22nd February to 4th March 2012

22^rd February 2012

Today we had a trial run to Caboolture hospital to check the route and timing so that Merry can arrive there on time on Friday evening for her overnight stay for further sleep apnea studies.  In the evening it rain quite hard for a long period which eventually waterlogged the annex area in a few places but not completely, and it seems to drain away fairly quickly from this site.  Since coming back to the Brisbane area we have had more rain, some of it torrential, than we have ever experienced including during the cyclone season in the North West.  We are told it is not as bad as last year as they have not had a lot less flooding than last year, but are still getting more than they like.

23^rd February 2012

It rained in the night and has rained steadily and almost continuously all day.  The one slight break this morning was just long enough to do a few of our necessary outdoor chores and hasn’t stopped since, and looks like continuing through the night.  More rain is predicted for most of the next week so very little tourist activity will be happening here.

25^th February 2012

It has rained continuously for the last couple of days and especially hard last night along with a bit of wind which finally wrecked one corner of the tarp that we use to extend the annex.  We have now rotated the tarp 180 degrees so that the damaged corner is held by the annex anti flap clamp and some additional poles and guy ropes are now in use.  We now wait and see what happens in the next torrential downpour which might not be today as it is still very heavily overcast and threatening but not actually raining. 

We took the opportunity of this ‘no rain’ break to drive out to Glasshouse Mountain Lookout which provides great views of the other surrounding mountains which are the remaining solid core of ancient volcanoes.  Naturally there is an aboriginal tale to explain their existence but we’ll settle for the volcanic action.  It thought about raining whilst we were there but decided not to bother so we took the 800 metre circuit walk which only provided exercise as it descended below the tree line and obscured the view.  The visibility wasn’t good enough to photograph the surrounding scenery from the lookout so we are hoping for a clear dry day in the not too distant future.  Some of the so called ‘Sunshine Coast’ slightly north of us copped up to 300mm in the last 24 hour period so we must have been on the edge of it as we only got about 100mm.

26^th February 2012

The ‘no rain’ spell ended around midnight with more torrential rain for a couple of hours but the remodelled tarp arrangement stood up well this time.  We instigated the tarp extension in place of a shade cloth one that we had made in Tasmania so that we retain a dry area outside of the annex for Foxy to do her night time business without having to go back to bed in a wet state, and also provides shade, or rain protection, for us if we choose to sit outside to catch the breeze.  It also allows us to put the clothes line out there to dry in the breeze without being rinsed again by the rain. 

27^th February 2012

The rain in the night was short and sweet and all we got and the morning produced a day that was good enough to venture out, so we packed a picnic lunch and headed off to tour the Brackall Ranges and the townships on the way.  We took Foxy with us even though we knew this would probably stop us seeing some things due to being in National Parks but decided that we would see what there was to excite us today and come back on a genuinely good day.  Hopefully that will not be too far away. We passed through Lansborough without stopping as we had been there before and continued on to Maleny via an alternate route to a lookout that has views of the Glass Mountains, but it was very hazy and not at all good for photography.   Maleny is pleasant little township that has an interesting dog free park for next time.  

We parked in the shopping centre and walked along the riverside walk for a short distance and found a lizard that wanted to pose for us.  We then moved on through Witta and Conondale, both of which had nothing of interest other than the views on the way, to Kenilworth.    We also stopped alongside Little Yabba Creek for our lunch which showed the force of the water that had passed through during the recent heavy rain that had obviously risen several metres and damaged trees, etc.  This creek joins the Mary River which would have helped it swell and flood part of Gympie a few days ago.  Whilst here, we took a walk through the Fig Tree Walk which offered several huge fig trees with their amazing root formations, and also huge stinging trees with leaves the size of tea plates.  In these areas of the walk Barry carried Foxy to avoid her feet being stung by the fallen leaves.  The signage states that leaves collected in 1910 are still capable of stinging today, as are the dead fallen leaves. 

One fig tree had a boardwalk extension into its root structure for photo shots which we took advantage off, and then spotted the long tail end off a colourful snake (possibly a Diamond Python) passing under us to hide beneath the boardwalk. 

