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Published: September 30th 2007
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Sunset
From friends backyard Monkey Magic, Macadamia's, Monopoly, Motor biking and Mulberries.
All these M's pretty much sum up our trip to Gympie which was definately filled with lots of R&R... Rest and Recreation! What a wonderful trip!
With a hire car - 4WD (our car was in the shop) we set off to visit friends in Gympie to spoil our children for the school holidays.... well we had no other plans or bookings anywhere... so had to do something!
With a stop at the Sunshine Coast to visit cousins and family we were spoiled with a wonderful lunch. The little cousins got to play and loved it so much. They happened to be babysitting an axelotle fish for the school holidays so we got to feed it and check it out! Very unusual creature... it was a little slow, maybe it was old or it sleeps alot! Not to mention blind I think, it didn't know where to catch the food unless we dropped it right on it's head! Visiting family made the drive to Gympie so much easier with a stop right in the middle of the two hour drive. Not to mention the view from my Sister
in Laws house! Very lucky!
Our wonderful friends opened up their house to our family. This meant there were now 7 kids and 4 adults squished into one house. The were very patient and giving by allowing us to stay, eat and play at their house. We arrived to a beautiful sunset - easy when their house is on a hill overlooking the town. Just beautiful. The girls sat making daisy chains using the abundant clover that was available. Jumping on the trampoline and living life as country kids, not restricted like we are in the city made them very happy! Once all settled the kids stayed up late giggling and chatting in the room just as us adults stayed up too late catching up on the goings on.
We stayed up watching episodes of Monkey Magic reliving our childhood. See Wiki here for details if you do not know what I am talking about (which most of you will know exactly anyway, everyone knows Monkey Magic... don't they?)
Monkey Magic for those not in the know! They had the boxed set so it was funny to see how terrible and old the episodes where. Something we
clover chain
friends 8 year old daughter made for us had watched every afternoon as children now quite ridiculous when watched 15-20 years later! During the stay we also played monoloply. Well I didn't as I dont really like the game, but my husband did... and he WON!! he was so excited as he hasnt played for atleast 10 years and he had never won as a child growing up, so we got to hear all about how he finally won a game of monopoly. We really loved Gympie and looked around for possible job opportunities. Our friends have such an awesome quality of life up there. It is beautiful and hilly and the beach is only 30 mins away. The best of both worlds. They also have friends who are farmers and they get free fruit and veges often. They had boxes of macadamias. strawberries, pumpkins, mulberries and more. What wonderful opportunities they have living there.
Day two we set off to Tin Can Bay. Lucky it happened to be high tide, so the water was right up to the park. Otherwise it might have been a long walk out to the waters edge. A Kilometer or more in low tide! As it is a protected bay
there were no waves, perfect for little children. They could come and go as they liked and us parents could sit and watch from the shade. The water was chilly but the sun was hot, so they braved the cold and shivers to splash around, and at one stage walk VERY far out. The water is the same height for a long way out. We were at the edge screaming for the little girls to come back, they would just wave and keep walking. We sent the older kids out of body boards but still the ignored our pleas. Just as we thought we were going to have to go for a long run in thigh high water to retrieve them they finally started coming back! Tin Can Bay is a very relaxed slow paced place. We had wanted to visit Rainbow Beach but were all too tired from our late night and the sun. So with only a little sunburn we headed back home for a rest. Hopefully next time we might go to Rainbow Beach.
Later that evening we headed to a park just on the south edge of town. It has ponds with ducks, geese,
Australian
clothes line, tv antenna, sunset ibis and other birds. The children loved feeding them. The geese were as big as the baby, and she loved having them come up near her. I was a little concerned about the hissing noise one of them was making but the baby didn't care, she was very excited! We had a great BBQ dinner just on sunset cooked by our friends. We made hamburgers with the lot! They were yummy... bacon, meat pattie, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, egg, beetroot.... so delicious! The children played an outside twister dice game and on the swings. We headed home in the dark with the kids truly tired out! We watched the extended version of Starwars episode 3 and I promptly fell to sleep!
Early the next morning our friends were rung with an offer from other friends to head over to their property to pick mulberries. An offer we couldn't refuse. So we tagged along and got to meet their wonderful friends. An older couple welcomed us into their home and property. We watched the cows fed Molasses, picked and ate mulberries till our hearts content and got to ride on their quad bikes. The lady took me out with her.
We drove down to visit a skinny white cow who just had a baby calf. It was so cute. While we were riding the lady told me she had learnt to ride the quad bike when she was 60! They had inherited the farm and had only been living there for over 10 years. What an inspiration! This couple were running a small property, looking after a few cattle, making wonderful wood bowls, tables etc out of gorgeous old trees and riding the quad bikes around to get to where they need. The fed us and gave us drink and she told me some recipes to use the mulberries in. The welcomed us into their life.... because they were friends with our friends. It was a wonderful experience for the children. It was a farm stay experience and we didn't have to pay a thing!!
They were so kind to us and took the children out on the bikes. Each child had about 3 rides all up! They couldn't get enough of it. They even let my husband have a go all by himself! So he went zooming off into the bush and she took the kids out
Driveway
This gorgeous property in Gundiah again. She came back saying " I don't know where your husband is, I can't find him anywhere" Great I am thinking. Well he came back eventually, we didn't have to send out a search party. He was having so much fun he had gone off to the edge of the property following the creek. This was all a great thrill for us. To do something we haven't done before. The house was so old. It was great to see original furniture, old beautiful cupboards and an original fire stove. I would have taken photos but I felt that would have been a little rude for people I had just met 😉 It was a perfect example of a rambling original house in the country.
So we headed off back home with our 5 containers of prized mulberries. After lunch and tearful (well almost) farewell - we had to drag the girls kicking and screaming - they didn't want to leave! This was a wonderful experience of many "firsts" for our family and we will always treasure it. Make sure to check out the photos on page 2! Enjoy!
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