Travelling round Queensland - Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, Holiday Forums

Travelling round Queensland

PARKY45

2010-11-19 09:50:19

Well we made it to Queensland and our feet have hit the ground running. For the last ten days we have hardly stopped. We've got the use of a car and have driven 4,000 kms which is more than the distance from Lands End to John o' Groats - and back. The roads aren't much better quality than a standard A class road in the UK but we had no problems in doing 550 km's a day and having time for a look round the towns we stopped in. Total Road Rage set in if we saw more than 2 cars on the same stretch of road, and the speed limit is only 100 or 110kph!

SO far it's been great, but I made a mistake in booking the Gold Coast for next week. It's schoolies!

About 35,000 school leavers are going there from today and the cops are out in force. A couple of tons of drugs have already been seized and parents are being checked to see if they are supplying booze!

Oh Boy.
Doh.

Ah well, that's the university of life!

chubby

2010-11-19 15:01:03

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Hi Parky45

I do hope you do not have to much trouble with the schoolies on the Gold Coast it is a long way to come out here to pick the week of all weeks wish I Knew your plains do try and go up the Qi 1 building to get great veiws along the coast and if you are interested in rural life The RM Williams show is very good night entertainment it is near Movie World
What other plains do you have out here and do stay to the speed limit we have speed cameras every where and yes our road are not as good as they used to be
Have a good time down under
Chubby

PARKY45

2010-11-21 13:53:33

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Cheers, Chubby. No probs with the schoolies as yet....
I think there's a bit of local propaganda going on with the police and media. This morning there were no reports of arrests, this evening there were reports of loads from last night. I was never young myself, so can't see the problem!

Q1 is on the plans for tomorrow along with Sea World, before the schoolies wake up and the promenade is closed for the little blossoms. We found a nice little bistro at the end of Markeri Street and will be feeding there tomorrow. Maybe a visit to draulas on Weds and first day of the testat the Gabba on Thurs.

This retirement's really hard!
:cry

Regards,

Parky45.

p.s.

What's all this about Aussies loving dogs?

:whoops

chubby

2010-11-21 18:23:21

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Hi again

Glad the schoolies are not giveing you any hard time it is late at night they give problems oh we were all young at some time
Yes we all seem to have dogs the smaller they are the harder they bight and they love poms if we can not win the cricket so the dogs think ankles are free meat
So you are off to see the Aussies get a hideing by the Poms hope you have room in your bags for the urn to return England think we have to have a side change and get some younger players
If you are driving to the Gabba do go early as there is not a lot of parking near by the retirement bit about it being hard. Do not over do it :rofl

come on Aussie come on we needit
Chubby

Sanji

2010-11-21 19:38:31

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Parky
I'm so pleased to hear you're having a wonderful time. sounds a great way to enjoy your retirement.
The Cricket ? I'm trying to avoid the subject and a sudden bout of deafness comes on me when it's mentioned. :smile:

Sanji x

PARKY45

2010-11-21 23:35:18

Re: Travelling round Queensland

It's a hard lfe, Sanji. I hope you're going to have as good a time as we have had so far. The worst part of the trip was Brisbane Airport. Queue for 30 minutes to show your passports, queue for 30 minutes to pass immigration etc the another hour after collecting our bagsbecause the Airport staff couldn't organise a queue to get through customs! I lost it with one member of staff who said, "it's not my fault!". I told him to get a grip and find somebody whose fault it was. He disappeared and came back 5 minutes later to organise the queue.

Prat!

Anyway, it's all sweet now.

PARKY45

2010-11-23 07:55:37

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Chubby, sorry, but the dig at dog lovers was probably missed by all in the UK, but if you google up Joel Monaghan, rugby leage star with Canberra, you'll see what the :whoops

was for.

PARKY45

2010-11-26 13:08:10

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Well, we've done the whole tourist thing on the Gold Coast. Currumbin Animal Sanctuary, Sea World, Movie World, Tambourine Mountain, Q1 Tower, O'Reillys Platea, and not enough time to do the rest. :que

We're heading back up to the Sunshine Coast via Brisbane and possibly the Gabba tomorrow. I have the tickets, but not the spirit to watch another days torture!

We taught them the game as well!

They'll be beating us at soccer next! (or have they already done that?)

PARKY45

2010-11-27 07:43:35

Re: Travelling round Queensland

We called in at the Gabba and suffered reasonably well. After Watching Hussey and Haddin get their tons, we left for the Sunshine Coast. Parking at the Gabba was non-existant but a bloke from Leigh let us park in his garden for a couple of hours. Brilliant. No rain as yet while we have been out and about, but it's rained while we've been travelling.
:tup

PARKY45

2010-12-04 07:29:42

Re: Travelling round Queensland

There's a lot of flooding around Queensland and NSW, but we've still not got wet!

4" of rain for the last 2 nights, but drier during the day. At least it's not white stuff, and we are still warm!

