down to stay with Matt's family friends, the Ng's. They live in Kenmore Hills, in the western part of Brisbane with beautiful trees and old Queenslander houses. We arrived to a wonderful Chinese meal that our host cooked....Mmmm! The next day the kids (roughly our ages) Paul and Lee took us on a Brisbane sightseeing tour! We went to Mt Cootha for a view of the city (and beyond), CBD Queens St Mall for lunch where there was a weightlifting competition, Kangaroo Point and South Bank to the lagoon pool and market. At the southbank markets we tried 'churros' which are like donuts that aren't rolled up, just long doughy stick things with cinnamon and sugar...mmmm. Then off to buy our round-the-world ticket which took a very long time. But we have bought a ticket to ...Singapore - Malaysia- Thailand- Bahrain - Greece (driving to Paris) - Iceland - New York - Vancouver - LA - Tahiti and home to Auckland for December 7th. Then hope to look for a job in Australia after Christmas.

Last day of our South East Queensland holiday-from-a-holiday, we decided to go to the Gold Coast for the day. On the way (well actually a major detour) we went to Natural Bridge in the Springbrook/Lamington Park near the NSW border. The waterfalls there are awesome, and actually flow through a cave under a natural bridge of rock. Very busy though.
Then off to Broadbeach/Surfers for a swim and walk. Very busy and hot, we heard the Warriors came and played the Titans (and lost) while we were there....surely too hot for league! We rushed backed to Brisbane for the 5pm church service at Kenmore Baptist, which was great but so full that we had to sit in the foyer! haha.

Anyway back in Noosa we are just getting ready to go further up north on Friday (Fraser Island, etc). And then will fly to Singapore on the 25th May. Also quite exciting is one of the guys who we met up with in Brisbane (Lee) is an occupational therapist and found this condition causing dizziness that seems exactly like Matt's. So we are going to try and see one of his contacts before we leave, as there is a treatment that is quite successful in removing it. That could be wonderful!

Miss you all. Bit worried about home today when we saw severe weather warning (Matt is saying to look out for slips in the BOP)!

xx

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Photos

Montville
Yah! A lollipop my first sweet in a long time!

Comments

[margaret]

stunning
Great photos. Love checking this site and reading the latest - keep them coming!

[Nig]

Goldcoast-Noosa Highlights
Looks wonderful, and warm!!

[Molly moo]

California Churros
I feel in love with the Churros in Queensland too ,,,they sell those really nice California Churros at Movie world and Sea world ,,,, the ones i had at Dreamworld were longer but dried out and not as nice the Californiachurros