On our last day in Cairns, we were able to meet up with our eldest grandchildren Josh and Ellie. We met them at the waterpark in Cairns and had a good few hours with them. They were obviously having a great time with their other grandparents and were full of what they had been up to. It was great to catch up with both them and Ray and Viv, none of whom we see often enough. After the kids had tired themselves out in the pool and we had caught up with all Ray and Viv’s news we went to the RSL club for an early dinner.
We all enjoyed our time together but before too soon we had to say our goodbyes. With big hugs all around and promises to see the kids again at Christmas we headed back to Edmonton and our last night at the caravan park.
Now we are heading back down the coast again and our first stop is White Sands Golf and Bowls club. This was where we stopped on the way up when we had trouble with the batteries in the van. We had a few days here and Chris managed to get his game of golf and also a game of bowls. The bowls was a club social thing and teams were made up of the happy hour customers. I was happy to watch, enjoying the atmosphere with other campers.
After the White Sands Club we headed down to Home Hill where we had hoped to catch up with our friends, Jim and Lee. Disappointingly, they had already left Home Hill heading back up to Townsville. We then moved to Marion, out of MacKay for a few nights. (These are all places we have stayed before but when you travel up and down the coast so many times as we do, this is bound to happen)
Next stop, Flaggy Rock and a week enjoying the peace and space in a beautiful setting with a pool to enjoy. From here we checked out a camping spot on the beach at Carmila Beach. In among the trees with lots of shade and just drop toilets. This one didn’t appeal to us too much so we probably wouldn’t pull in there with the van.
We had one night at Waverley Creek before heading to the The Country Club Accommodation at Rockhampton. This was a first time for us as we usually head to Fardooley’s, one of our favourite places. Fardooley’s was not open at the time due to health issues, we think Robyn must be having serious eye problems. Our best wishes go out to both herself and Peter.
While in Rockhampton we visited the Aboriginal Cultural Centre, doing the tour, learning the history and how to throw a boomerang.
With one more stop before Noosa we stayed at the Gin Gin free camp with the heavy rain that we have been trying to avoid. Again the east coast is receiving heavy downfalls and flooding is a problem for suburbs further down in NSW.
We are now heading towards Simon and Kerry’s in Noosa as we have agreed to look after the kids, house and dog while they are away in Bali. The kids shouldn’t need looking after at ages 17 and 15 but we never say no to a couple of weeks in Noosa.
While we were at Noosa, Jo and the girls came up from Banora for the weekend and we had a good time with them. We all especially enjoyed the BBQ with Justin, Lilah, Darren and Tiarne.
Now we are here at Palm Beach staying with our good friend Dorothy. We are staying here while her daughters are all in Thailand for a wedding. At 95, Dorothy didn’t want to go so we agreed to stay with her or she would have had to go into respite care which she didn’t want to do. Dorothy is still more than capable of looking after herself and she never ceases to amaze me but for everyone’s peace of mind we stayed over. I think in the 10 days we were with Dorothy, she was only home for 2 days. She was either out with us or going to the many Christmas celebrations that she had planned. It was lovely to spend this quality time with Dorothy.
Now with Christmas getting ever closer I’ll end this blog entry here by wishing everyone out there a very merry Christmas and all our very best wishes for a happy and healthy 2023 to you all.