Jingle Bells, Fireworks and Sandstorms

Newcastle - December 2012

We rolled into Newcastle to take up a generous offer by our old snow buddies Jo, Will and their daughter Audrey to host the rowdy roadtrippers for Christmas (brave souls indeed). With only three days to go, Santa's helper had a very busy time ahead of her, but with the help of shopping chaperone Jo and some fancy pillow cases fashioned into Santa Sacks, we were ready to go.

Charlie and his Angels show off some of their Xmas loot.

Newcastle's unsung beauty

 

We were probably not alone in thinking of Newcastle as an industrial and mining town with all the mental images that go with that. True, there remains a lot of industry and some of it not terribly clean, but the spectacular coastline it hugs with its surprisingly intact coastal vegetation is stunning.

 

A couple of beach cowboys

 

The rocks are transformed into performance stages and secret hide-aways when the kids hit the beach at Dudley, just south of Newcastle.

 Not a bad backyard....the coastline just down the road from Jo and Will's place at Dudley.

Tessellated rock tiles indicate where Australia broke away from New Zealand - the Kiwis have been trying to get back ever since!!

You could watch the waves and blowholes pounding this coastline for hours.

Beach Day with a Twist(er)

 

Not long after Paul and Will scooted down to Sydney Harbour to watch the Boxing Day start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, we were all sitting on the beach and Paul was commenting how the unusual, cigar-shaped cloud pattern we were looking at over the sea was an ominous sign when spotted by a sailor. ``That's interesting'' we all remarked as we set up an array of boogie boards, brightly-coloured plastic buckets and spades, beach shades, fishing gear and some glasses of lovely, chilled Moscato. But, just as we all settled into our various favourite beach pursuits....it struck...a massive southerly buster that destroyed our little beach paradise. Our legs were lashed with scouring wet sand as Jo desperately clung to the flapping car awning whilst trying not to spill her drink. Boogie boards sailed gaily through the air for hundreds of metres and the kids and the dog sought shelter in the car. Game Over.

 

Lovely day for the beach.....not a cloud in sight!

Storm....what storm???

New Year's Eve

Jo, Will and Audrey on the New Year's Eve bus.
 

It was all about the kids really and the Newcastle waterfront turned it on pretty well, ending with a speccy fireworks display over the harbour



Only problem was, no one told the Craigs and the Greenes it was a dry show, so after rolling up with the usual gallons of bubbles etc, a quick, sneaky re-pack was in order. Thank goodness for prams and picnic blankets....pop, fizz, slurp, burp.

Happy New Year! So, what are our resolutions: Me - the usual: drink less, exercise more and get the kids to do more school work. As for Paul - more hammock time!










The Good: Living with a couple of foodies for a fortnight and eating gourmet meals every day, including a laksa and pancakes to die for. Oh, and then there was Xmas lunch...yum.
The Bad: Discovering that our wonderful canvas home did in fact leak after a few deluges in Newcastle.
The Ugly: Mouldy carpet in the tent (yes, we do have carpet...it's much nicer on the toes) requiring a few mould sprays and a good airing over Audrey's swing set. After 8 months on the road, the comforts of home are looking a bit more appealing....but, then again, maybe not.

Brisbane and The Gold Coast

 

December 2012

The Big Smoke, Big Waves and Big Thrills

We rolled into the biggest city of our trip so far - Brisbane - and the kids' eyes lit up at the sight of tall office towers and MacDonalds on every corner. Nikita, our Outback girl (not), immediately asked if she could go shopping...there's just no transforming some people. But, we are nothing if not determined and after a fun evening with our good friends the Lufts, we packed 'em up again for some country camping.

With the faint sound of banjoes playing in the background we passed cane fields, classic Queenslander pubs, horse studs and cattle ranches until we reached our destination...Gordon Country

Camped beside a stream under a canopy of gums - Gordon Country was a refreshing bush experience with Jenny and Lufty.

Boys and their toys...strangely Lufty wasn't interested in a car swap.

Rainforest sculptures

 And rainforest maniacs....Jenny excluded!

Is it beer o'clock already? The boys take up position.

Sometimes it's just nice to camp without sand or red dust.

 

Watch those river crossings Archie - the truck sees some 4WD action.

Gold Coast

As the sound of banjoes faded and the cha-ching cha-ching of cash registers grew louder, we entered the fantastic and slightly frightening land of the Gold Coast theme parks. Wet 'n Wild was the first to amaze and thrill our reticent, shy children with mum and dad doing all we could to `herd the cats' as they scattered in every direction screaming "I want to do that one.'' "No that one". By chance or fate our travelling chums Sharon, Ant, Amon and Astrid were at Wet 'n Wild for the day too and the excitement reached fever pitch. Dreamworld was next with Riley and Nikita's first real rollercoaster ride. I think they lost count after their 12th time around.

Hold on tight Nikita (in the 5th carriage of the Roadrunner Rollercoaster)

Splash down.

 The big kids didn't miss out. Plenty of upside-downy, inside-outy thrills for Leanne and Paul on the Green Lantern Rollercoaster.

 

The Good: The 4G-Force Superman rollercoaster that Paul and Leanne took turns on and the gut churning madmouse-meets-corkscrew Green Lantern ride at MovieWorld
The Bad: Reading, a week later, about the 8 people stuck upside down on the gut-churning Green Lantern ride for an uncomfortable hour or so. A thrill seeker's worst nightmare!
The Ugly: The look of absolute terror in the eyes of 6-yr-old Nikita as she dropped backwards over a near-vertical precipice on the Kamikaze water slide. Riley chickened out at the top after queuing for 30 minutes, but Nikita was happy to blindly follow her beloved 11-yr-old friend Astrid over the edge...until she discovered she was just about to die....Ahhhhhhhh.

Palm Beach

As we continued our social flutter down the Queensland Coast, my great school buddy Kirsten, hubby Greg and 4 of their kids were the next to cop the rowdy onslaught. With 11 of us under one roof, including seven kids under 13, it was going to be a bit raucous.

Lachlan, Nikita and Samantha enjoy the waves with young Will and Paul watching on.

Windswept and loving it.

The hairdryer and make-up kit gets a rare airing (perhaps some more powder needed!) as the girls get ready for a night out on the Gold Coast.

 

 

 

 

Nimbin
At the Eclipse festival in Far North Queensland in November, we met a fun Nimbin couple, their son and baby, so we decided to drop by to visit their community property and enjoy some quintessential natural, herbal Nimbin hospitality in the forest.

                                                       A golden light shines over Nimbin.

Bath time Nimbin style. Outdoor bathing to the sound of thousands of cicadas was gorgeous.










The Good: The amazing 3-hour lightening spectacular at Nimbin. It was our first true monsoon-like thunderstorm and it was unlike anything we had seen or heard before. The kids slept through it all!
The Bad: The tree snake in Riley's mate Tao's bed in Nimbin...we think Nikita may have been sitting on top of it for quite a while....she seems to have something for sitting next to snakes.
The Ugly: Hmmm, no ugly this time.....I must have forgotten something Archie has done.