From Maryborough we moved on to Howard, a small town that was big in coal mining until the 1970s when the last coal mine closed down. It really hasn't moved on from there. The houses are old and tired, the streets are wide and empty, and the butcher, baker and take-away food places are still charging 70s prices. We checked out the butcher and found pork steak cutlets for $6 a kilo. Then we decided to get chips with that - $3 for medium chips. The cakes in the bak...

On our previous trip eight years ago we had gone through Maryborough on a miserable day - it was cold and windy and rainy. We could see it was a nice town with lots of historical buildings, but we just couldn't stay to look. We had moved on to Hervey Bay - the rain had stopped but it was still grey and dull. The beach was long and muddy looking, especially as the tide was out. We had stayed in a caravan park at the back of town which was crowded and ugly, so our ...

Gympie is a big service town boasting a Coles, Woolies, Maccas and Bunnings, and even an Aldi. The only problem is it is very hilly with streets that sit at amazing angles. We parked the van on such an incline George was worried it may slip back. Kids learning to drive here would be very well versed in handbrake starts. So we got a few things, had a nice coffee, and set off for Tin Can Bay. This was one of our favourite stops on our previous trip. It is a quiet ...

Leaving the crazy roundabout was almost as hard as finding and entering it. We found ourselves almost on the road to Gympie before we had to do some gymnastic manouvers to get back to the road to the Sunshine Coast. Caloundra was our first stop - a large shopping strip one block back from the beach, so no view at all. We made our way to the beach, but it was so cold and windy we were soon beaten back into submission, back to the shops. We followed the coast up...

We have spent the last 3 days catching up with our good friends who were smart enough to escape Victoria and move up to Queensland just over a year ago. They have settled in a beautiful spot called Cleveland, an outer suburb of Brisbane in the south. The good news is we didn't have to drive through Brisbane to reach them. They have a lovely spacious apartment overlooking the water, and a short stroll along the waterfront leads to cafes and restaurants, as well a...