From here we moved through Kenilworth and on to Mapleton and into the national park to the car park and looked out over the Mapleton Falls, which unfortunately has a side on lookout so you only see the water come over the top but can’t see much of the actual drop.  However, if it were not for someone risking their all to build the lookout whilst suspended on a rope over a considerable drop, we wouldn’t get to anything.  There is a walk here but we couldn’t take Foxy and it was too hot to leave her in the car for 45 minutes so moved on to Montville.  This attractive township is similar to North Tamborine with its boutiques, art galleys, wineries and fine dining, etc and also has great views from the town and a lookout further down the road. 

There are views on both sides of the road during this trip as much of it is on narrow mountain ridges between the towns.  The circuit returned us to Maleny and then homeward with a slight detour near the end to check out Mount Tibrogargan, which overlooks the caravan park.  There is a dog free walk around it for a later date without Foxy.  We will be doing some of this trip again without Foxy to visit Kondalilla Falls, Gardner’s Falls and Lake Baroon which are in National Parks.

29^th February 2012

This proved to be another dry and warm day, so we packed another lunch and visited Bribie Island which is very much a retirement island for the wealthy.  There is some very serious real estate along the coastal strips with views of the mainland with the Glasshouse Mountains in the background. 

We stopped at the side of a pond alongside a new residential estate and watch some old timers controlling the rudders of their small racing yachts on the water.  We drove on to place called White Patch where Matthew Flinders landed and also beached his ship for repairs.  We had our lunch in the attached park, and then drove out some of the beaches on the side of the island facing the mainland.  These were nothing to rave about but if you happen to be the type that can laze around on a beach with a book for hours on end then here would be as good as anywhere.  We crossed to the seaward side of the island to the entrance to the beach track for 4WD vehicles to explore the top end of the island, but didn’t take the car onto the beach track as it is currently closed due to the recent excessive rains.  One also has to have a permit which is $39 dollars for a week which is not bad if you are on a camping trip for a week and can travel the length of the island at will, but for a one day visit is not on.  There is an old WW2 bunker at this point which was part of the Brisbane protection, but there is no entry into it for a look around and the associated beach looks just like all of the others, sand, and despite being seaward didn’t have any bigger waves.  We weren’t particularly impressed with the island from a tourist viewpoint but we can see the benefits of retiring there if you happen to have the bank balance to go with it.  Real estate will always hold a high price as only a very small area of the island is available for building on.    There is a bus station at the shopping centre that goes through to Caboolture where you can catch a train into Brisbane which is quite a cheap trip for pensioners.

1^st March 2012

Yesterday the weather was pretty good and today is better with really clear skies and good for photography so once again we packed a picnic lunch and drove to Beerwah and round to Mount Ngungun. 

The signage stated to allow 2 hours if you choose to climb to the summit.  Here we had the option of walking to the end of the relatively easy section of the track although it included about 60 steps within the uphill zigzag walk and stopped at a point with no view other than the surrounding trees. 

The other option was to look big and clamber up the next two much steeper sections over rocks and tree roots, which we chose to do.  After the first of the steep section was a flat area where there was a view in one direction which we took advantage of but didn’t rest as we had a rest just before the top of this section where a young guy was encouraging his girlfriend to do her first short abseil down the cliff face.  She didn’t manage it while we rested and left her to it without an audience.

The next even steeper section was tough but we did it and sat on the top and enjoyed the magnificent 320 degree views.  Whilst we rested here a much younger holidaying English couple arrived and had a chat and then pointed out that the actual summit was off to the left up a narrow ridge top track which then offered the complete 360 degree views, but meant standing fairly close to the sudden drop. 

The trip back down was less strenuous but more difficult as much of the steep stuff had to be done backwards but we did eventually arrive gratefully at the easy part of the track despite the steps. The abseilers had left so we will never know if the girl did manage to overcome the fear. 

After subtracting the approximate time spent watching abseilers, taking photos and chatting with other people near the summit, our climb took around 2 hours 10 minutes, so we nearly kept up with the rest of the world.  On arrival back at the car we drove to the Glasshouse Mountain Lookout where we visited a few days ago to use the table and seats for our lunch and take more photos on a clear day, or so we thought.  Someone had decided today was a good day to do a controlled burn off in the ground litter within the pine forest in the mountain area so visibility in one direction was still not so good. 

