Further north 2 months on......

We cannot believe that 2 months have passed, we really are enjoying settling into this lifestyle.

Going up the east coast has been very enjoyable (except for Judy's incident) and as we have not been to some of the areas for up to 14 years it has been great - there are so many different terrains, follage and the wildelife is lovely. Peter has been doing a great job of driving (as I really did not want to drive on the Pacific / Bruce Highway).

The new van is going well, although with anything new there are som times little things to annoy you - we had to do minor repair to plumbing while at Noosa. Every time we let water out of the kitchen sink iy came up through the floor of the shower. Pete found this mobile caravan repair guy, Owen - well he turned out to be a real treasure. All fixed up now but we do have a sullage hose which we call "the alien" because it looks like something from he movie and seems to want to crawl out of the bag when ever we need to roll it up.

Before we left Noosa I managed to get Peter to go the the Emundi markets - I thought they were good markets but Pete's usual comment - "same crap" although he was entertained by these little fellows. The fellow working the "strings" really was very clever.

We next headed for Hervey Bay (waving to Jenny Hancocks and Mark Bonatos relatives n the way - we did not get the opportunity to contact them). We were last in Hervey Bay 14 years ago, and the amount of redevelopment going on is incredible (it is the same all the way up the coast). Although what they have done by the foreshore has certainly improved the walkways. We did walk right out to the end of the pier, and were entertained by a pelican atop a light fitting that caught fish that was thrown up to it. We also found that Barrhum Heads and Toogoom just north of Hervey Bay were lovely - both had nice little caravan parks right on the water and we did manage to have a nice fish lunch at a little place on the water in Toogoom.

We decided that we would have to visit Fraser Island again and this is what we went in (Arnie will be happy). There was only us and a young german couple, as it turned out the weather was not that kind to us - got very rough on the beach but we had a lovely day - morning tea, lunch (with wine/beer), afternoon tea, champagne / strawberies. A very good way to see the island. We chose this method as there had been three major accidents in the last 2 weeks, rollovers of troopies carrying up to 11 people. Seems the backpackers just cant handle the going at hi speed.

Rhonda Tulk, an old friend from Albury days who now lives at Buderim came dowm to see us - we were sitting having morning tea (as you do) when the caravan park manager came and asked if we were going and we said "No - tommorrow". Well it turns out we were due to go but.... our memory had left us and we quickly made arrangements to stay another night. It was great to catch up with Rhonda - although time passed too quickly.

Next it was off to Yeppoon. Very dry, still little rain in the area. Not sure if that area is top of our list but it was a good park and we saw two Tawney Frog Mouth Owls in the tree next to our van - a rare sight and to see two. We liked Emu Park a little place just south of Yeppoon - much more our style.

It was also at Yeppoon that I took to Peter's beard - amazinghow useful the plastic tablecloth is, and this is now another skill I have. Pete was pretty nervous to start with which was not alleviated when I dug the points of the trimmers into his throat twice (he doubted my motives). The result was OK.

We knew that we did not have anywhere booked between Yeppoon and Airlie Beach and we thought we would free camp, so Pete thought he better check all the gas connections worked. Well it was good news for the fridge and stove, but the gas hot water connection did not want to go (it works on electricity). It is probably some small thing as you can hear it try to start - but as the van is new we need to get an authorsised dealer. Unbelievably the closest is Alice Springs, so we have spoken to them and will get it attended to then.

We decided to go ahead with the camp idea, and decided to stay at Seaforth campgounds - lovely site just north of Mackay, 20 yards from the beach and they had hot showers for 20 cents (the only problem was the amount of mud on some of the kids using the shower and the lack of mum cleaning the shower after them). Everything worked ok, and I got to use the kettle given to us by Bob and Jenny to boil water for my coffee. Everyone would be proud of my efforts - although I did use the hairdryer in the facilities.

We are currently in Airlie Beach and will be in Cairns by 6 September

Thanks to those sending comments to the blog - we do enjoy reading them. Andy and Leanne were impressed with the look of the van, although I wonder if they will be as impressed with it in their driveway when we arrive for the Grand Prix in March.

We have got some news from home from Renee and Glen who are house-sitting ans looking after Mr Trumpy. He is obviously training them well. Firstly, they have put in nightlights so he can see around the stairs at night - now Renee organised to have him professionally washed although he does not look to impressed and has not shrunk in the wash (Renee sent this). We miss him terribly but are thrilled he is being cared for so well.