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Published: August 17th 2006
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Hiya. Hope this finds everyone well and not having any hassle from all the airline problems going on - we are just glad we are not flying again for a couple of months and hopeful that it will have all calmed down by then.
Well, we've returned from a really great break on Great Keppel Island. I visited this island in 1992 on a day trip and loved it so much that I vowed one day I would come back and stay - and now I have! We stayed in Yeppoon on the mainland for a couple of nights and then caught the ferry on Monday morning. The main resort on the island is a Mercure hotel, part of the Accor group that we booked with in Europe last year and also in Singapore, so we managed to get a cheaper deal on the internet through their website (www.accor.com)and then they even upgraded us to a beachfront room! The resort and island were fantastic and I could happily have stayed for 2 weeks, except that we couldn't afford it. The first thing we did on the monday afternoon was to walk along a beach called Putney beach and it was littered
with Starfish that had been left on the beach as the tide went out. It was an amazing sight with all different coloured ones (white, black, red, grey) and Rik was able to gently pick them up and show Kiera the underside with all the tiny tentacles wriggling around. During the next couple of days (we stayed an extra day because it was so nice) we walked around the island a bit to a couple of the other beaches (Long Beach and Monkey Beach), collected some shells, swam and generally enjoyed ourselves. The resort was practically empty as it is quiet season, had 5 swimming pools and 2 spas and numerous bars, all different sports facilities (we even had a game of Tennis!) and best of all a Kids club so they took Kiera off our hands for 4 hours and we had a bit of time to ourselves. It was just bliss to have a room, a bed and a TV for a couple of days, not forgetting the ensuite so we didn't have to traipse out to the loo in the middle of the night.
We came back to earth (and the mainland) on Thursday afternoon, stayed another
night in Yeppoon and then headed down towards the sunshine coast. We stayed in a place called Bundaberg (famous for Rum) and only intended to stay one night and move on, but ended up having to stay an extra night because we couldn't get a campsite in Hervey Bay (our next stop) because of their Whale Watching Festival. Whilst there we visited a place called the Mystery Craters (also a place I went to in 1992) as I really wanted Rik & Kiera to see it. It is a system of deep and not so deep holes in the ground are are estimated to be over 25 million years old, scientist have been studying it since 1973 when they were undercovered and they still don't know what caused them, or how they function; some are filled with water and they have different water table levels. It is a really spooky place and absolutely fascinating. You can read more if you type Mystery Craters Australia into Google. They remain one of 13 unsolved mysteries in the world. (If anyone knows of any of the other ones, please let me know).
Anyway, we eventually got to Hervey Bay and stayed on yet
Dinner for 3
Frock, make up everything! another Big4 campsite which was lovely. We bumped into another family who are travelling for 6 months from Melbourne (Hello Steve, Michelle, Angus and Erika) who we had met in Airlie Beach, so Kiera was very happy to have someone to play with. On Tuesday we went out on a Whale Watching trip which was amazing. We were switched on and booked a boat that could only take 24 people (we are a bit sick of greedy people on trips!!) and had a "whale of a time" - excuse the pun!!
We saw about 7 whales altogether and they were just amazing. Two of them were very playful so we got to see a lot of breaching (jumping out of the water) and tail slapping, rolling etc and is certainly something none of us will forget in a hurry. Unfortunately, my videoing and photograph taking was rubbish and all the photos are just spectacular splashes, but i've managed to capture a little bit of decent film.
We have now headed further south again and are now staying on a cattle ranch with old friends of my parents, John & Pat. They lived next door to us in Malaya in the
60s and knew me as an inquisitive 3 year old - they say I haven't changed a bit! They have the most amazing house up in the Sunshine coast Hinterland near a place called Imbil and the views are just incredible. Kiera was down feeding the cattle with John at 7.00 this morning, wanting to know all the ins and outs - he did really well explaining everything that early in the morning.
We will now stay here for a few days (local Rodeo on Saturday Yeehah!) before heading off to see Aunty Maureen in Brisbane.
Right, thats it for another week. Hope you're not all sick of reading these and if at anytime you want me to remove you from the diary, please let me know.
Take Care, lots of love Nicchi, Rik & Kiera xxxxx
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