Vera Macdonald

Marvellous Middlepath

It would be too difficult for me to explain what Fergus & Trijntje do here, so I’m just going to give you the web address and you can see for yourselves.
http://middlepath.com.au/

Maloolaba Surf Club

Had lunch in this restaurant on the beach and sat at a window seat looking right over the lifegaurd’s hut. Just like Baywatch, I saw this hunky chappie stroll up the beach in all his bronzed glory, and head up into the hut - sorry girls, I just wasn’t quick enough with the camera!

So now I’m ready for the big road trip, heading inland to make our way slowly down to Melbourne. Just my luck, the snow has arrived 6 weeks early in Thredbo so I don’t know how we’re going to get on come Wednesday if it doesn’t warm up by then, as we only have one pair of wellies between us. Just my luck to hit unseasonal snow!

Gympie shopping street

Today’s shopping included 2 prs of reading glasses at £2.50 each (expensive I know, but they came with a case too), a new watch £5 (my fake Rolex packed up 2 weeks ago), a pair of thongs (that’s flip flops to you) at £1.50 and a pair of Ugg boots at a bit more than that (£37.50 actually, but then you’ve got to, don’t you).

All in a day's shopping

This is where ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’ starts with the helicopters. It’s just along the road from Jeannie’s,

And if you knew where to look, you’d see that site behind me in this photo, taken from the top of the nursery hill.

The hills are alive

And when I say alive - I’m referring to the leeches which we caught in the wet grass - well, I didn’t, but Jeannie did. Blood, blood everywhere and so hard to stop it.

This is me on the ‘Australian Sheila Preparation Course’ vehicle, but I didn’t actually drive it. Sharyn took us on a round of their property and it was hang-on-to-the-sides-so-you-don’t-fall-out for most of it. The second one below is blurry as I was hanging on at the time and couldn’t focus - that’s my excuse anyway.

Bush transport

Up and down we go

On my last night with Jeannie, I saw a mouse scuttle across the floor - a tine wee bush mouse (well everything’s a bush something around here) and she admitted to me that this is because they don’t have the snake around at the moment which has been eating them. Snake around here? I shrieked. Yes, she admitted, it was upstairs, wriggling over the bed then off behind a shelf. Didn’t sleep so well last night:)

I’ve now moved to visit friends in Maleny, Queensland and their place is a wildlife santuary, right in the middle of lush rainforest, and nature is all so close around you. Here’s the view I see when taking a shower (I’ve noticed Australians in the bush don’t go in for curtains!).

Forest showers

So the discussion turned to all the interesting wildlife you can see around here, too numerous to list. I’m thinking ‘take me back to the city’ as I’m reassured that any noise in the night will be possums on the roof. Nevertheless, I accept the offer of being accompanied down the short path to the guest quarters - and what do I nearly tread on? Of course, a snake - ok so it wasn’t huge, but whew, how brave was I! Just a sharp intake of breath, some mild hysteria, then a fearful totter down the steps to the door. Then this morning the sun came out and suddenly everything round here is magical.

Yes - it’s officially the wettest, muddiest one ever. So glad I saw history in the making. But as you can see, it didn’t stop us having a grand time.

As you can see, it could just as well have been Loch Lomond except that the weather was better at Loch Lomond yesterday. We went to Tweed River at Tumbulgum and ate fish and chips in an open cafe with the rain lashing on the tin roof. It’s been raining for over a week now and it’s looking wet for the blues festival tomorrow.
Went out in the bush in the morning to see the bats (in the video below). They’re so noisy and smelly when you’re up close. We see hundreds of them flying overhead most evenings, and the noise of their wings is quite loud really.