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Running for Cover
This storm caught us entirely by surprise. Australia smells good. It really does. From the first day we landed I noticed a scent in the air. To me, it's a slightly perfumed sage scent. It could be partly because of the hundreds of varieties of eucalypus trees that grow everywhere. Their leaves have a strong scent, like menthol cough drops, and maybe the layers of shedded, dead leaves have a faded scent. I really like it, anyway.
As we travel in Queensland we're amazed at the noise created every night at dusk when the lorikeets go to bed in the trees. I timed them tonight: at 4:15 p.m., just as the light in the sky started to dull, lorikeets started gathering in the huge trees in our caravan park. Thousands and thousands of them arrived within the next hour, their high-pitched screechings unbelievably loud. At one point Barry and I agreed the noise almost hurt our ears. It took 1 1/2 hours for all the birds to tell each other about how their day went. What a cacophony! At 5:45 it was becoming full-on dark and within minutes the entire crowd stopped chirping and went to sleep. We don't hear the lorikeets in the morning so they
Golf Course after rain storm
A lot of balls were left behind when everybody ran for shelter. must just fly off quietly to have their adventures once the sun arises.
We had quite an experience on a golf course this week. We went golfing (Barry golfing, me pulling the cart) on a wonderfully sunny and hot afternoon. Within 20 minutes of being out there ominous black clouds appeared. A rain storm hit us so fast we had no where to escape. We tried hiding under trees but palm trees don't offer much resistance. We were soaked to the skin anyway so ran to a bench that has a tin roof. Then it started to HAIL! We were cold and drenched (Barry's camera was inside his golf bag and it's ruined now from water) but we waited out the storm, about twenty minutes. When we walked (squished) back to the golf club we walked through lakes. One little bridge was washed out so we had to find another one. We were sure glad we had the motorhome with us. We went inside and changed into warm clothes. All the other people out there had to drive home wet. Oh, I forgot to mention - Barry left all the roof vents open in the motorhome. Water was floating
Bridge Washed Out
This was caused by only twenty minutes of rain. on the floor and the table's bench cushions were wet. It took us a full day afterwards to dry everything.
We've been slowly working our way upwards towards the Great Barrier Reef. Every caravan park in every little town we've stayed in has been nice in it's own way. My favourite was Noosa Heads which we left this morning. We stayed four days there in a caravan park right on the beach of the Noosa River. The beach is fine white sand and we sat and watched pelicans walk up on the beach to beg for scraps from fishermen. We took a ferry trip down the river yesterday and couldn't believe the multi-million dollar homes, each with a dock, that are built on the man-made sand reefs in the river. The main street of town, Hastings Street, is full of high-end, couture retail clothing stores. At this time of year the stores were deserted although the fabulous sandy ocean beach in the downtown area was quite full of people sunbathing.
My cousin Wilma in Saskatchewan has a son living and working in Noosa whom I had only met once, briefly. Barry and I took him and his lovely
girlfriend out for dinner the other night. She is from Ireland and it was fun to hear how they met when they each found themselves in Noosa while traveling alone. We enjoyed our evening with them and the Thai food they recommended was excellent.
Oh, have I mentioned how many round abouts are in Australia? Millions. No kidding. In one small town we drove to a golf course and, in a five kilometer distance, went through twelve round abouts. Noosa itself has over one hundred of them. You honestly can't often drive more than four blocks without going through another one.
Tonight we're in Hervey Bay, almost directly across from the world-famous Fraser Island. It's the largest sand island in the world. We're going to take a tour over there (you can't drive yourself) in the next two or three days. Until then we're going to explore the town and get haircuts! The weather is wonderfully warm, usually hot. Today an Aussie man told me most people would mistake me for 'English' because I'm so pale! He should have seen me six weeks ago!
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Gail Morrison
non-member comment
Hi you Two
Have been reading your blog...I had got behind as I had been following your along. What a wonderful trip it sounds like. Wish I could be there with you...Wayne had his knee operation and it went really well this time. Think we will be able to get away camping by the summer. I love you comments about places and people...sounds like you are doing everything you can...Continue have such fun...cheers, Gail