Going East to Mooloolaba

 Kelly was up at 06:30 and had some coffee going very quickly. She clearly has the process down pat! A little trip planning with Google Maps and we decided to take an alternate route to our destination. Having driven Highway 15 into Warwick we choose a more northerly route to Mooloolaba. Pronounced "Mo-lou-lou-ba"

She is off to the shower now so I had better get moving.... Today's trip will take a little long but we will get a different perspective as there is more farming etc along the way. 

After several trips down the stairs, the car was finally loaded!

 

We departed the motel at 09:30 and headed north through Allora via the A3 then hung a right onto 80... this left the flatter farming lands behind as we started winding our way through Ma Ma Creek, Gratton, then the Gratton -Esk road to... yep Esk.  We decided to take a right turn and head down the Atkinson Dam Road to see the RV park. We just wanted to compare their setups with the ones back home in BC etc. Not the same.

It was an earth dam and the water was quite low.

A shot of Kelly at the lake.

We retraced our route and returned to the Gratton -Esk road towards Esk. Kelly did some quick sleuthing and found a nice place to stop for lunch. It was the Nash Gallery & Cafe and it had significant history in the area. The food was very good and we would highly recommend this to anyone traveling in the area. I had the smoked salmon croissant and a vanilla slice. The local birds also enjoy a snack before the table was cleared.

It tasted as good as it looked.. best meal by far on this trip!

Mark will tell me what bird this is and I will put the name here :-)

 We joined Highway 85 and headed through Stony Creek, Stanmore, Commissioners Flat and out to Beerwah. A very windy but fun trip through the rural parts of the country. We went by the zoo (which we will get to at some point) and onto Hwy 6, M1 and finally Hwy 70, back to 6 and into Mooloolaba. 

We easily found our rental accommodation we booked through Booking.com. called "Beachcomber On The Spit". We had been in touch with the property owner and had the keys in hand shortly after our arrival at 14:35. The key was for #15 but we had booked #14 (The one I originally wanted!) so we tried to confirm with her in case she had been mistaken with the keys as several groups would be checking in today. Nada.. no contact so no joy. The text thread confirmed the unit was #14... oh well #15 is still very nice. We will see how this plays out later.  

 Numerous trips to the underground garage and we had our luggage all upstairs. It was very convenient as the elevator was 1) close to the car and 2) very close to our room! Bonus! The unit is well appointed and a huge step up from the "work" accommodation in Warwick.  I'll take some pictures in the coming days an give everyone a tour.

We went for a walk down to the end of the spit and enjoyed the great views. It was a beautiful park and even had a well hidden geocache placed in it. (Found it) 

 

 On the walk back, we checked numerous restaurants in the area.... we will not have any difficulty with nourishment! Back at #15 we did a short search and I decided that we would go to "The Dock" for dinner tonight. It was a short walk from our place to the Wharf area that had many restaurants, bars and kids clothing stores within it's footprint. Plenty to see and do right here.   

Dinner was excellent as Kelly feasted on Prawns and Roasted Duck Breast while I suffered through some lamb ribs and a Rib Eye steak.  Even Kelly didn't have room for desert... and that is saying something!

After dinner we headed back but made a quick detoured through the RV park just opposite the restaurants. It's always interesting to see the different rigs they have here. Most all are smaller in size and have pop up tops. They are jammed in pretty tight but everyone was enjoying the camping atmosphere... and it was very clean and quiet as well. We could do it :-)

Back at #15, we settled in and I finished today's blog update while Kelly watched some TV.... and cruised the internet for quilting shops close by.  

Not 100% sure what's happening tomorrow as we have friends staying in Noosa Head just up the road about 35 minutes... might pop up there. ??

 

We are back!!!

 Yes our job is now complete with the Canadian F3A Team and we are continuing on with the next part of our journey. The team has all split up with Kelly and myself staying on in Warwick one more night.

