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Queensland 2019

September 2019 - May 2024
Travelling to Queensland and Northern NSW with my mum. Read more
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  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 14

    Sunday Drive

    September 15, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    A nice gentle Sunday today. We went into Lismore to the car boot market. It was large with a good mix of different items for sale. From vintage and second hand goods to veggies, plants and food. We had a happy hour wandering through it.
    Afterwards we headed to Eltham to the Eltham Valley Pantry for lunch/afternoon tea. It’s owned by friends of Jenny and is a pecan orchard as well as a restaurant. Both mum and I had pecan meals - mum a pecan sundae and me a pecan and spinach roll.
    We then took a leisurely drive home.
    I got to tick something else off my bucket list - I saw a firefly this evening.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 13

    Family Time

    September 14, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Today we collected my oldest nephew and we all went to Brunswick Heads for lunch. We had a lovely leisurely lunch of hand made pasta and then went for a walk to the river mouth. The others saw a whale, I saw the splash of the whale. After ice cream we went up to the Cape Byron lighthouse. It was coming in hazy so the visibility wasn’t great but there was at least one whale there. I saw at least a flipper of a whale.
    The boys were hungry again so we headed back to Brunswick Heads for wood fired pizza. While there we called both my sister and sister in law so we could all chat.
    By this time it was dark at well after 6pm. We separated with Jenny and the boys returning via Burringbar and mum and I looked for the straightest route back to Nimbin. I’m not sure we chose the best route as it was quite twisted in places. We ended up going down to Clunes and then through The Channon.
    We got back safely.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 12

    Uki

    September 13, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    A slower day today. We spent the morning at my sister’s just chatting and catching up with each other’s lives as it been 7 years since we were last together. Talking on the phone and messaging isn’t the same. We went into Uki this afternoon while my sister went to an appointment. Mum and I looked in every shop in the town. For a small town there is a lot of cafes in Uki. The have a couple of steam punk (or funk I’m not sure) shops there. When I was last here 8 years ago I found one of my type of books at a little bookshop here. Today I found three.
    Once back at Blue Knob the boys got their dirt bikes out, we went for a walk and more talking.
    The Nimbin Roots festival started tonight. We are at the edge of town but still hear it. Mum’s watching the footy but given the quarter time score I’ve gone to bed.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 11

    Tropical Fruit World

    September 12, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Today started out slowly with washing. We then collected Jenny and the boys and headed to Tropical Fruit World. This is an old avocado research station that now has thousands of varieties of fruit.

    We had a picnic lunch before we started the tour with fruit tasting. There were some familiar fruits such as bananas, oranges, kiwi fruit, avocado, pineapple and strawberries. There were familiar fruits that I have either rarely eaten such as papaya and black sapote, and those I haven’t tried before such as Davidson’s plum, star fruit, a fruit related to the custard apple that I can’t remember the name of, and canistel.
    The Davidson’s plum is so astringent it is almost salty. I only took a very small piece. Star fruit was okay if a bit watery. The custard apple relative was nice but I didn’t care for the canistel.
    After the tastings we went on a tractor tour of the property. It wasn’t a great time fruitwise to go as it is really in between fruiting seasons. The tour including a boat ride, tasting lemon myrtle water, banana and macadamias as well as feeding the farm animals.
    We finished up with a fruit ice cream- mine was black sapote which is also known as the chocolate pudding fruit as that is what it tastes like.

    My nephew had training in Lismore so we dropped him off and then went to the Lismore farmers market. Back then to watch my nephew at his MMA training. It gave mum and I an idea of what he does. He’s only a teen but holds his own against older guys.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 10

    This and That

    September 11, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Today we fell in with my sister’s plans and accompanied her as she went about her day. The boys has classes in Lismore so we started there. Mum and I visited the Art Gallery and were lucky enough to catch the end of a talk given by Geoff Hannah who crafted the Hannah Cabinet. I’d never heard of Geoff Hannah or his cabinetry but if you are interested google him. The cabinet is opened once a week so we were able to get some idea of the intricacies of it. It’s made up so many compartments and all finely decorated.

    After we finished at the Art Gallery we went with Jenny to watch her being filmed for a TAFE project. She was explaining the dyes Vikings used. Her wool is such incredible colours, all from insect or vegetable dyes.

    After lunch we returned to Nimbin for the afternoon Farmer’s Market. It’s a small market but with a lot of variety. We aren’t preparing evening meals here otherwise there was so much I could have bought (and eaten). We are planning a picnic lunch tomorrow so I did get some cheese and pickled mushrooms.

    We then headed back to Jenny’s and just hung out for what was left of the afternoon. She made us a delicious bacon soup before she headed back to get the boys and we came back to our accommodation.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 9

    Meandering South

    September 10, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Today our plan was to drive to Nimbin. Due to the fires we wanted to stay close to the coast. We had plenty of time so wherever possible we drove along the beach. We were a bit frustrated by some of it being one way in the opposite direction to which we were going.
    We followed the coast down to Pottsville before heading inland to Nimbin.
    We checked in to our accommodation and later in the afternoon went out to my sister’s place at Blue Knob. It was lovely to catch up with her and my nephews.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 8

    Tamborine Mountain

    September 9, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We are on our way south. Today was always a bit of a flexible day, to be decided while we were in Queensland. Our choices were limited by the bushfires as I had always intended we skirt Brisbane and go inland. Instead we went through Brisbane, right through as I missed a crucial turn due to not understanding which lane to be in. It did mean we drove over the Story Bridge so that was something.
    We also took a detour as I saw a sign saying “Southern Moreton Bay Tourist Drive”. What I didn’t realise was we were ar the south end of it and it was going north.
    Eventually we got to Tamborine Mountain. We did the skywalk amount the rainforest. That was really interesting.

