Thunderegg mining and visiting

22/7 – part two of our day

Azzan was still wanting to go Thunderegg mining so we walked over to the office.
But it was 4pm and too late to go down the mine.
So the man suggested Azzan could do the lucky dip from the pile of cast off rocks from outside of the office.
He was very happy to do that so he took his bucket and went out to search.

He had it all sussed so didn’t take too long to choose his rocks.
When he came in the guy sorted them out and showed him which ones he could cut and Azzan chose the one he wanted opened.

He was very happy with the pretty quartz colours inside his egg.

We finally had to leave so we had time to pop in and visit Tim’s sister Jenny.
She was staying at Logan Village with her husband Ivor at his daughter’s place while they fix up their mobile home.
They live in it and travel around Australia.

We hadn’t seen Jenny for around 25 years so it was great to catch up again.

Then it was 5pm and time to head off back to the city to find cousin Mary.
We followed the googlemap instructions on ly to get stuck again when the motorway entrance was closed – darn it!
So I pulled over and got out Bethel’s map book and found another route and finally found Mary, her daughter Jeanie & g’daughter Brittany at home waiting dinner for us.
We had a very enjoyable evening together.

It is so cool to be catching up and meeting all these cousins after so many years.
It has really made our trip worth so much more.

It was all too soon time to take the children back to Bethel and Ron’s so we wound our way back around the streets. This time with no misadventures.

Adventure Parc on Mt Tamborine

22/7
We left Bethania about 9am and headed south to Mt Tamborine.
It was so cool to realise we were so close to the countryside.
After the past days in the concrete jungle we all breathed deep sighs of relief.
It was a lovely drive out through Beenleigh and up the mountian.
We eventually found our way to Thunderbird Parc and had a wee cruise around looking to see what was there.
A lovely camping area and Thunderegg mining.
Also a horse trekking place which unfortunately was totally booked out so Mahalia didn’t get to go.

We made our way to Adventure Parc and signed in and got measured up to see who could do what course.
Azzan was just tall enough but was pretty keen to do the mining instead so he and Tim went over to suss it out.
They got back just as we were watching the safety movie.
When he saw what we were about to do he decided he really would love to do it too.
He had thought that we were just going to be climbing some mountain!!
The lady quickly got him into his overalls.
We all had two safety carabinas and a pulley to attach to the ropes and also gloves and a water bottle.
Then we were all ready to go

I thought that I would have to go slowly around the course to help Azzan.
Shanni offered to stay back and help him along too.
Nathan & Mahalia took off and we never saw them for a couple of hours.

Azzan was right into it and really did well.
He struggled with the carabinas but perseverence was the name of the game and he was so determined.

We each had 2 carabinas of which one had to be connected to the wire ropes at all times.
They were quite tricky as they had a safety twist to them and I really struggled with it so give major credit to Azzan as he managed them with his little hands.
There was also a pulley attached to each of us for when we used certain flying foxes.
We also had to use gloves at those times too.
Each activity was signed with simple but explicit instructions and we had a guide watching us at all times.

The ropes and ladders etc got higher and more complicated as we went along.

Tim spent the day on the ground being the papparazzi.

Azzan on the flying fox.

This was Azzan’s last ladded down – I found it tricky so was very impressed that he did it all by himself.

We all finished the red and green courses and met up at the bottom.
Mahalia & Nathan had already done the black course.
Azzan was annoyed as he wasn’t big enough to do the black course so as far as he was concerned his day was finished
The other three were literally flying around the course many times while I pottered along at my own pace.

 

I was doing well until I got to this one below.
 
I had to grab a rope and leap out over an abyss and swing to the net and grab it and then climb across to the platform.
 
I just could not take that leap
Tim reckoned the camera battery was going flat while he waited for me to jump.
I finally did and it was so scarey.

But then I had to do the next thing and it was the worst one of all.
  
I managed to finish it and then looked ahead to where Shanni was swinging across hanging stirrups and decided that I had had enough.
So I took the next flying fox to the ground.

After we had all finished we passed in our harnesses and then we were allowed out on the Sensations part of the course.
It was just as challenging but a heap of fun.

We were entertained by kookaburras while we ate our lunch.

