27th Dec

Today we left the sunshine coast, found the Bruce highway and headed towards our home for the next four days on the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. Our tom tom thought it would be a laugh and took us off road; thank goodness we're in a 4x4. After about 40kms of only us travelling on gravel road making the yellow car game redundant only seeing a couple of sugar cane farms we returned to a tarmac road, still off the beaten track. The farms had no fences so we had to keep our eyes peeled for roaming livestock of which we saw a fair amount. The cattle here are allot thinner than the English cows, perhaps it's the lack of food or the distance they have to travel to forage we're not quite sure but they had plenty rib on display. The farms are divided by cattle grids in the road which were about 2kms apart. We wonder if any of these farmers know their neighbours and how long a school/bread run would take. After a brief lunch in the town of Gin Gin we picked up the pace and arrived at the Laland retreat in Agnes water. We've been allocated the end cabin in this gorgeous tiny resort. Of course the first thing you do in a new place is try out the pool. The owners have done a fabulous job on this eco retreat; the bbq area is joined to the saltwater pool area everything looks new and fresh with modern style cabins. We will force ourselves to leave the retreat to explore the local beaches and lagoons. Zoe lost a tooth during the drive here's hoping the tooth fairy knows about Lalaland.

30th Discovery coast

Having a fabulous few of days in Lalaland. The tooth fairy found us and later we found the local beach. Our host Kent has catered to our every need, making a fire in the evening for us to sit around star gazing, bbq-ing marshmallows and to watch possums play in the trees around us. Yesterday we had a day’s diving booked on the nearby island Lady Musgrave. We met on the pier at the town of Seventeen Seventy which is the second place that Captain Cook docked when arriving in Australia. Our hearts sank when we were herded onto a tinnie and were squashed shoulder to shoulder in the searing heat. The 90 minute trip seemed like it would take a lifetime. After a short ride across the bay we were transferred onto the Lady Musgrave, a luxury catamaran for the transfer. The sea was quite rough; Aimee and Oli are definitely never going to take up sailing as a hobby/career. Lady Musgrave is a stunning coral island with its own 3000 hectare lagoon. Craig and Aimee went on the first dive of the day together; they saw turtles a plenty and one white tipped reef shark among others. Aimee and I did the second dive in the lagoon where we saw some stunning fish among the coral. Although the fish under the pontoon were the biggest, diving underneath it was not fun and for the first time ever I felt claustrophobic while diving. The rest of the day was spent snorkelling and exploring the coral reef by semi submersible boat. Back on land we stopped at Kahuna beach restaurant for some seafood and evening entertainment made up of a local band in 1770.
Our last day in Agnes water and the girls booked and paid for another surfing lesson. We were really surprised they lasted the full three hours in the sun; perhaps they are learning the value of money. They have both improved since the last lesson and had heaps of fun. Oli spent the time boogie boarding; he’s now more surfer boy than the woosie he was a few weeks back. With feelings of needing to pack up we’ve headed back to Lalaland after a drive kangaroo spotting. The locals thought we were bonkers driving around stopping to gawk at all 100 or so of them. Time for a last night time swim for the kiddies while we prepare dinner.