After a final breakfast together, Kelly and I headed off to Stanthorpe to check out some places of interest.  Kelly had a plan so we are going off on an adventure… “I have a route all planned out” she said and we are going to the Stanthorpe Heritage Museum.  "We are taking the back route. " Off we go and I am following the CarPlay map….. ah it’s not the back route. Kelly is mad that the GPS is not taking her the route she wanted.... I'm just following the map. 

We did eventually get to the Museum and has a couple hour tour of the place. Mostly early 1900's leaning to the 1960's. Lots of neat items like sewing machines, tools and old clothes as well as farm machinery. 

Heritage Museum

Clocks

 

Just like G&G Lee

Traps

 

Saws

 

Press

Sewing machine paradise... almost!

Steam Tractor

 

Kelly was fading fast so we decided to head back to Warwick. She needed something to keep her going so we stopped at the Sutton Juice factory.  She had some pie while I drank some apple juice.. very good!

With the week of early mornings and long days, we headed back to Warwick. I dropped her off and went and topped up on gas.  I got caught up on the team blog and we had a facetime with Kris at home. All good.

Dinner tonight was fish & chips. Easy! We walked back and Kelly started sorting out her bags and purchases... so many! Is the car big enough?

We chilled in the room and watched a bit of TV... all very relaxed after a busy week.

Off to the Sunshine Coast tomorrow!

Brisbane to Warwick

 Up early today and after our showers, we packed our big bags as Chad is taking them directly to Warwick. This saves us having to take them back to the airport when we pick up our rental car.

Chad's van loaded!

The Northeast's headed off to Warwick and we went back up to the room to facetime with Kris. He helped sort out a phone issue we have had since getting our data package. All good now.

We checked out and after a nice breakfast, headed to the Milton Train Station.  We caught the first eastbound train to Central station and then connected to the Airtrain to the domestic terminal.

A quick check of our passports and driver's license's and we were off in our "mid size" Kia.

Kelly saying... "This is mid sized?"

Our journey now takes a "work break" as we prepare for the 2023 World Championships for Precision Aerobatics. The event runs to August 26th and then we will be exploring the Warwick area before heading back to the coast for part 3 of our Australian trip. 

Team Canada F3A 2023 Blog is at https://teamcanadaf3a2023.blogspot.com/

Brisbane Day 4

 Up early to finish the blog... could not keep my eyes open last night!  Anyway we have had Chad & Agnes over for coffee and they brought some danish to nibble on... very good!

Chad said the BBQ hosted by Mark Hu was well attended by pilots and the food was great. They also had a pool table to help entertain the boys.  We did some planning and they headed off to get a day pass for transit... we will retrace some steps with them today. 

 We grabbed the ferry and planned to travel the full length of the river but the ferry on this run today had limited outside seating. We decided to jump off at Southbank and toured the Japanese gardens, the Brisbane sign and then the Beach pools. Lots of lizards out as well!

Ferry ride.

Thomas getting a close up.

We took the Goodwill Pedestrian Bridge over to the QUT ferry and headed downstream. With lunchtime approaching, we got off at Seaside and strolled the walkway to Felon's Brewery. Pizza for lunch and a cold beverage.  After that we went up on the upper road to the Wilson Outlook Reserve.

Maritime Museum.

A couple felons.

 

View above Felons Brewery from Wilson Lookout.

 

We returned towards Seaside on the pathway and then headed over to Queen St to do some shopping.. hats, shirts etc. All good.

Chad and I grabbed a beverage and chatted while the crew did some shopping. Thomas tried his best to improve Chad's score on a game but it didn't work out to well I am told. 

Lots of steps today so we headed back to the hotel. The boys wanted Italian for dinner so back we went to La Dolce Vita. It was great.

Off to the rack after some blogging.... running out of steam in the evening so getting it done in the morning.

Sunrise this morning (15th) while i blogged.

