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Published: September 6th 2008
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Kevin's first birthday in Australia was celebrated in beautiful winter weather over the weekend of 9th & 10th of August. Earlier in the year we had discovered a beautiful beach along the Gold Coast called Cabarita Beach which we had called into on the drive down to Byron Bay to celebrate Hilary's birthday. It has a small secluded beach surrounded by palm trees and huge rocks which form great shade when the sun rises arounded noon above our heads!
We packed a huge picnic feast and surf boards along with all the other beach parafernalia and settled down on the sand to read the newspapers and take in the scenery. Kevin enjoyed his cup of tea in his Great Shefford Playgroup mug, a gift from Linsey and Luke to help us remember them, Thanks!
Having left early we enjoyed a lovely lazy day swimming and playing 'aussie football' on the beach. Towards the end of the day we wandered out along the peninsular that jutted out into the sea and set upon some Hump-backed Whales playing in the bay and leaping high into the air only to crash down into the sea beating their fins to create a sound,
A Day at the beach!
It is hard having to spend days on beaches such as this one and only a short drive away! This is part of our new life and we love it! posssibly to attract fish to the surface? This was a sight we had only seen once before and the excitement of spotting more especially for the boys was wonderful. They were huge and we got so excited as we spied more and more as the late afternoon progressed. It was then topped by a school of dolphins swimming along the cliff edge straight in front of us. Wow! We could have sat and watched them for hours it was just like watching a BBC David Attenborough Documentry. We decided we would like to go in search of more at Hervey Bay on the Sunshine Coast near Fraser Island another year and catch sight of some of the new calves born in the bay, before their long swim back south down to the Antarctic waters in late spring.
Once the sun sets the temperature drops considerably so we were glad to find a great Fish and Chip shop at Burleigh Heads on our way back to Brisbane and enjoy freshly caught fish for supper. A perfect end to a lovely day.
Sunday began with breakfast on the veranda taking in the sunshine and opening presents. The boys even managed
a quick dip in the pool, not quite warm enough for us though! Having bought some english papers we sat down for a leisurely morning and the boys helped to prepare food for a BBQ lunch, aussie style!
As Kevin's main birthday pressie from Hilary and family he was treated to a Bridge Climb on the Story Bridge over the river in the centre of Brisbane. According to the sales pitch the best time to climb is late afternoon/twilight time and the early evening when all the lights come on in the city after the sun has set! So at 3-30pm Kevin and Hilary headed for the bridge headquarters and signed up for the two and a half hour climb, listened to safety instruction as and after having donned a very fetching blue and grey boiler suit we ascended the bridge having attached ourselves to the steel structure using a body harness and zip wire. We were not allowed to carry any cameras,watches and all jewellery had to be removed. We even had hankies attached to an elastic loop along with our sunglasses just incase we dropped anything! The climb was gradual and not at all challenging, there was
Enjoying the surf!
In true british spirit the boys (and Anne) braved the cold and enjoyed the surf. even an 83 year old gentleman on the climb, the only disconcerting thing was the vibration and clunk of the traffic as it passed by beneath us and wobbled the steps slightly.
The sun was setting as we climbed and the soft pink and mauve skies turned orange and then a deeper red lighting up the sky with a warm glow. We could see for miles and was able to pick out notable land marks and even spot the park near our house. We were also able to listen to an interesting dailogue telling us the history of the bridge and how it came to exist, we also discovered it was 1138 steps we climbed whilst walking up and down the bridge, hence the blog title in case you were wondering?! As the twilight softened the night skies darkened the tension lines along the side of the bridge burst into light with hundreds of orange bulbs glowing and lighting up our path as we climbed up the opposite side of the bridge which gave amazing views of the city district as the tall high rise buildings slowly turned on their lights and flickered in the early evening light. It
was a very special moment for us both as we felt the magic of the moment and sat marvelling at the wonderful view. It was a great experience and certainly something we shall remember for a long time.
It is just so great to be able to all be together and have such a great time, it is times like these that reinforce our decision to live a different life style and to experience different things, how lucky we are.
What a perfect weekend.
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