In Search Of Ginger

Although we made it to Buderim yesterday, we did not find any edible ginger, nor could we find a place to camp in Buderim itself.

Forest Glen, nearby, boasts a reasonable caravan park and we spent the night there.

Neighbouring campers told us that the ginger factory is not in Buderim itself but to take the exit about fifteen kilometres north on the Bruce Highway.

Nutworks is just across the road from the Buderim Ginger Factory so we called in there and purchased some unusual products (Roo Poo and Koala Poo - (chocolate coated confectionary)) for our Daughter and Grand Daughter.

Some super sized chocolate freckles.

And robotic looking super sized mixers coated in chocolate.

At the ginger factory, there was an array of ginger plants to marvel at, train rides for the little kids (and big kids too), and a selection of shops.

We had morning tea in the sun, wandered through the gardens and made some yummy purchases to take away with us.

Beachmere

A beautiful sunny day greeted us this morning, but the wind certainly had a nip to it.

Still, we managed a quick walk down to the beach.  I found it was a bit disappointing as far as beaches go...more mud flat than beach so we decided to move on to Bribie Island.

Here the wind was even sharper so morning tea was a quick occasion to get out of the wind (we decided to have it al fresco).

Bribie Island is not quite what I expected and even though we contemplated camping on the island, we decided against it because the more sheltered side of the island was closed due to recent flooding.

We went for a short walk along Woorim Beach and then headed to Buderim in search of ginger.

Halley's Comet

Meet Halley, my In-Law's new puppy.

Yes, she is a puppy, only ten months old and is the new pet in the family, arriving almost two years after Sophie was euthanized only days after we left Grafton in 2010 on our last major trip. 

Halley was very enthusiastic to meet us and is a beautiful, well behaved friend.

Once again, we said our good byes and left Grafton around 10.30AM.

There was an accident a few kilometres down the road at Ulmarra which didn't slow us down too much.

A fatality had occurred near Bangalow which did affect traffic but because Splendour In The Grass Festival is on this weekend, at Byron Bay, we gave the area a big berth.

Travelling through Brisbane proper was a bit of a nightmare, very slow to say the least but we made it as far as Beachmere where we've stopped for the night at the Lion's Club Caravan Park just a block from the beach.

Unfortunately, it was too late to investigate the foreshore so that will be something to do in the morning.

I'm happy to say, the sun's been shining all day.

These happy and sunny looking flowers are growing on the fence, just behind our camping site, as well as many other places in the area.

They certainly do reflect the weather and already the temperature is so much higher than what we've been having in the Blue Mountains.

Hitting The Road Once Again - Day One

This was the scene that greeted us, early this morning, as we made preparations for our departure on a three week break.

I'm hoping a double rainbow is a good omen.

At around 10.30 AM we headed north stopping for a late lunch at Bulahdelah.

 As usual we lunched at the Detours Cafe.

This is definitely a no-frills cafe, straight out of the the fifties but which is huge on courtesy, service and value for money.

We were lucky to arrive at the time we did because the weather was threatening and the power was too...a black-out-type-of-threat.

We arrived without incident at Mr Honey Pie's Brother and Sister-in-Law's in Grafton just as a storm hit the area.

Our Sister-in-Law had prepared a yummy slow cooked beef casserole and for desert we shared an apple scroll that we'd purchased from the bakery in Bulahdelah.

Hangover

First official day of annual leave and I think I'm suffering from End-of- Financial-Year and First-Day- of-Annual-Leave-Hangover and it's not pretty.

Mr Honey Pie & I are still undecided as to our destination over the coming weeks.

The tent has been opened up and aired, the camping gear pulled out, the sleeping bags fluffed up and the panic button pushed.

I'll keep you posted.

Not Quite Two Years

It's not quite two years since we returned home from our five month trip around Australia.

We are now planning to do a short trip later next month...maybe for four weeks.

Since our return, we have managed one camping trip which was to Dunn's Swamp approximately thirty kilometres from Rylstone.

At the moment, our discussions go something like this:

Him:  Where do you want to go this time?
Her:  Don't know, where would you like to go?
Him:  Not sure.  Maybe we should stay home and do some work around the house.
Her:  I don't want to stay home. If we stay home that will mean I'll have to keep going to work.
Him:  Perhaps we can go to Corner Country.
Her:  Maybe we should go north, up the coast, do the bits we missed out last time.
Him:  Hervey Bay?  Mission Beach?
Her: Mission Beach is a long way up.  We've only got one month.  What if we head north, take our time and when two week's up, we start back south again.
Him:  We could just drive to Mission Beach, just stopping overnight and then spend two weeks at Mission Beach.  Then we can see the other places on the way home.
Her:  If we do it that way we won't see the places we missed on the way back, we never do when we do it that way....

Get the drift?

Originally, our plan was to go to Corner Country.
Now the cold weather is scaring us away from Corner Country and the Queensland coast is sounding better every day.

Hmmm.