I was talking to the French woman who owns the Parc along with her Australian husband and commented to her that I hadn’t managed to finish the black course – I still had 3 things left to do.
She said I had done really well as most folk do not get even as far as I did.
So I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself 

Mind you for the next few days after my arms were covered in bruises and my stomach muscles were so sore!!
But it was fun
AND
I would do it again tomorrow

part 2 of our day coming next…..

Lazy day in Brisbane

21/7

We spent an enjoyable lazy morning at Bethel’s doing not a lot.
Then cousin Mary called up and offered to take us shopping in her wee car in the arvo.
Shanni & Mahalia didn’t want to go so they stayed back on the promise of being good for Bethel.
When Mary arrived we were just finishing lunch so we chatted a while and then Tim, Nathan & Azzan squeezed into the back of her ‘bubble’ 

and I hopped into the front seat and we zoomed off to find Ikea. We wandered around looking and getting ideas for kitchens etc. Didn’t intend to buy anything but somehow came out through the checkout with a large bag of interesting goodies.
We had time to quickly look for shoes for Azzan. So Mary took us to KMart. Azzan had been wanting to get shoes with buckles but so far had been none to be found. He quickly eliminated the lace up sneakers and velcro shoes. They had spider man on them and ‘Idon’t like Spider man’!
So we moved on to another aisle and he found a pair of black lace up leather shoes which he immediately fell for. He tried them on and made an instant decision that they were just what he wanted – cuz they are what the people wore in the old days and I like old times things.’
Mary was chuckling over this as her g’daughter has to wear this type of shoe for school and is totally unimpressed about it!!
We found some sale shirts which I bought for my big boys and then had time to 
rip through the supermarket to stock up on supplies. Then just before we left Mary introduced me to a wonderful coffee shop called Zarraffa’s. They make frappacinos to die for.
By this time it was dark and past time to be home. So we zipped back to Bethel’s and unloaded our plunder. We quickly made Banana Caramel for dessert. It was delicious.
The girls had been having a great time with Bethel’s jewellery collection. ‘She has MILLIONS of earrings!!’
So they were quite happy they hadn’t come shopping with us.

A day at Southbank

 

 

 

Bethel navigated us into the city on Monday morning.

That made life so much less stressful and Tim commented that she was a brilliant co-pilot.

We got to Southbank in good time so went shopping at the tourist shops.

One was having a big sale so we had fun there.

Tim finally got his hat so he was happy – esp as it was discounted.

Then Annette arrived so we went to a nearby cafe for a drink.

But Shanni & Nathan decided they wanted food.

So they ended up having another breakfast.

Bethel & Annette and I stayed at the cafe and chatted a while after Tim took the children down to the museum.

Therre were some ibis hanging about and as soon as the patrons at a nearby table left they swooped on their plates and were soon scrapping over the scraps!!

We wandered along to the boardwalk after a whiole.

By this time I was hungry as I never ate earlier.

So I got lunch there.

Then it was soon 1pm and Annette had to leave.

Tim’s nephew Calum arrived to spend the rest of the day with us so we sat and talked while the 3 children played in the fountain area & went swimming.

The sand oasis was perfect as the water was quite cool and the sun was very warm over in that corner so Azzan & Hali spent a long time there with a wee girl they met from Scotland.

We watched them from the deck of another cafe and had lunch together.

Then it was getting later in the day so we got them dressed and fed and started walking down tothe modern art gallery.

On the way we walked through the rain forest walk – it was so lovely in amongst the trees.

Then past the Peace Pagoda.

Tim & Calum just ambled along chatting about who knows what.

We were conscious of the time and wanted to get there to see this exhibit.

It was very impressive.

I thought this painting was also rather provocative.

It was all to soon 5pm and we had to leave so we walked back along the street this time.

Shanni was very very tired and had a sore tail bone from an earlier fall so she was not coping too well with all the walking.

We found this cicada/cricket in the garden by the museum – it was very beautiful in the late afternoon light.

We saw Calum across the road to the train station and then headed back ot the car park.

 

We walked past the Brisnbane Wheel.

And back along the bouganviullia walkways.

They are so beautiful.

We stopped to get a NZ smoothies each as we were all rather famished.

Southbank was just becoming to come alive for the evening so it was very tempting to stay awhile.

But we had weary wee folk so loaded them in to our trusty steed and headed back home.

