Our Trip to Hervey Bay....simply awesome

Well here I am to report that Hervey Bay was just the thing for a worn out person in October (me) and my gorgeous husband!! That man honestly has the patience of a saint to live with me and I am sooooo very grateful. We are so yinyang.... I am the mover and shaker and he is the stabiliser, I hurry everything, he sits and waits, I feel guilty if I am not up by 8.ooam on holiday he will happily snore until 9.30am ...... and it just keeps going like that!! We are opposites but great with it.... and we have fun!!

So back to Hervey Bay......

We stayed in the most awesome apartment which had a bedroom overlooking the bay - dolphins came into the bay to play and we watched the parade everyday for a week - runners, mums and prams, oldies and their scooters and dogs (often in the baskets of their owners scooters)

View from loungeroom over the bay

View over the kitchen from balcony
View from the bedroom - how gorgeous is this??

We had a spa, chocolate, dishwasher, laundry, pool (nope didn't swim) and everything at our fingertips - not too far to the grog shop (mmmmmmmm I was on holiday after all). Even a cafe at eh front door for breaky and a great lots of cafes up the road too!

We went whale watching on 'Its Awesome" and saw wonderful sights - mothers and their babies frolicking in the sea..... tails, flukes, slapping and breaching - they put ion such a show for us - it was wonderful.

Isn't this fabulous!!!

The other boat

The mother lying on her back slapping the water with her flukes

We also did lots and lots of walking (to offset those bottles of Sav Blanc) ..... everyday long walks and then relaxing reading, sleeping, spa, showers and nurturing...... just what I needed.

Then we stayed at the gorgeous Kingfisher Resort at Fraser Island and loved it too. Lots of walks - I did a spa treatment and we went on a tour of the island..... superb!!!! It is such a lovely place! And very vego friendly important in this family...... keep the man fed and he is happy - and they really did have great options to eat.

The coloured sands
The most photographed shipwreck !!

On a little walk - you find lovely views sometimes

Once we finished there it was off to the Gold Coast to see Ineke and Chris finally marry!!!! Yep they did it at last - the bride in purple and she looked so stunning. I wore a hat for the occasion .... what a fun night.

Ineke and her sons Ben and Ricky

Chris and INeke
Gorgeous couple and they waited til it was perfect
All their kids were there too
We looked pretty good too
Jessica gave me this hat for my birthday

On the last day we spent the whole day at Mt Tamborine (I didn't sprain my ankle like I did last time I was there thankfully) and it was lovely - awesome shopping, lovely food and perfect day......

Sunset over the Gold Coast

Back to Canberra late on Sunday - fab holiday and awesome memories!!

Re-enrgised and recharged for the next few months

Love
Carol & Phil

Back from FNQ

Well we have returned to the cold from beautiful FNQ - love it up there at this time of the year - not too hot and importantly not too humid either.

So we set the alarms for 4.15am on Sunday 16th May (why does that early flight have to be so much cheaper than all rest)our plan leaving at 6.15am.... thank goodness we could drive to the airport cause Matt and Hai Pei could pick up my car later - better than a silly early drive to drop us off I thought

Then we flew to Cairns. Got a great car with Budget (love these guys and Hertz - definitely the pick of hire cars I think) and the Corolla had only done 18 ks...... brand new!

Off to Port Douglas and the Gorgeous Pink Flamingo ....top place have a lookie at the photos .....yummo - and we will stay there again definitely.

The pool area

Outside the room

Loved the Rainforest Habitat
a must see in Port Douglas

Jabiru - one of my fave birds

Heron - how cute are these feathers

Loved the Beach

Here is Phil at the lookout - beautiful beach!

Loved the little quaint church

St Mary's - apprently 'the' place to get married!

And I even purchased a swimsuit - because I needed a new one and I hadn't bought one for 15 years ( :0 )

Then it was the Chambers Rainforest Lodge - a wonderful place which we went to last year where we enjoyed the wildlife and the peace - bliss

We discovered lots of new things and spent the last couple of days in Cairns at the most awesome B&B Rainforest and Reef B&B - superb - it is for sale if you have the money

Phil went then to visit his Mum and I did the scrap therapy retreat with the girls - such a fun and precious time .... it absolutely rocked..... a wonderful break!