We returned to the caravan earlier than usual on our days out but we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day and attack some more of the walks, and climbs, in the future subject to weather conditions.

3^rd February 2012

This is supposed to be the last fine day so we drove north eastwards to the small township of Buderim perched on a small mountain inland from Mooloolaba and Caloundra.  The reason for this visit was the attraction of Buderim Forest Park and waterfall that we spotted in some of the literature that we collected from the Visitor Centre at Maleny.  The town itself is larger than we expected with a tree lined main street and 2 roundabouts which seems to be mandatory these days.  We found the Visitor Centre in the old renovated post office and gained the required directions to the Park and falls plus a heap more that the old chook insisted we have.  She must have been feeling lonely.  There are 2 ways to the falls with parking at each end with one near the top and walk down whilst the other is near the bottom and walk up with the addition of a meals facility.  We chose to walk down as that was the closest end and obviously had to walk back up as the car hasn’t worked out how to meet us at the other end.  On the way we were offered to paths which both  end at the falls so we chose the longer one which crosses over the stream a short distance upstream from the falls and then zigzags down to join the other path and final steps to the pool at the base of the falls. 

Walking around the right hand side of the pool takes you into a cave that allows you to get almost behind the falling water and looks out across the pool at the bridge that brings the alternate path across to the steps. 

Moving past the steps and away from the pool there is another rough track alongside the stream past several smaller pools, waterfalls and cascades until you have to cross the stream either by wading, or dubious rock hopping.

We chose to wade across and continued along the stream on the other side past more small falls until eventually joining a boardwalk that covered the last 300 metres to a grassy park and to what we thought would be a cafe for a cuppa.  It turned out to be a very expensive restaurant which we ignored as our picnic lunch was waiting in the car.  o get back across the stream which Merry found slightly difficult with her shorter legs but managed with a helping hand. From the main waterfall we took the bridge over the stream and up the other path to a totally pointless lookout platform that looks at nothing and continued up to the carpark. It was a 2.6km trip with some clambering and climbing but well worth the effort. 

After lunch we visited the Pioneer cottage that was once the only building on the mountain but has now buildings all round it blocking out its view to the coast.

We drove down to the coast at Mooloolaba and along the coast line to Caloundra which offered the choice of some sandy beach in amongst rock slabs. Both towns had the usual Cappuccino Strips along the beachfront and high rise apartments but not to the extent of the Gold Coast. 

On the way through, we called into the fishermans harbour more by chance than design, and picked up some some fresh fish and prawns. 

9th February to 20th February 2012

9^th February 2012

The weather has cleared and allowed us to pack up Richard’s tent in the dry and stored the airbeds and sleeping bags for future reference.  In the afternoon we drove through to the airport to drop Richard off to fly back to WA to check out a few job prospects on some mine sites.  Fortunately Merry had queried the flight time and as it turned out Richard had misinterpreted the 24 hour clock timing which would have meant missing his flight by 2 hours had we gone to the airport based on his original flight time.  We are getting many walk-by visits from at least 3 Bungarra that Foxy would love to have a go at, even though their claws would rip her to shreds.

10^th February 2012

We repacked the roof rack on the car as we now have a larger tent to carry and also an unused boogie board but fortunately the total height is still under 2.3 metres which lets us use 2.4 undercover parking at shops, etc but still have to approach cautiously as many are only 2.1 metres.  The annoying part is that the 2.4 metre sections are usually full of cars not much bigger than a shopping trolley because of the shade, so the height might be okay but no room left for the larger vehicles.

14^th February 2012

We had a day out in Ipswich which stared with a drive around the centre of town and noted that the place is saturated in parking meters and then drove out to Queens Park where the Visitors Centre is located.  We collected some literature and information and proceeded deeper into the park to the cafe for lunch via the Lion’s Lookout for an overview of the town.

