An Evening Drive. Friday 29th Dec

Most of the day was spent, unsuccessfully, shopping for baby things. All the items we wanted(the big things) were not included in the sales, so we ended up with just a blanket and a few clothes. Lets hope Bradley doesn't make an early arrival as we are nowhere near equipped yet!

At sunset we decided to jump in the Ute and explore Cooloolabin Dam to see what it was like at low light. It was pretty nice but no big sunsets tonight.



We carried on up a dirt track about 10km to a lookout called Point Glorious which was definately worth it. Too late for sunset but still managed a snap for future reference.



On our way home, from the ute we saw a bandicoot, a barn owl and another snake! Cath's favourite way to view snakes is from her high up seat in Tanky.

Cania Gorge

Our holiday was officially a washout! We headed to an inland area where it never ever rains, until we turn up for our summer holiday and it chucks it down! We were in a cabin(shed with a bed!) on a caravan site in the middle of nowhere, the nearest town, Monto, was dead with one not very nice cafe. Basically there was nothing to do in the rain as our planned activities where walking, four wheel driving and wildlife watching. Even the four wheel drives said "dry weather only", so we were a bit stumped. As the cabin wasn't very nice, spending 15 hours inside it with heavy rain proved too much and we decided to cut our holiday short and come home!

A scene from a wet Cania Gorge.


Emergency waterproofs were brought into action with a dripping Cath at Dripping Rock.


We managed a walk to one of the sights, called Overhang Rock.




There were some highlights Bettongs and bottle trees! At our camp site there was nightly bird feeding, so we trotted along and fed the rainbow lorikeets which have very sharp claws and beaks as Neil found out as one decided his flesh was more tasty than the seed! After all the lorikeets had gone and after it had gone dark, little furry creatures called Rufous Bettongs come out and clear up the seed, they are small marsupials just over a foot tall. It's quite unusual to see them so it was great just to sit and watch them close up.


Another thing we looked for where the bottle trees, which unfortunately were down a red dirt road with a sign saying "dry weather only", so we were limited to spying a few from a tarmac road nearby. Here is a snap, it was the best the light could offer.

Christmas Day

Wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas back home and all over the world. Hope you all are having a great day with lots of nice pressies!

We have had a very different Christmas Day this year, sunburn instead of frostbite!
Along with Cath's parents we headed out to the beach at 8.30am and after a play in the waves and a short sunbathe we had breakfast. The done thing here is to cook breakfast at the beach, we made(well Cath's Mum & Dad!) a full english breakfast even with HP sauce. It was great fun, extremely hot and very different from Christmas' of the past. When we got home it was straight in the pool to cool down!








Opening of presents followed and then Xmas lunch of ham with the trimmings followed by good old Christmas pud but wasn't quite as good as home!



Enjoy your Christmas Day and have a very happy new year!

We are going away for 4 days on Boxing Day to Cania Gorge, which is 5 hours north of here. Rain is forecast the whole time so it may be a bit of a wash out. Keep posted for more intresting blog news!

December Catch Up

It's been a busy month hence no blog which is no good excuse really! An early new year resolution is going to have to be weekly updates. Neil has been busy with work and Christmas work parties proving he can drink just as much Castlemaine XXXX as the native Queenslander and Cath busy with Christmas shopping and browsing baby shops!

We've managed to squeeze in a few outings too! Firstly a tour of the coast heading south looking for good photographic locations.

Both taken looking towards Alexandra Headland. About 20 minutes from our house.





CJ posing in a wreck at Dicky's beach, watch out for this one in future sunrise shoots!



Only a few 100 yards further down the coast is Moffats Beach, from this lookout we could see green turtles in the waves.




The 3rd December saw Martin head back to the UK so we had a last meal at Nambour RSL. Next time we are all reunited there will be 6!



Another weekend, another expedition checking out good photo locations, this time looking for the best viewpoints to capture The Glass House Mountains on camera.



A weary Cath on reaching the top of Wild Horse Mountain lookout, named after the wild horses that used to live here.



A day out closer to home was at The Big Pineapple which is a tacky tourist attraction just near our house, but Cath wanted to check it out anyway! There was more than meets the eye, we went on a train ride, a boat ride and a macadamia nut ride! That was the tacky stuff, but still quite interesting, they did have a small wildlife park though, which was nice.
While walking in the grounds we had an encounter with another snake but he wasn't one of the ones they've got in glass tanks, he was out in the open, Cath remained calm and watched him so she must be getting better!
No photo of the snake or the big pineapple as Neil ran out of batteries! But beware if you visit we are now friends of The Big Pineapple and can visit as many times as we like! So you too can experience The Big Pineapple!


One of the Koala's of The Big Pineapple.