Ron had the dinner cooking and the washing done so it was very pleasant to come back to.

It was a very pleasant day.

Despite being in the centre of the city it was all very relaed and laid back and most enjoyable.

 

A weekend at Scarborough

Golda & Albert greeted us at Scarborough.

Tim & Golda chatted on the front balcvony while Albert & Nathan taxied Suzie from one girlfriends place to another.

Then we had dinner.

Rosina, George & Hosea arrived just as we were finishing.

After dinner Rosina took their 2 wee dogs and our 3 youngest for a night walk along the beach.

They found the play ground and loved having it all to themselves in tyhe dark.

The rest of us watched the All Blacks thrash the Wallabies in the Tri Nations rugby – 22-16.

Of cvourse when the walkers arrived back they were all starving so we toasted up the crumpets we had bought for breakfast whilst enjoying a riotous evening togeether.

 

Nest morning George bought the girls back a papaya to try.

Shanni wasn’t too sure about it!

After breakfast Rosina & I took the kids and dogs gfor a walk along the beach.

The children found the huge cottonwood tree they had enjoyed the night before.

It was still pretty cool.

Azzan found a very comfy limb to recline in.

Then they spent ages building sand castles while we chatted.

Mahalia loved the wee dogs but found two on a lead quite a challenge.

This is the wonderful 1830’s house that Rosina & George have found to rent.

I certainly hope that when they buy they are able to find something in just as great a situation.

 

Nathan & Hosea got to know each other a bit over the computer.

After we returned the children wanted to go kayaking so the guys got the kayaks etc out and toted them down to the beach.

Tim and the two boys went walking and talking to the boulder bank whilst waiting for the kids to get sorted.

 

It was a great day out.

Some people and quite a few boats but it still felt like we had the beach to ourselves.

Azzan found the waves a bit of a challenge to paddle in so Shanni helped him.

 

Azzan loved the warm sand

Time to take everything back up again.

Then they had to be hosed off as the sand had infiltrated everything.

That caused a lot of fun and laughter as the squirting water tickled them!

We had to leave in the afternoon to head south.

Azzan had Rosina firmly wrapped round his wee finger by this time so they had to have big cuddles before we left.

Tim with his cousins – Rosina, Golda and Albert.

And all of us.

By this time George’s sister Gabrielle and her husband had arrived enroute to the airport.

We left soon after 4pm.

Stocked up with a bit of foodas we went through Redcliffs.

Just as well we did cuz we got stuck in traffic on the new Gateway Highway.

It took us an hour to get from Redcliffs to the north side of the Brisbane River.

So much for the new and super efficient motorway!

I was so glad we had the dvd player cuz Azzan & Mahalia werte able to watch The Wizard of Oz while we crawled along.

We finally arrived at Bethel & Ron’s in Bethania, south Brisbane about 6:30pm.

It was so good to get here and Bethel had a big pot of delicious soup on to feed us.

 

 

My day with the Paper Princesses and our farewell to Toowoomba

17/7

Judy & I were up early and left the house at 7am.

We had a 2.5hour drive to get to Marilena’s house in Samford Valley where the 7 Paper Princesses were having their 3-monthly get-together.

We all arrived around 9:30-10am.

Enjoyed morning tea together whiles chatting and sharing treasure each had bought for the others.

Then it was lunch time.

What a spread.

Each lady contributes their speciality so it was a very tasty and filling lunch.

Then we gathered in the lounge and Marlene & Kasha were given their birthday art pieces that each of the other ladies had made for them.

These are Kasha’s wonderful blocks of wood which have been transformed by mixed media artists into these fantastic works of art.

Then the ladies had to blow out their candles.

 

We left about 3pm and made our way through the building city traffic to Calligraphic Arts and found Renate there.

She has a wonderful shop with all sorts of treasures tucked away in little rooms of the house/shop.

By the time we left it was after 5pm so we called ahead to let Nathan know we would be late.

Tim & Kurt were still down the hill cutting privit.

 

We walked in the door and found this wonderful baboushka town that the children had created.

Azzan just loves these dolls and spent hours playing with all of Judy’s.

She has so many that he and the girls had enough to share!

Nathan had made a delicious dinner.

We had a great time – it was our last supper together.