Brisbane Day 3

 Up early as reports are coming in from both Scotland & Campbell River regarding our pipe band family exploits. Cody & Krystal played with North Stratton Pipe Band (from Edmonton) at Berwick, Scotland today and placed 1st in Grade 2... well done! Also Kris & Anna are playing in Campbell at the Highland Games with the Greater Victoria Police Pipe Band. They had a blast... came fisrt in their grade and also won the "beer garden concert contest". Very good!

Had a quick Facetime visit with my mom & dad in St. Albert then Kelly prepared some Starbucks coffee for us as we started to plan for today's explorations!

First a ferry ride from Milton to North Shore Hamilton to get a good view of the route structure and see the different buildings along the river.  This took us as far up the river as possible on the Kittycat ferries.

 

 

 

 

 Amazing views as we headed out towards the ocean.... only went as far as North Shore Hamilton and turned around back toward the city center. We stopped at Seaside and found a nice place for brunch... even managed to order & pay through my phone! We also saw the coach and some players of the French women’s soccer team!

"Brunchtime" at Seaside!

We decided to walk along the shoreline and this took us back through the Botanical Gardens again... very nice! We grabbed the QUT ferry over to South Bank and explored that area. The #7 Ferris wheel was calling and in short order, we took a ride.

We then walked along the pathway through the Japanese Gardens to the famous Brisbane sign.

Next was a walk down towards the Streets Beach Area were they have several pools available for swimming... all very well laid out. Harper would have a blast here!

A quick stop for a couple of "cold beverages" at the Ship Inn and then over the Goodwill Walking Bridge to the QUT ferry... again! LOL  

We headed back to the hotel and met up with Chad, Agnes and their two boys Mathew and Thomas. They visited with us then headed off to a BBQ hosted by Mark Hu & family.   Kelly and I went down the road and enjoyed an Italian dinner at La Dolce Vita. 

Home to blog but cratered in the chair.. so the blogs a bit late.. oh well.

Tomorrow we will go exploring with the Northeast's.

Brisbane Day 2

 Up early as my body clock is out of wack with the time change.  I took the opportunity to finish off the updates for both the team blog as well as this one. Once Kelly got up, I walked down the street and picked up some coffee's for us from the Coffee Club.  Large Flat White was the call today and they tasted very good.

We grabbed the CityCat Ferry from Milton to QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and took the Bunya walk around the edge of the Brisbane River. Just a beautiful walk along the shore into the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens. There was a geocache up on the Goodwill pedestrian bridge so we quickly logged that after spotting the micro. Lots of people there!

A Brisbane River selfie.

 The following pictures are of our botanical garden walkabout...... and another geocache!

My bird expert Mark says this is a Yellow Throated Miner... and he's correct!.

 

 

 

A friendly Ibis

 We walked back towards Queen Street and took the ferry to the Regatta ferry terminal to check out the mall. It was... a mall. :-)  A couple items filled the backpack... 2L water, Starbucks Coffee and some cane sugar!

The old and the new.

 

View from the ferry.

We walked back towards the ferry terminal and had lunch at the Regatta Hotel. A burger and pint/wine to help lift our now tired bodies.  A quick ferry ride followed and we returned to the Cosmo to drop the supplies.... I was fading again and laid down for a short nap.. well not too short :-)

Lots of soccer uniforms in sight as Australia is playing France in FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal match at Suncorp Stadium (less than a kilometer from our hotel!)  We are watching and cheering on our Australian hosts!

 

Dinner tonight was some chinese takeout from the China Sea restaurant downstairs... very tasty!  We continued to watch the football game until Australians won it in the shoot out... which went back and forth in true drama to the tenth penalty shot! Kelly could hear the stadium erupt on the balcony!

The Northeast family is traveling from Calgary via Vancouver on Air Canada's flight AC35 to Brisbane tonight... check that... it's delayed until 1:20 am on the 12th now so we are expecting them mid morning tomorrow...... sometime on the 13th here.  Gotta love these time shifts!