8th May

Kookaburra visit

If only I had a fish to clean!!!!!

8th May
Today we again tried the fishing thing out on lake in our inflatable. No luck with the fishing, but spent a bit of time retrieving my lures from the trees. Only 1 we couldn’t get back as it was snagged underwater. Tried trolling and casting. The good thing was that it was so peaceful and relaxing.
9th May
Started today with a trip into Gin Gin to the markets and butchers. As I said before, great meat in this part of the state. We invited our park managers, Kelly & Rob for dinner and a great night was enjoyed. D’Arcy was pleased as I decided to cook a bread & butter pudding for dessert and as usual always make too much, but leftovers is thoroughly enjoyed by D’Arcy.
10th May – Mother’s Day.
To-day started off with a late breakfast as there was a heavy fog thismorning, which didn’t clear till about 8.00a.m. so stayed in bed a little longer. Called my mum to wish her the best for Mother’s Day and she thanked us for the flowers we had sent. It is always good to hear from the kids at any time, but I had a call from all 3, Kellie, Darren & Jackie as well as talking to my granddaughter, Hailey & her mum, Shari. Hailey told me she now has a pet puppy, Zena, who is 8wks. old & really enjoying her. (Hailey, I am waiting for a photo) Jackie, Paul, Taylor & Chloe were all heading out for a picnic and fishing at the Spit on the Gold Coast. Hope they had more luck fishing than we are here at Lake Monduran. Kellie & Rory phoned in the afternoon as they had spent the weekend away visiting with a friend in the country. In the early evening D’Arcy was outside to fetch something, (I think a bottle of red) when he gave me a call to pass the torch. There was a small brown snake hanging around the end of the annex. The straw broom handle then came in handy.....don’t want those fellas finding their way inside.
In the afternoon we went for a leisurely walk. A circuit around the area, up hill and down dale....
So, my day was spent doing a lot a reading and just being lazy as well. Although I we did prepare and cook a steak pizza in our bbq oven, using the pizza stone which was great.

11th May.
Started the day with a walk. As it is quite hilly here in parts I elected to walk the dam wall 3 times & once to the lookout, which takes me an hour. While crossing for the second time D’Arcy caught up peddling his bike, which he manages to do a couple of times. He said he rode the bike up the hill to the approach to the dam today, whereas before he had to get off and walk. He got that heart rate pumping today. We are heading off from here on Wednesday so D’Arcy is potting around and
starting to pack a few things away. Just as well he got the inflatable deflated and folded up as it started to rain, which we haven’t seen any of for quite awhile. Well, it is nearly happy hour again and about to put a small lamb roast in the bbq oven for dinner. Till next time......

Lake Monduran

7th May 2009

We are now at Lake Monduran, http://www.lakem.com.au/ 20klms. North of Gin Gin Qld. Arrived here on 25th April – Anzac Day –daughter Jackie’s birthday. It is a lovely place. The dam is the Fred Haigh Dam and is the water supply for the irrigation of the Burnett region, which includes Bunderberg and surrounds. The lake is 32klms from the dam wall to the top. They stock it with 50-100,000 barramundi finglings every year. Only about 1/3rd survive and it takes 15months for them to grow to the legal limit of 58cm and approx. 2.5kg. To date they managed to elude our lures. Apparently a lot of others as well.
The park is managed by Rob, his wife Kellie along with their 2 children, Emily & Jack. We had the privilege last weekend to be invited along to their spit roast dinner which was just beautiful. Our friends Di & Trevor were here also for the weekend and we had a great time.
Rob also does fishing charters and we had a trip with him for a couple of hours late one afternoon, just to get the rundown on how to catch barramundi, but with no luck. The lake has lots of trees, which the barra love to hide around, but you have to be careful not to get your lures caught. The only thing I managed to catch was the beautiful sunset before heading home.

D’Arcy & I went out for the day fishing and packed a picnic lunch, which we had in the dingy, tied to tree branch & watched some swans “swanning” around. D’Arcy managed to catch 3 catfish, which he carefully let go. On our way back later in the day our trusted new outboard motor decided to just stop. Couldn’t figure out the problem, so had to tie up to a tree and call for help. Just as well we had mobile phone service. Called Rob and not a problem for him, within half an hour he was there to give us a tow. The next morning the motor started fine. Still do not know what the problem was.
Had a few nights around the “conversation pit” with a very warm fire going. One night our friends Rachael & Greg ,had their 2 boys, Charlie & Hamish, cook us all some marshmallows over the coals. Even though now the temperature has dropped quite a lot in the evenings & mornings, the days are lovely & still warm, around 22-25deg.
As Gin Gin is only about 15mins. drive away the markets are on Sat. Mornings so we managed to head in & pick up our fresh produce. The local butchers is recommended as well for their great meat and the Traveller’s Rest Cafe, for their award winning pies, which even I had to try one for lunch one day a laksa (chicken & seafood) with a lovely pastry. Also picked this cafe for breakfast on market day, as we headed in very early.
Yesterday, we had the pleasure of John & Fran, who we met back in Pialba, come out & visit. They are now in the park at Bargara, where our next stop will be next week.
Have taken lots of pics, but too many to post here, so these are just a few.
Till next time.....Still having a few problems sorting out organizing the photos....please bear with me....

24th April 2009

Yesterday, 23rd April, we left Pialba Tourist Park where we have been for the past 2wks. I would highly recommend this park in Hervey Bay as it is the quietest and still within walking distance to local shops and a hotel directly across the road. Handy for the odd meal out or the bottle shop is you run out of supplies.