Then Murray arrived – he is a friend fromback home, who I had only just found out the night before, had moved with his family to Toowoomba. I managed to locate him but  his wife and family had left that day for a holiday on the Gold Coast so missed catching up with them.

It was great to see him and exchange all the family news.

Tim & Kurt usually spent time together in and over the kitchen sink.

 

18/7

I was up and getting the packing begun early on Saturday morning.

Kurt had to leave at 8am as he had an all day art class.

I was through the washing and into packing when Judy offered to take Nate and I into town to do some last minute shopping.

So we zipped away for an hour and came back 3 hours later.

Tim had begun loading the car so everything basically got thrown in will nilly.

We had a quick lunch and then loaded all the children in.

Nathan wandered out the front door just as I took this photo..

but there was no Tim to be seen.

So I went looking and found him and Judy leaning over the balcony deep in conversation admiring all the work the guys had down the day before.

 

We managed to pry time away and into the car and headed off to Brisbane.

Judy had printed out google instructions for me.

But, an hour or two down the track we realised we had missed a turn off on the motorway and were actually heading into the mid city.

So we stopped at a Moorooka service station and bought a map and asked directions.

Once I could see where we had to go it all became so much clearer.

We finally got to Scarborough in the late afternoon – only half an hour later than planned.

 

Toowoomba

Our days at Toowoomba were spent chilling out and generally recovering from a few busy weeks.

15/7

I took the kids shopping – had to find Mahalia an outfit for Jesika’s b’day party. Finally found everythiung at Pumpkin Patch – crazy to come to Australia to shop at a Kiwi shop! But everything was on sale at half price so we did very well and Hali was especially happy cuz she found some black boots – she had been hankering for some since Shanni got hers!

We also got some clothes for all at Rivers sale. Got Boost juice and came back home.

Azzan loved to set the table for Judy. He was so careful to put the salt and pepper on without spilling and then would arrange every candle he could find on the table.

He also spent a lot of time building with the magnets.

We took the children to Picnic Park in the evening before dinner.

It was beautiful there but jolly cold.

Tim & I were glad of our coats but the kids were running around so much they hardly felt it.

There is a waterfall area there on the top of the hill – man made of course.

But because of the drought they have turned it off.

It still made a delightful place to play and imaginations ran wild.

Azzan was sure he would find dinosaurs in there!!

 

The trees were brilliant to climb – Azzan found it a bit tricky getting out of this one though! 

Where’s the waterfall gone?

 

This wonderful creation is called a Pedal Power.
The kids LOVED it.

The view from Picnic Point was amazing.

This is looking eastwards.

The traffic from Brisbane flows along down in the valleys below and then climbs a very steep hill up the side of the mountain.

Sunset through the park trees.

I spent the afternoon making phone calls and organising the coming week.

 

16/7

I caught up on washing.

Spent a fairly cruisy morning with Judy.

Got Nate some clothes at Rivers sale – jeans actually were way cheaper than marked when we went through checkout – $20 a pair – good buy.

Tim & Kurt did some planning and talking and made a start on pruning privit and lantana down their hillside.

They have quite a wonderful wilderness down there – parts of which they have never seen as it is so overgrown.

They are just plodding away pruning and pathing as they can.

But Kurt has a majorly painful back so it is rather agonising for him.

So Tim wanted to do what he could to help.

It was bitterly cold though so they weren’t down there too long.

I took Tim to town in the late arvo to get him some jeans.

I actually had several other things I wanted to do but by the time he had tried on a few pairs and some shirts and boots the day was gone.

Dropped the girls colouring in competitions to the National Geographic shop, got Boost juice for everyone and headed back home.

The children were happy just to stay back and blob.

They painted, played with play dough, watched a movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guyra to Toowoomba

Sunday morning we picked up Nathan from Anson’s place and  headed off to the BlueCross Calvary Life Assemblies Church which we had found just around the corner. We had a wonderful time there. The folk were so friendly and welcoming.
We stayed on and chatted over a cuppa afterwards.

We met this wonderful family
Tony & Ruth Stace and their children.
They invited us for lunch so we went and picked up Anson and headed westward 32 kms and spent the afternoon with them.
The children had a great time – we hardly saw them all.
Nathan, Ben and Josiah shot the cross bow and played cricket.
The younger ones were riding bikes and playing hard outside.
We finally dragged outselves away around 5pm and got back to Guyra just on dark.

