Sandy's travels

Today my friend Diana who lives here in Sydney met up with me for a walkabout and lunch. We walked to Darling Harbour which is currently under huge renovation. The convention centre has been torn down, the mono rail is gone! New buildings and fancy casino going up, people places and lots of wide walkways. Back in the 80's I believe, my friend Nicci who I will be visiting in Adelaide along with her husband, was one if the original designers of Darling Harbour. We walked all the way from Darling Harbour, around to Sydney docks, Under Sydney Bridge, grabbed a nice lunch on the patio of the museum, then carried on, walking around to the Botanical Garden and Mrs. McQuarries chair site. We stopped for afternoon tea at the Botanical Gardens and then walked up McQuarrie Street and back to my hotel. Diana left to go back to Darling Harbour to catch her ferry back up the Parramatta River at 3:30. and home. What a great visit, we had not connected in 21 years. Last time we saw ea

It was an early start to the day yesterday, to catch our 4 wheel drive bus outside our condo at quarter to six. After picking up a few more folks, we changed to a bigger bus at Noosa which already had a half dozen people on it and away we went. Much depends on the tide when you are planning to drive along the beach of Fraser Island. At one point we detoured inland to a washboard road for 11 k, then back on the beach. The beach is that hard packed whitish sand if you stick to the damp part, otherwise it is squishy soft and only four wheel drive vehicles can get around over there. Fraser Island is the worlds largest sand Island and in 1992 was granted World Heritage status. It has a diverse Eco climate, flora and fauna. There are huge trees growing on it, and at one point in its history, it was heavily logged. Thankfully not all the trees were taken. You can google it for more information. Our first stop was a tea and 'bicky' (cookie) one along the beach near a litt

Our very good friends Ken and Meredith picked us up Saturday morning and treated us to an overnight in the Bunya Mountains. They rented a house with three bedrooms and all the amenities, provided the wine and food and took us on two beautiful hikes on two different trails. My friend Carole and I had been treated by them when we were there last but the views were misted or fogged in. We were in luck this trip. When we arrived there were little Wallabies everywhere. They are so cute, and most of the females had joeys in the pouch yet. Often baby would poke his little he'd and front paws out to have a bit of a look around. We saw a curled up hiding snake along the trail, first I've seen this trip. In the wild that is. Feral pigs are creating a bit of a nuisance issue in the park and they tell you to be aware of them. The bird song and varieties of birds are sometimes evident as you walk the tracks. The Bunya Pine after which the park is named has huge cones whic

Friday morning we caught a Greyhound Bus to the Australia Zoo of Steve Irwin fame, the crocodile man who met an untimely death at the hands of a stingray. Now the zoo is run by his wife Terry and their two children, Bindii and Robert (Bob). We spent the day and visited nearly all the displays. Everything was so clean, well organized and the animals well cared for. We were very impressed. Here are a few photos from our day, and I'm hoping the inserted video of the croc show turns out!

This morning Josh and I walked down the beach in the water. The beach is that nice white sand, very fine grained and it's constantly tumbled and gets into everything. The locals and tourists alike hit the beaches fairly early before the heat of the afternoon. The kids on their boogie boards are down there in the hundreds, school holiday! We are still being a wee bit chicken going out in the sun for too long. Josh went to lie on the beach yesterday and burnt his face, so he's been applying aloe Vera to try to cool it and prevent peeling. Here are some photos from our walk. First is The Loo with a View, (men and women's washrooms, showers and change rooms with a stage for musical performances on top), then our building. Be are on the third floor looking right down on all the action! The trees out front , the tall ones are Norfolk Island Pines. Norfolk Island is off the coast of south east Australia!

Here we are back in my favourite vacationing part of the world, Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia.  The sun shines, the  air is sweet and the scent of the ocean makes me feel right at home.  Did I say I love it here?  (Say Moo-loolaba with the accent at the end) My very good friend Peter joined us for breakfast yesterday morning, provided me with a prepaid SIM card for my phone and loaded our luggage into his car and drove us here with a couple of scenic photo ops along the way for Josh, of the Gasshouse mountains.  After depositing us in our new abode he returned back to Brisbane and us to our new adventure!  As our room wasn't quite ready we grabbed a smoothie and took a walkabout.  Registered as visitors at the Surf Club RSL and found the Coles Supermarket. When we were finally provided with room number and keys we entered our suite to a wonderful scent....my friends Ken and Meredith had been round and left a beautiful bouquet of pink stargazer lilies and two bottles of wine