After lunch we strolled round the Japanese Gardens and then the Nature Park which we had to do in turns so that one of us could look after Foxy who wasn’t allowed in.  We then did some necessary shopping before heading home

16^th February 2012

Foxy stayed at home alone for a few hours whilst we headed up to North Tamborine at the top of the mountain to take a look at Witches Falls that is within a National Park, hence on Foxy.  There is a circuit walk with the Falls Lookout almost half way round and we chose to go the slightly shorter way to the Falls in the first instance.  The downhill walk was through both open forest and then rainforest with several sets of stone steps with the final section of track to the lookout being a 200 metre offshoot from the circuit track. 

The side view of the falls is unfortunately partially obscured by a palm tree which also partially obscures the view of the bottom of the falls which is quite a drop.  Photos of the falls do not do it justice but neither does the side view lookout and there is no way down to the bottom for a good look other than using gravity only, which makes it hard to get back up.  We set off on the return leg of the circuit to find a completely flooded area that also covered the track with a sign indicating an alternative wet track.   We took the alternative track which also became flooded but we spotted a sign post across the water which we assumed to be the other end of the alternative track, so we walked around the water to meet up with the sign and the original track.  When we reached the top there was a sign stating that the track is closed to the public.  Pity they didn’t put one at the other end although it didn’t actually affect us and still let us get to see some of the distant views on the way out. 

 We are led to believe that the falls only happens after a decent amount of rain, which we have had, and assume it forms the small lake that feeds the falls until it empties, which may take a while as there was a small water course running across the downward track that we took initially.

18^th February 2012

We took Foxy with us this time up to Botanic Gardens but it is a No Dog garden so we parked and strolled with heaps of other tourists along Gallery Walk which is a single road dedicated to art, craft, wines, fine food, etc. 

Some of the buildings were impressive but the place that most impressed us was the Cuckoo Clock house which was built to look like a cuckoo clock and was filled with hundreds of both cuckoo and grandfather clocks, all of which were extremely expensive.  We left Foxy at home again in the afternoon and returned to the botanic gardens which were surprisingly large and well kept for such a small township. 

It was obviously the wrong time of year for this visit as there were no trees or flowers in bloom, with the odd exception, but was still a pleasant stroll through the various palm avenue, rainforest, magnolias, rose garden and Japanese sections all surrounding a lily pond.

19^th February 2012

In the morning we clambered along the edge of Cedar Creek where it flows through the campground so that we could get some photos of the rapids and rock pools.  On our return to camp we started the process of packing up ready to move on in the morning.

20^th February 2012

We fished the packing up and left northward for Beerburrum near Caboolture, and also not far from the Australia Zoo that we have visited twice and also close to the Glass House Mountain area which we will explore in the next week or so.  Unfortunately most of that area is National Park so Foxy will spend some time alone again.  The current caravan park is obviously an old park with mainly permanent residence with very little space reserved for short term visitors.  It doesn’t have concrete pads for the annex but does have a good cover of grass rather than bare earth but will have to wait and see what it is like if we have some heavy rain.

18th January to 4th February 2012

18^th January 2012

We drove up to Brisbane airport and collected Jack and Rory and returned to the camp where they immediately tried out the swimming pool and bouncing balloon.

19^th January 2012

We drove the 100 plus kilometres up to the Sunshine Coast to visit the Australia Zoo that we visited some time ago but they have introduced an African section since then although it is rather sparse at this point in time with just Rhinos, Zebra, Giraffes and a Cheetah.  We didn’t actually see the Cheetah this time whereas last time we saw it being taken for a walk through the Park on a leash, not in an enclosure.

20^th January 2012

We bought some more tent poles, a larger tarp and a long spreader to make the covered area in front of the annex into a substantial shade area when the sun is high, or a more effective rain cover when we sit outside. Whilst we did this, Richard and the kids went to Wet & Wild which is in walking distance from the caravan park

21^st January 2012

We drove to the Gold Coast to visit the CSI Experience and we all managed to solve the case based on the evidence that we collected from the murder scene. After lunch Richard and Jack went into the Haunted House but Rory opted to stay with us while that happened but Merry took her into a Light Show to pass the time.  Richard and Jack finished their disappointing visit and we went around to the Light Show area to wait for the others who were still in the queue waiting to go in so Jack got to do that as well.  On the way home we called in to a shopping centre to buy a cheap bogie board for the kids to use in the surf at some time. 