Old friends and new!!

We are back - 2 weeks in a tropical paradise - now back to reality

Cheers
C

A time in the Snowy Mountains

It has been a big year for us - lots of work, some play and my parents who have brought their own challenges to the year..... so with this in mind we decided to book into a cabin away from it all - at the Snowy Wilderness

The cottage - how cute is this??

The view from the loungeroom window

The cabin is wonderful - a lovely appointed kitchen will everything you could want and the facilites were really wonderful too. There was a fantastic use of stone throughout the cabin inside and out, with the bathroom, living room areas and bedroom having a lot of rustic appeal.

Bedroom with my hat (couldn't resist)

Showing that gorgeous stained glass window

We didn't do much at all......... we drew, painted, read, chatted, photographed and basically enjoyed the wildlife nad wonderful solitude. As there was no phone reception we enjoyed that there were no calls (IYKWIM) and there were also no neighbours..... we had our own driveway and gate and all of the activity is over a kilometre away at the other part of the property.

One morning very early some horses came and woke us up
So here is Phil barefoot and fairly sleepy at around 5.30am with these gorgeous animals

There were about 10 of these horses - in no hurry to get moving and they stayed about 1/2 an hour

So we stayed 5 nights for just short of $800 which I think is money well spent - we returned to Canberra well rested and happy.

What a wonderful place
C

photos

I will be adding photos sometime very soon

Bye NZ back to Aus

Here I am at the airport writing this last entry and we are soon to board our flight on the way home to Aus.... What a wonderful trip....so much to see, lots of fun, considerable money spent - we have to help the economy don't we???

We are rested and delightfully awe inspired to come back and do it again .... in a different way but we know more that we did before we started, and definitely the Chalet at Lake Tekepo is a must - we will spend a week there just to recuperate - perfect.

Last full day of our holiday - so sad

We woke up this morning to freshly fallen snow all around us - it was absolutely magical. They had suggested that it could snow the night before and there it was beautiful white mountains surrounded us and though the sky was that grey pink you get with snow falls it didn't matter... it snowed and that was just wonderful.



So before we headed back to Christchurch we drove up to the mountain which gives 360 degree views of Lake Tekapo

Mount John. On top it was very cold and blustery, the snow still apparent in the grass and the views while not at their awesome best with the skies, were pretty sensational. It was a lovely spot and very picturesque like the rest of the area.



The drive to Christchurch was uneventful, not surprisingly we didn't stop at the cafe which we think gave me a tummy bug on the 28th (there is a reason why there is no entry for the 28th.... I was not too upbeat for that day for sure). A highlight was seeing some Paradise Shelduck chicks with their parents in a field - outdone though by the 12 tiny ducklings we saw with their parents the next day however in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens.

We cooked or rather I burnt the saucepan but we fixed that so it is a secret..... blame the remnants of not feeling well.

Threw stuff out and drank the last of the 'sav' thinking seriously about detoxing .....

Lake Tekapo ....so beautiful

The sublime Lake Tekapo

We were up and out of our accommodation at 10am and had to do some shopping and a few bits and pieces finally hitting the road at 11am. Our trip to Lake Tekapo was uneventful and not too busy as we encountered less traffic the further south and west we went.

Phil with Lake Tekapo as a back drop

My last trip to this region was sad - it was cold rainy and grey..... thankfully we hit the wonderful town of Lake Tekapo in brilliant sunshine, not wind and no rain. The place is simply awesome and that is really all we can say - awesome.

The Church of the Good Shephed
The most photographed church in NZ

The Challet where we are staying has our suite overlooking the lake and simply we cannot ask for more - stunning views it is lovely......Hoping to book into another spa tomorrow........... although they are proving to be elusive

Wonderful place and awesome scenery........nothing more to be said really