 We were sposed to be going roo shooting and waited after dinner until 9pm but Anson couldn’t locate the guys who were oging to take us.
I was quite relieved as we were all very tiredand Hali had come down with a head cold.
So we bundled them all into bed.

Monday morning was lovely to begin with.
We cleaned the car and repacked it.
Couldn’t leave Guyra without a photo by it’s landmark sheep.

We went to pick up Nathan at 10am but all the guys were sound asleep.
Woke them and chatted to Anson while Nate packed up.
We were soon away and over the hill to Glen Innes.
The weather in Guyra was packing up so we really did get the best couple of days there.

We stopped at the Info Centre for information and fuel.
From there we drove to The Standing Stones.

It was a bit cool outside but it was fun to see them and let the children have a run around there.

There is a small Crofter’s Cottage there built along the lines of one in Scotland and used as a cafe.

We travelled on to Ballandean where we had to stop to meet this fella who was on the side of the road.

It was a good place to stop for a picnic and comfort stop.
Tim & Nathan found it was less windy arounf the back of the old railway sidings.

They also discovered it was quite pleasant to relax in the grass by the train tracks.

Just as we were about to leave Nathan hopped up on top of the triceratops and a truck drove past and gave him a resounding toot.

This was the road most of the way from there to Toowoomba until it got hilly as we climbed up the mountain.

The girls watched dvds.

Nathan read his book while plugged in to his ipod.

Azzan was in the back seat for a change of scenery.
Tim drove some of the way as my shoulder was beginning to ache.
I had actually been doing most of the driving for several days.

He drove until the Brisbane turn off and then I drove the rest of the way.
He watched Petticoat Junction with the girls in the back seat and Nathan entertained me in the front.

We arrived at Judy & Kurt’s place in Toowoomba a 5pm.
Everyone was very happy to finally be here.
There were great squeals of excitement when the children all saw the wallabies playing in the fornt garden.
It was the first wild ones they had seen since we arrived.

We unpacked and sorted out the car.
The children explored the hillside garden with Judy.
Tim & Kurt chatted overthe balcony.

Azzan found a heap of fallen Kaffir limes on the ground so wanted to juice them.
They are sour and not usually eaten as it is the leaves mostly used in cooking.

But he was sure he could make lime drink from them so he and Hali squeezed a heap of juice.
They have made a drink with lots of sugar and water and are very happy with it.

Nathan & I cleaned out the car and I sorted all our food into boxes that Judy gave me.
It will be so much easier to keep track of it all in the car this way. 

We all had a good nights sleep and have just pottered about today
It has been great to just chill out here.
The children had been catching up with their journals.
I have now caught up on all my blogging – it did take a while to get my photos sorted as the computers were not reading my sd stick so we had to load onto one and tranfer onto this one.
But we did it and now I am caught up.

Judy took Nathan & I into town later this arvo.
We dropped Nate off at the library as he wanted to use the internet while we were shopping.
I got a text from him soon after we left him there saying they wouldn’t let him sue the computer without ID.
Crazy eh!
So we picked him up and he used Kurts computer instead!
He didn’t need ID for that!!

I got embroidery threads and a hoop for Shanni as she wants to begin her sampler I bought for her at Sovereign Hill.
Also got some info from the Info Centre.
But I am feeling somewhat tired and am just happy to chill here for a few days before doing anything further.
We have been on the road now for over two weeks so it is understandable that we are all weary and needing to stop a while.
But I guess the time will disappear to we will have to make some plans tomorrow.

Watching Anson playing League

We drove over the hill to Glen Innes to watch Anson play League.
He was playing in the Guyra A team against the Glen Innes Magpies.

Here he is coming out of the changing rooms at the beginning of the game.

Tim and I watched from the sidelines nearby.
The children watched a bit but got a bit bored with it all so went back to the car to read and eat.

Azzan commented to me after he had watched for a while,
‘I think I would like to play cricket.’
Sorry Ans!!

Anson had the No2 jersey.
He was put on the field a few times and moved about from wing to front row.

 



The guy at the bottom of the pile wasn’t too flash and Anson called the game to a stop at his point.