22^nd January 2012

The Tarp covered area outside the annex does keep the rain of the top of one’s body but the water flows in across the ground of this flood prone paddock.  When Richard booked it he wasn’t told that if it rains you paddle in water but still pay extortionate rates. He booked here because it is close to the entertainment strip and fortunately most of that involves getting wet so doing it in the rain doesn’t make much difference.

23^rd January 2012

Barry bought some new 150 mm poly pipe and made up a new longer pole carrier for the van whilst it was not raining,  but it  started a bit later and gradually got worse until the evening when it became torrential.

24^th January 2012

 The torrential rain continued for most of the night and then settled down to a more reasonable but continuous rain.  The weather forecast is for at least a week of this weather which defeats the attempt to get the kids around to places with less crowding as the Queensland kids have gone back to school.  It has become obvious that if you want to visit Queensland as a tourist you need to do it in the winter even though the place looks a lot drier and waterfalls are not as effective, etc.  If you come here in the summer you can expect a lot of rain apparently, and we have been told by locals that the places we really liked in the winter are not so great at this time of the year.  In general Queensland is low on our list of where we would like to live.  It is also quite expensive to live here and their roads leave a lot to be desired.  The river near the camp has risen by metres so the 2 drainage ditches through the camp can’t flow away any more and are spreading towards us.  That happens with 100mm of rain overnight so reception sent their man to help us move to higher ground which was a nice gesture but no fun with it still throwing it down.  The move took all day with extreme difficulty and multiple drenchings and cost a fair bit with drying everything.

25^th January 2012

We had another 100mm plus overnight and still going strong so water is flowing across annex floor despite now  having a concrete pad .  It is likely you will see Brisbane on TV in another flood situation like last year as they have done little, or nothing to avoid a repeat, other than talk about it. 

Barry took a stroll down to the low area where our campsite had originally been and the 2 drainage ditch were totally under water as was the whole camping area as the river had come to meet it all and was now about a metre deep with just power points and the odd tree showing above the water line.  Richard checked it later in the day and it was higher.  The bridge on the road leading out of here was also covered with 1.5 metres of water and well over the hand rail level so the road was closed, as was the road in the other direction.  After the oceans high tide at 11.00am the water receded as the tide went out allowing the river water to follow it and by 3.00pm the bridge was back in use to allow us to do some shopping which included a detour due to road conditions.  We didn’t hear it raining in the night so assume that if it did it was at least gentle.  The Gold Coast beaches have been closed to the public as they are covered in debris that has been washed out to sea so the boogie board will not get used for some time, if at all.

26^th January 2012

First thing in the morning and it wasn’t raining but threatening and everywhere is soggy to the extent that the car tyres look half flat but are simply sunken into the ground. The weather forecast is for an easing of the rain which will return with a vengeance again towards the weekend.

27^th January 2012

The rain hasn’t eased but there were only a few patches of torrential rain.  In the evening we had a meal out in the Gold Coast at Outback Jack’s which was good but very expensive.

28^th January 2012

We drove through to the Gold Coast again to visit Sea World as Richard had bought a 3 venue ticket for the kids and himself and this was the third venue.

 We went in to see the polar bears, penguins and dolphins and there was also a jetski demonstration from some of the world’s top riders.  

The riders here are very fast and wild and were not on our list of things to do as we preferred to retain our lunch, but virtually all of the more gentle rides and sideshows were closed. 

Considering the lousy weather there was still a huge attendance to this venue (mainly Asian) so we didn’t go to any of the animal feeding sessions as it was obvious you would need to get there half an hour early and wait around if you actually wanted to see anything.   The kids did most of the rides that were operating but Rory missed out on some due to minimum height restrictions.

29^th January 2012

Richard and the kids went across to Wet & Wild and also Movie World despite the rain as that reduced the number of people at the venues which gave them easier access to the rides.  The rain cleared in the afternoon which allowed us to pack our annex away in a dry condition as we had decided to leave the swamp that we were living in a day early and move to a more pleasant park.  Being much further from the beaches the Boogie board will not get used.

