Gold & Sunshine Coast

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Hello everyone

Wow, we have seen some beautiful places on our way up the east coast of Australia & are having a fab time.

We have hired a renault megane for the journey & Miles, Chris & Tina are all taking their turn at driving. We have over 3000ks to travel over 3 weeks & it seems to be working out well at the moment.

When we left Sydney, we did a quick stop at Bondi Beach. It was a little out of our way, but we couldnt not see it. A very nice, but busy surfing beach.

Our first night stop was on the outskirts of a town called Newcastle. A very nice pub with basic accomodation, but excellent food & it was quiz night. We failed miserably, but alot of the questions were about Australia! We didnt stand a chance. Keith & Carol we needed you there!! We only had the one night there & then took the scenic tourist drive to Port Macquarie where we stayed for 2 nights. We stayed in a very nice 2 bedroom apartment with a pool right opposite the beach. We had a very chilled couple of days.

Bob (who we went out on the boat with at Sydney) recommended a few detours for us on the way, which were great & took us off the motorway for a while. We saw some more kangaroos & some gorgeous beaches & views.

Other stops we have had along way have been Byron Bay which I loved, we had 3 nights there & a pit stop at Noosa. We also stayed at Yamba & Caloundra. They are all beach resorts where we have taken full advantage of sunbathing & swimming. Wonderful. We drove through Brisbane but didnt stop there, had enough of big cities for a while.

My favourite so far was a day trip to Fraser Island from Hervey Bay. Fraser is the biggest sand island in the world & we were taken round in a 4wd coach through the rain forest & along the beach. There were several stops along the way including seeing a ship wreck on the beach of the Maheno which was a Scottish ship which grounded in 1935. We also stopped at a place called Eli creek, a fresh water river running through the rainforest down to the beach. We waded up through the crystal clear water & walked back down on the boardwalk. Very nice!

After lunch we were taken to a freshwater lagoon called Lake Mckenzie. Absolutely stunning. A real paradise. Pure white sand & clear blue water. The picture says it all. I was in heaven & didnt want to leave. My favourite place of the whole trip so far. We also saw a wild dingoe whilst there, very priviledged.

We are now at Airlie Beach & have a 2 day trip planned for thursday round the Whitsunday Islands. Very excited, just hope I have got my sea legs back!! On the way we stopped at Cape Hillsborough National Park & saw a family of wallabies really close up.

Baby news :- Getting a real bump now. Had a doctors check up a few days ago & all seems fine. Am now 16 weeks. Miles is also fine.

Email news:- Myway still not working despite our constant nagging. Miles has set up a new email account [e-mail] for the time being. Will resend all the emails that have gone astray by cutting & pasteing, however they are now obviously out of date. Will endeavour to reply to the other emails we have recd in the last 3 weeks or so in due course.

Hope you all enjoyed the snow. We thought of you whilst sunbathing in temperatures ranging from 27 to 32 degrees!!

Loads of love from me, miles & bump xxx

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Photos

Lake Mckenzie
Belly has already got me!