There was another incident where Anson and another guy dumped an opposition player quite hard and were reprimanded for it. The referee didn’t see all that happened and told the wrong guys off though!


One of the Magpies through the ball and just missed Anson by an inch and he thought it was aimed at him and got rather angry and had to be held back and calmed down.

Not too sure is League really is my sort of game.
It is pretty lethal.

It was good to watch Anson playing though and we hope to be able to watch him again later in our trip if all works out.

We got back to the motel about 5ish and the children did some project work in their journals.
Cat called up from home so we had a long catch up with her.
Then dinner was finally delivered at 7pm
It was very nice and we were all hungry so it went down a treat.

We popped down to the pub again to see Anson and meet his rugby friends.
Tim, Hali & Azzan got into playing quoits with some of the guys.
They were having a heap of fun but Shanni was not so we packed it in about 10pm and took them back to bed.

Nathan stayed on with Anson.
Apparently they went off to a party and didn’t get back till around 3am.
Although both of them were rather hesitant about the actual precise time
Anson said Nathan was dancing a storm again.
His mates couldn’t understand how he could dance like that and he  was only drinking water!!
Difference was – he was good and he was enjoying himself.
He reckoned all the guys who tried dancing when they were tanked were totally hopeless!
Long may he continue to think that.

Dubbo to Guyra

We were up, breakfasted and packed up and gone from the cabin by 8:45am.

This is our Kia Carnival that we are traveling in and our cabin we had just left.

We spent an hour in the Go-Lo store – it had a huge closing down sale so we had fun.
Much to Shanni’s delight we found a Boost Juice bar in the mall so we all got a drink to take with us.
We were going to go to the Dubbo Gaol but all the ‘actors’ were sick so we decided to just hit the road.

We stopped off at the Gilgandrah Info Centre and had a look at their display about the Coo-ee March.
We then stopped at Nelson Park in Coonabarabran for lunch.
It was quite windy so Tim and the kids ate theirs down by the creek. It was muddy and dirty as we have come to expect around here.

The trees in the park were rather lovely.

The Warrambungal National Park surrounded us – it looks beautiful and most inviting to go explore.
We seriously have to come back again to do some walks.

The roads were like this behind us…

…and ahead of us….

It was like being on a long rolling roller coaster.
Put the car into cruise control and just go for it.
We were slowly climbing away from the low flat plains up into more hilly and more interesting roads & different scenery

We stopped briefly at Gunnedah to see the koalas but they were not too visable so after Mahalia & Shanni bought a soft toy each we carried on.

We fueled up in Tamworth but it was getting late and dusk was closing in so we kept going.
We got to Armidale and got a bit lost as we couldn’t find signs to Guyra.
We finally found the right road and arrived in Guyra at 7pm.
Anson was at the top pub so we picked him up and he took us to our motel.
We then went back to the hotel and had dinner there.
It was probably the best pub food I have ever had.
We got to meet some of Anson’s mates and his boss from last year.
He owns half the pub and went out of his way to make us feel welcome.
His children were there eating dinner too and he got them to give our children a huge plate of ice cream each.
Azzan’s eyes just about popped out of his head when he got his
‘Thanks a lot!’ was his exuberant immediate comment!

We left Nathan with Anson as he was staying with him  and got back to the motel at 10pm to put the kids to bed.

11 July
We woke to hear the children playing quietly with the new playdough that I had bought Azzan in the sale.

They spent ages creating some wonderful things with it.

Azzan came in to show Tim his dinasaur print he ‘had found’ and gave him a long knowledgable spiel about it

Breakfast arrived at 8am and the children all decided to sit up in bed to eat theirs.

Azzan was so excited cuz ‘I’ve never had breakfast in bed before.’

He spread his food out and made a smiley face with the sausage and eggs.
He was so funny.
He ate both the eggs and the tomato and then collapsed into bed for a rest as he was so exhausted from eating so much!!! After a rest he ate some more.

We went to the library and used the internet for a couple of hours.
Shanni and Hali were pleased to be allowed to check their emails too as there were plenty of computers and no one using them.
Then at midday we stopped in at Anson’s to see what was happening.
.
Discovered Nathan had been dancing at the pub until midnight,
Apparently he had been very entertaining and had all the local girls up dancing with him!
Anson was very amused – said he just kept feeding him raspberry and cokes and he was happy!