30^th January 2012

Despite heavy rain in the night it cleared to let us pack the tent up in a dry condition and we moved out by 10.00pm and headed inland to Tamborine Mountain Caravan Park which was not easy to find even with the Navman which attempted to send us up a ‘no through road’ to nowhere.  The park has obviously suffered some heavy rain over the last week like everywhere else but we are no long paddling on our concrete pad and paying a third of the price per night for the privilege.   We are a lot further away from the entertainment strip but that has been fairly well used despite the lousy weather but this park has no swimming pool.  However, it does have bush walks, 5 treetop assault courses, waterfalls, cascades and rock pools to explore.   Originally Jack and Rory should be flying home to Canberra today but Richard changed the flights to give them a few more days’ fun because of the real useless days due to torrential rain.  Unfortunately this will mean taking them to the airport at 3.00am for the 5.00am flight on Friday.

31^st January 2012

We drove up to the main road and then deviated off down the other side road to Cedar Creek Falls which has a series of cascading falls to complement the main fall which provided a long walk poking down into the falls and cascades.  On the way back into camp we called into the Thunder Bird fun park to check on the prices and then went for lunch.  In the afternoon we drove up to Tamborine Glow worm cave to introduce the kids to glow worms which went down very well with them as both love nature and what it has to offer. On the way back we parked and walked down to the base of Curtis Falls which we prefer to looking down from paths or lookout. 

Being at the base is more exciting as the ground vibrates with the power of the water landing and the noise is more engulfing.   We then headed back to the park prior to dinner and took Foxy for a walk alongside the creek near the park to look at the water holes and rapids.

1^st February 2012

It rained in the night but cleared to give us a pleasant day which Richard and the Kids enjoyed at the Adventure Park which is part of Thunder Bird Park.  This consists of 5 tree top type assault courses of varying degrees of difficulty. 

They both did the Green and red courses several times and Jack did the hardest Black course which Rory was not allowed to do due to her height being a bit too short and therefore not able to clip her safety straps onto the safety cables.  Her leg and arm stretch was probably a bit short also but when Jack finished the black course they both did the harder red course again.  They were between 4 and 8 metres off the ground but had a pulley attached to their harnesses for the flying fox parts and 2 clip on safety ropes so that there was always a safety rope clipped on as they moved from one challenge to the next.  No-one put the safety ropes to the test as both kids seem very capable at this type of activity loved every minute of it.  They had a long hard day and came out very weary but happy.  Much as they enjoyed the rides at Wet & Wild, Movie Land and Sea World they seemed to enjoy the assault courses more because of the genuine interaction rather than just strap yourself in and start screaming.  We provided some bought sandwiches for lunch as they don’t have a pass out system for them to come out and go back in but we could go in to give them their lunches, and then walked around underneath to watch them, which gave us and Foxy a good workout.  Merry and Rory have both developed  stomach problems which didn’t impress Merry on her birthday.  In the evening and night it rained again.

2^nd February 2012

Merry was not really any better this morning but Rory had improved but seemed to have passed it on to Jack, however, we still drove through to Currumbin, near Coolangatta, to a Wildlife Sanctuary which came as part of the Thunderbird tickets.  Shame it involved a 1.25 hour drive to get there but the kids enjoyed it, especially Rory who had recovered enough to do the tree top challenge at this venue which included some of the Black course stuff that she couldn’t do at Thunderbird.  Jack still wasn’t up to it so he sat out and watched.

3^rd January 2012

We unfortunately had to rise at 2.15am to get the kids ready to leave at 2.45am for the 1.5 hour trip to Brisbane airport to catch their flight to Canberra, in pouring rain.  Once we had got off the mountain there wasn’t any rain which made it easier at the airport and the return journey was better without rain, and in daylight.  Unfortunately the breakfast that we had at the airport didn’t sit too well with Merry’s stomach which she thought was better but it caused another uncomfortable day for her.

4^th February 2012

The stomach bug has now caught up with Barry but not as severely.  We had a visit from a couple of the local metre long Bungarra lizards which seem to like the two trees near our campsite.