Had the pleasure of my daughter Kellie's company over 2days before we departed and had lots of laughs. She really enjoyed our time kayaking out on the bay.

This was our view looking out to the bay. Even when there were other vans or tents we could still retain our view.

Photo: Urangan Pier, Hervey Bay, which is

7klms from our stay at Pialba Tourist Park.

Looking north to Pt.Vernon.

Today 24th we are visiting with friends, Chantelle, Tony & family at their workplace/residence, which is the Caltex on the Bruce Highway, Maryborough. They are the resident managers and invited us to stay, so we are parked up beside their house for 2 nights. Hunter, who is 8yrs old has D'arcy playing football on his playstation and having lots of fun.

Sunday 19th April

As you can see by these photos we are still in Hervey Bay. The last few days have seen us doing a lot of bicycling and walking. The weather has been kind as well with sunshine and temp. being around 27cdeg. Just love the walks around here. They have put it together really well. I managed to get up to 9klms. this week. Along the pathways every .5klm there is a plaque showing the distance to the Urangan Pier. Depending on which way you are walking it is easy to work out how far you have gone. D'Arcy is riding his bike as he prefers that to walking. The Urangan Pier is 14klms. round trip to where we are staying. On Friday we did it slow and took in the scenery more and tried out the Fitness Trail. Great equipment. No need for gym memberships around here. On our return we decided to stop & have breakfast by the water. After 3 hrs. away we arrived home all energetic and proceeded to do some spring cleaning. Amazing the dust & dirt that you pick up. Washing & all those mundane things still have to be done, but have all the time in the world. Really are relaxed. D'Arcy has never been able to sit down & read a book until now. Although the photo shows that he has really fallen asleep.

This is Fun...

Urangan Pier

Our breakfast Stop.

We had visitors for lunch yesterday

and this great lot of prawns we were

able to purchase from Les, friend of

Kellie & Rory's. This wasn't on our

lunch menu. They have been sent to

our freezer for future meals. The right

price too. Can't wait for chillie prawns,

Curried Prawns, stirfry prawns etc.etc....



Fitness Trail

The Ariadne brought the first lot of immigrants from England to Hervey Bay.
Till next time.........

Monday 13th April (Easter Monday)

Arrived here at the Pialba Caravan Park (Hervey Bay) on Thursday from Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. A comfortable 3hrs. We have a good site here and have extended our stay for an extra week (23rd). Kellie, my daughter & husband, Rory picked us up in a limo and we went to dinner at the Bayswater Resort. We had a lovely steak meal for only $10, which seems to be Thurs. Special.

Friday morning I was up and off for my walk which I haven't been able to do for awhile. A lovely walk along the Esplanade, passing through Pialba, Scarness & Torquay.

We had the privilage of being invited to Kellie's & Rory's friend's (Les)60th birthday celebration at his house, which carried on into early evening. Lovely meeting new friends. Les & his wife, Elaine were very good hosts. Photo: Self, Les & Kellie.

Sat. after breakfast both D'Arcy & I went the opposite direction on our bikes through Pt. Vernon which was about 4klms one way. After returning home and having our coffee we headed off again on our bikes to the supermarket for a few supplies. After an afternoon of relaxing and reading went for a short visit to Kellie's before heading home to put a couple of chops on the bbq and a few reds.

Sun: We were picked up by Kellie & Rory at 7.00am for a visit to the Koala Markets where I purchased a few vege items and had a super breakfast. D'Arcy as per photo with old car, says he used to have one just like this. On returning from the markets I made coffees & tea for us all before relaxing and then some preparation for pizzas I was making for dinner that night, with Kellie & Rory. As Kellie had to work on Monday it was an early night. Photo: one of our lovely pizzas.

Monday: Awoke to drizzling rain, but still went for my walk, carrying my umbrella. Managed to do 7klms. today. So now the weather has slowly deteriated to a quite heavy, steady downpour. We will see what tomorrow brings.

To-day, 7th April, and we are at the Cottontree Caravan Park, Sunshine Coast. We arrived here on Friday 3rd April after being delayed for 2 days. We left the property we were staying on at Guanaba, as per photo, thanks to Dan & Del, Gold Coast on the 1st April, only to have a problem with the compressor for the air brakes on the van. We then proceeded on to our friend & mechanic, Craig Brown at Staplyton, where we stayed overnight and had the problem rectified. The next day we awoke to terrible winds and rain, so decided to stay where we were for another night. Friday saw us leave as the weather had cleared a little. We had a good run up the M1 and the gateway motorway was relatively free of lots of traffic, which was good, considering all the road works and barriers that are in position.

Sat. 4th we left the van and travelled back down the highway to Bribie Is. where my mum lives for a visit and take her to lunch. After our goodbyes we headed north to Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast to visit and stay the night with our friends, Di & Trevor. Had a lovely night and a great meal prepared by both. After a comfortable nights stay we had breakfast and on the way back to our van we stopped off at Noosaville with Di & Trevor for a coffee.

Monday 6th April: Visited with Michael, Di, & kids (Jamie, Charley & Gorgi) at Caloundra. D'Arcy helped Michael in building an office within his garage. My day spent with the girls, mostly playing computer games.

Tuesday 7th April: D'Arcy back to help finish the office with Michael. I am washing & cleaning and doing all the jobs I have been putting off.

It rained really heavy during the night and today a bit of a mixture, sunshine & showers.