    We later went to the glow worm cave. This is a man made cave that enables us to see them during the day. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos. The worms are quite small, the make long sticky threads to capture their prey, a bit like spiders. The cave really did look like stars in the sky.

    We finished with a walk down the long gallery, a street with an eclectic range of shops.

    Due to the fires we decided to stay in the Gold Coast rather than the mountains. We are very close to Movie World.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 7

    Sunshine Coast Hinterland

    September 8, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We started at the Glasshouse Mountains look out. I was most disappointing to find out the Captain Cook named the mountains after the glass furnaces in Yorkshire of which they reminded him. I was expecting something a bit more romantic like they look like glass when the dawn light reflects off them or something like that.

    We made our way to Maleny, went to Mary Cairncross park and did a rainforest walk. My favourite tree was the strangler fig. The seed germinates in the canopy, sends down roots that eventually strangle and kill the host tree.

    From there we went to have lunch with my uncle and aunt. They’ve a wonderful spot in Maleny and we had a very enjoyable afternoon.
    We took a while to decide on a route home but followed the Blackall Range Scenic drive to Nambour and then multiple roads to get back to Beerwah while avoiding motorways (because they are boring). The secenic drive was very scenic. We climbed quite high and had a good view of the coast and ocean.

    Yesterday we bought salad to have with our meals last night and tonight. I cooked the meat on the barbecue that is here and it’s a quick and simple meal. Much easier than going out. Unfortunately the mini fridge we have in our room must have the temperature set too low and the salad froze. So we had a pork steak, a bit of last night’s leftover chicken and some cheese for tea. If we get hungry a bit later on we can always have some muesli.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 6

    Australia Zoo

    September 7, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The title says it all. This was the main reason for coming north of Brisbane (plus family live up here). It didn’t disappoint although I think we are both ready for bed and it isn’t 8pm yet.
    We were lucky enough to see them cleaning Scrppa the croc’s enclosure so got to see him move about. A large area of the croc enclosures are being renovated in readiness for their 50th anniversary next year.

    We got to pat an eastern skink, snake and koala (well mum patted the koala, I did all three).
    We went out to the African area which had giraffes (10), zebras and rhinos. Working our way back we were in time for the tiger talk. They’ve three young adult tigers that they handle regularly and also take them up to watch the African animals when the zoo is closed.
    The highlight of the day for me was the performance in the crocoseum. They’ve put a lot of time and training into the birds that were performing.
    With all the animal performances and talks there was a big emphasis on natural behaviours of the animals.
    One animal who wasn’t very cooperative was the 13 week tiger cub who was in an area where he could be viewed as well as people could have a photo taken with him.
    He wasn’t in the mood to sit still and was more interested in chewing on the arm of the keeper with him.
    We were able to see the Aldabra tortoises feeding and heard about their endangerment. The message that humans have caused all the destruction of habitat and killed species to drive them to the brink of endangerment or extinction was definitely made but not as militantly as at Tangalooma resort. There they really drove home the message.
    We saw Scrappa being fed in the afternoon. In this talk we got a lot closer to both the keepers and crocodile. He put on a good performance for us.
    One more stop for the birds of prey and then we were done.

    We ate out last night but after realising there was a kitchen here where we are staying we picked up some simple ingredients to cook tea. The accommodation is really nice here, the rooms aren’t huge but there is a huge range of seating options all around the place. Last night I sat outside on a sofa to write my blog.
    Tonight it’s a bit cooler so I’m inside.    Read more

  • Michelle CreasyQueensland 2019
    Day 5

    To The Sunshine Coast

    September 6, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I have to say I’m quite impressed with Brisbane’s public transport smart card. We had to buy the card and put a minimum amount on it. I topped mine up as well. When we got to Roma st Station this morning we were able to return the cards, get the cost of the card plus any remaining credit back. Much easier than trying to put just enough on to end up with as close to a zero balance as possible.

    We were originally going to head to Beerwah via Caboolture however with the hot weather plus talk of bushfire evacuations around Caloundra we decided we’d rather skip that area. Instead we headed to Noosa Heads. I was kept from deviating from the motorway by mum’s comment that she wasn’t too keen on eating lunch at 3pm as she usually wasn’t hungry by then. We got up to Noosa Heads for a 1:30pm lunch. We used the highly scientific method of choosing a restaurant by going into the first one that looked like it would have a toilet. That was the Noosa Beach House Bar. It turned out to be a good choice.
    Afterward we wandered through the town, along the beach and then the spit.
    We then headed back down south to our accommodation in Beerwah which is in the Glasshouse Mountains. A bit different to our Brisbane accommodation, very tranquil and relaxed.    Read more

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