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Published: March 23rd 2009
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Well as Summer Draws to a close and Autumn looms, Caz and I felt we should really take our last weekend vacation before the onset of the cooler months and fall of leaves from the trees! So it was a cool autumnal evening in Brisbane, a mere 27 degrees, that's celcius by the way, and only 1 day from the official end of Summer (Feb 28th) , when we packed our hat and gloves and headed for the coast. Always interested in a deal, I had managed to secure a 9th floor apartment, overlooking the Ocean, for just one hundred 'bucks' per night ( about forty quid in 'real' money ).
The Friday night exodus from Brisbane is mayhem! Like ants, everyone fleds the 'nest' of Brisbane and heads out to the outlying playgrounds of beaches, rainforests and mountains. So a leisurely saunter home, cup of tea on the balcony and nibble of cheese to 'put us on' and we are on our way, with not an 'ant' in sight!
We arrived in Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast an hour from Brisbane. The apartment is wonderful internally. Out on the balcony in the darkness of night, the view over the Pacific
Breakie!
A nice place to have a fry up! Ocean and Pummicestone Passage is dimly lit by the crescent moon and the miriad of 'tinnies' ( small recreational metal fishing boats ) with their mooring lights bobbing up and down with the swell of the ocean. An air of excitement over the view we will awake to is disturbed only by our 'nibbles' wearing off and our stomach feeling like our throat's have been cut! Nothing a hearty Thai meal and a few beers on the Esplanade by the Ocean didn't sort!
Morning arrives, the view from the balcony is amazing. We could sit here all morning, drinking coffee and staring out over the Ocean with its changing blue hues. The last day of Summer is here!
In late summer temperatures of 36 degrees, sitting here for too long was not an option. So we strolled to the beach and.....well.....that was that. A day on the beach. Sun Screen, lie down, too hot, swim, lie down, more sun screen, sand everywhere, swim, lie down, BEER, lie down, swim!!! And that was that! That is what Saturdays were made for.
A swim in the roof top pool to rinse off, a shower and then a glass of bubbles on the
Caloundra Headland
There are five beaches around the headland at Caloundra. balcony watching the sun sink over the mountains on the horizon. Life is good.
Oh no.....it's Sunday March 1st! Autumn! The leaves will fall and the weather will go cold and wet!!! So Sunday morning, 36 degrees, not a cloud in the sky! Just what is the difference between Summer and Autumn. Queenslanders don't understand that question! What is Autumn they reply. The reality is we have two seasons. Summer and Winter. So we are still in Summer. The difference is....well what is the difference?
Summer is hot, 30+ during the day 20+ during the night. Winter is mild! The Queensland definition of mild is mid 20's during the day, 10+ at night. Summer has the odd storm. Winter is dry. Oh and the leaves....well they stay on the trees year round!
So Sunday 1st March - officially Autumn, was another day for being on or in the water. We took a boat trip around the inland waterways of Pelican Waters, hopefully where we will eventually buy a place, and then sailed up the Pummicestone Passage and back.
And once again, the rest of the day was spent applying sun screen, swimming and dozing on the sand.
So what else
HMS Dickie
Dickies beach is so called due to the wreck of HMS Dickie. have we been up to since our last blog?
Weekends are so busy it's nice to have the odd weekend at home. So we have managed to squeeze in a few lazy weekends around the house of late. That said, last Sunday was spent at 'A Day on the Green'.
A Day on the Green is an annual event at Siromet Winery. Amongst the vineyards and rolling hills, a stage is set up and an afternoon of music is laid on. You take your chairs, blankets, coolbox and food, find your own piece of turf with a view, buy your wine direct from the cellar door and thats it, your own lounge room with a live 'ipod' to boot. This years headline act was Simply Red and it was 'simply' brilliant. We enjoyed a superb afternoon, not too hot being in the late twenties. Rain had occured the previous day so of course the areas of mass useage, namely entry and exit points and of course those lovely outdoor event icons, the portable loo's, were a quagmire of sludge. And here in Oz, the sludge is red sludge. Thick 'outback red sludge'. It seems to get everywhere. If you mix
The Glass House Mountains
Sun setting over The Glass House Mountains viewed from the balcony with the obligatory bottle of bubbles wine with sunday atmosphere and carefree Ozzies, 'outback red sludge' becomes a game. Simply Red was very apt for a number of people who seemed to enjoy 'mud wrestling' more than the concert.
And the future? What do we have planned for Autumn? We are camping in a fortnight, where at this stage, who knows but a future blog will tell you. Five weeks away sees another visit to Sydney. The Bridge Climb awaits for Caz who has bravely booked to climb to the summit of the famous harbour icon. I have designated myself as cameraman, and will stay on terra firma whilst she 'pays' yes 'pays' to undertake this climb.
Monday March 23rd............Never got to publish the above until now! So I may as well tell you about our recent weekend away and publish those pictures too. So here goes! Another Friday night rush from the City. This time though, out West, or South West to be more precise. So thankfully, very little traffic heading in our direction and we headed off at 6pm, together with our neighbours, Ali and Dario and the three children, Massimo, Illaria and Mia. Tamborine was our destination and only an hour out of
Uncle Matt
Me with Illaria and Mia! Brisbane. Good old 'sat nav' and we were there in two hours! It took us the longest route possible and the final ascent of Tamborine Mountain, from the wrong side thanks to 'sat nav', was met with a sign saying, road not suitable for trailers, caravans, wagons due to '1 in 3' gradient. Not a problem for us, but our house for the night was in the form of a large trailer tent and at the moment that was on the back of Dario's car! But a good old Ozzie attitude, 'she'll be right mate' and pedal to the metal and the trusty Volvo of Dario made it to the summit and in no time at all we were there, tent pitched, beer in hand, frogs and night time insects making a din, and one hec of a stunning night sky, with the dark night sky dusted with bright twinkling stars.
Saturday dawned with another fabulous Queenland day, sunny and hot although up here in the mountains the air is not as humid. After breaky we wandered down to Cedar Creek, where we literally the day swimming, sliding down waterfalls and jumping in of boulders. It's great having children around
Cedar Creek
Jumping in from the rocks at Cedar Creek as you can pretend you are one too!
That night was spent around the camp fire, once again under a starry night, with dinner cooked on the open fire and marsh mallows toasted on sticks....on and a few coldies!
So another weekend in Southeast Queensland has drawn to a close and work beckons.
Hope everyone is well and we look forward to hearing from you.
Matt & Caz
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