PARKY45

2010-12-12 02:36:40

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Hopefully, a couple of photos from the area.
1. From top of Q1 on the Gold Coast - 77 floors up

http://usera.ImageCave.com/parky/LOOKING%20DOWN%20ON%20CBD,%20SURFERS%20PARADISE.jpg

2. Surfers Paradise Beach, showing Q1.

http://usera.ImageCave.com/parky/SURFERS%20PARADISE%20AND%20Q1.jpg

PARKY45

2010-12-12 04:11:01

Re: Travelling round Queensland

These are from Singapore.
1. Casino and Lookout Point

http://usera.ImageCave.com/parky/Singapore2010/singapore%20casino.jpg

2. Indian Temple

http://usera.ImageCave.com/parky/Singapore2010/Indian%20Temple,%20Singapore.jpg

3. Sense of humour.

http://usera.ImageCave.com/parky/Singapore2010/THAI%20MAI%20SHU.jpg

Thanks to Image Shack.

PARKY45

2010-12-14 02:30:45

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Back at base now having had a weekend at Broadgate Beach near Childers. We're out for a meal and show tonight in Caloundra followed by a few drinks after a few more! Friends are coming to stay the night as well so it will be a change from being Billy No Mates

.Tomorrow it's Maleny and the Glass House Mountains and see if we can spot a Platypuss or koala in the wild.

luci HT Mod

2010-12-15 21:15:23

Re: Travelling round Queensland

I can't remember if it was the Gold Coast or Surfer's Paradise where the OH was spray painted with suntan oil by a guy on the beach using an air gun! :rofl

luci

PARKY45

2010-12-17 03:33:39

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Hi Lucy, yes we've seen that done. They do it in Madjorca as well!

Here's a few more pics from around and about.
A Christmas Beetle looking like it's had a new paint job.

http://usera.ImageCave.com/parky/CHRISTMAS%20BEETLE.jpg

The Glass House Mountains viewed from Wild Horse Mountain lookout point.

http://usera.ImageCave.com/parky/GLASSHOUSE%203E.jpg

Woodgate Beach near Childers.

http://usera.ImageCave.com/parky/WOODGATE%20BEACH.jpg

PARKY45

2010-12-19 13:13:11

Re: Travelling round Queensland

We're now back up in Hervey Bay and hoping to go to Fraser Island. Due to the heavy rain we were late arriving at the hotel and all trips over are fully booked so we'll have to wait another day. Damn.

That'll mean another night up here and possibly miss out on going to Tin Can Bay again to feed the dolphins - in the wild, but daily visitors as they know they'll be greeted with about 50 small bucket loads of fish!
After that, it's back down to the Sunshine Coast for Xmas.

PARKY45

2010-12-22 10:59:24

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Well we managed to get across to Fraser Island, took the relatives up to Woodgate Beach on the first day, just to show them the quality of the beach, Fraser being booked up by the time we arrived.
A brilliant day trip with Fraser Island Tours on the second day, then drove down to Tin Can Bay in the evening. We fed the dolphins this morning, into Noosa heads, then into Eumundi for the craft market.
Tin Can Bay was almost closed for the night when we arrived at 7.30pm, so we had to make do with sarnies from the Eski for our dinner. Luckily the Motel was open at that time, and the bar in the Country Club serves several beers!

All in all, a very busy couple of days!

Roll on Christmas!

PARKY45

2011-01-12 06:15:13

Re: Travelling round Queensland

Well it's all over bar the shouting now! Last week we had a day in Brisbane, doing the City Cat trip all the way from Bretts Wharf to the Regatta Pub. It's a bit of a historic landmark in Brisbane, having survived many floods and being one of the oldest in Brisbane. A nice pub with a restaurant and a cafe attached, all serving good tucker. Down the river to Riverside and called in at the Pig and Whistle for dinner.

Now - Regatta is flooded into the cellar and water is lapping at the dock top in Riverside.

Then down to Sydney, Newcastle and a place just up the road from Newcastle, Nelsons Bay. An excellent stopping point. Hogs Breath Cafe for lunch, overlooking a nice little harbour.
Well worth a visit if you getthe chance.

Next week is Adelaide and hopefully, fly back to Brisbane for our flight to LA - if the airport isn't flooded.

PARKY45

2011-01-19 21:13:27

Re: Travelling round Queensland

We've got down to Adelaide and first impressions are good. Although it's a major city it seems very quiet. Where Brisbane and Sydney are bustling, Adelaide is very quiet in comparison.
We went on the city tram service down to Glenelg yesterday and spent most of the afternoon on the beach. Lovely white sand, clean and nice calm, clear water. The weather's a bit different too, with temps up in the high 30's.

PARKY45

2011-01-28 08:16:09

Re: Travelling round Queensland

It's all over now, and we've moved on to L.A. for a quick break'

Our last night was spent at Clear Mountain Lodge, about 40km's from Brisbane. WOW! What a place. Stunning views all over Brisbane, down to the Gold Coast and up as far as Noosa on a clear night.

The only downer was the view of the devastation caused by the floods. Excellent food in the restaurant with views to die for.

:tup

Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific

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