Friday June 3 I enjoyed catching up with Phillip, who was our investment adviser a few years ago. Then he was single. Now he is happily married with two young daughters. So, naturally, our conversation included the wonder and joy of families as well as the challenges.
On the way to the Sunshine Coast
From Saturday to Monday we journeyed to the Sunshine Coast. Saturday we travelled as far as Grafton in northern NSW. We stopped at Hungry Head along the way. Hungry Head is where many family Easter holidays were spent and in more recent times I have gone to write. I enjoyed an hour or so on the beach while Barbara read her a book in the car. In Grafton we stayed in the Abbey Motel, next to the cathedral, close to the town centre; enjoyed an evening stroll around the town and then had a slow, tasty Chinese dinner at a restaurant. Sunday morning we had a buffet breakfast at a hotel on the river – very pleasant view.
Sunday we meandered up to the Gold Coast travelling along the Summerland Highway to Casino stopping for petrol, then down the Bruxner Highway to Lismore for morning coffee, on into Ballina and Lennox Head or lunch. A short stop in Byron Bay and then we were back on the Pacific Highway. We arrived for our stay with John and Lynn mid afternoon. We enjoyed catching up with their family, including a stroll around through the nature reserve and nearby lakes, talking and playing games and the next day travelling with John and Lynn through some quaint old towns in northern NSW – Crabbes Creek, Burringbar, Stokers Siding and Tumblegum where we had a delicious lunch in a restaurant by the Tweed River. As we were leaving in the mid afternoon, Lynn spotted a koala high in a tree behind their neighbour’s house. For years when I have visited I have been told of the koalas living nearby. So, it was wonderful to finally see one, living in the wild, in the nature reserve that runs behind their property. I think it is pretty special to have koalas as neighbours!
 |
| With John on our afternoon walk |
 |
| Late afternoon sun on lake during our afternoon walk |
 |
| Dinner at their home |
 |
| At the restaurant in Tumblegum for lunch |
On the Sunshine Coast
The drive from the bottom of the Gold Coast to the bottom of the Sunshine Coast took a little over two hours. We checked into our Worldmark accommodation at Golden Beach Golden Beach, where all the apartments face east and overlook the Pumicestone_Passage to the northern tip of Bribie Island . To the northeast we could see Caloundra, a major urban centre on the southern end of the Sunshine Coast. While we were there I enjoyed receiving daily poems from Terry Barker who lives on the Sunshine Coast in Canada, north of Vancouver.
We relaxed enjoying walking, reading crosswords, playing games, watching Home Improvement (courtesy of my brother lending us the DVDs) series 1 and half of series 2 DVDs, coffee and dinner out, on sunny days sitting at the table on our balcony for breakfasts and lunches enjoying the view – very pleasant and refreshing spending four days alone together. We have been through a lot in the last few months and this was our first time away on our own.
 |
| Sunrise as seen from our balcony |
 |
| Along Pumicestone Passage with Caloundra in background |
Our time started sunny but by Thursday it was cold and cloudy weather for the Sunshine Coast. Owners of a local café we have found that serves good coffee and great homemade slices said it was like August winter weather.
Friday morning the weather was much improved with large areas of blue sky and sunshine occasionally streaming across our balcony into our apartment. We enjoyed walking south beside the Pumicestone Passage to lunch at the Power Boat Club then continuing our walk around to and into Bells Creek. There we spent over half an hour watching the forty odd pelicans – sitting on house boats, sitting in the water, landing in the water, flapping their wings in the water and fluffing them out to dry. Several small motor dinghies came in to the boat ramp. We watched them load their boats on to their trailers and bring their fish over to the cleaning area to remove the scales and throw away the innards. So, too, the pelicans were watching. About six of them came over along with a number of sea gulls and waited for the fishermen to throw them the scraps from the fish.
 |
| Row boat - Pumicestone Passage at inflow of Bells Creek |
 |
| Pelicans on a houseboat |
 |
| Pelicans and sea gulls gathering for fish innards |
 |
| Size wins! |
Saturday our son, living in Brisbane, and his partner arrived late morning and stayed with us until we left on Sunday. My son and I played about 25 games of backgammon. The four of us worked on, but did not finish a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and we played a few games of yahtzee. We went out to the close by Thai restaurant for dinner and had coffee out on Sunday morning before we said goodbye. They talked about their preliminary wedding plans with the date being set in March 2012. We, the excited parents, wait for the plans to unfold.
 |
| Working on jigsaw in our apartment |
On the way from the Sunshine Coast
Sunday was a tough drive to Bowraville due to the heavy rain encountered, especially in the latter part of the journey, when I was the driver. We stayed with our long time friend, Pat. We enjoyed talking through the evening: I went to bed around 10.00 pm while Barbara and Pat talked on till midnight.
Monday we left at 8.00 am and arrived home at 2.30 pm. We were glad we left so early. The news on the car radio mentioned traffic delays at Bulahdelah. We had previously passed through Bulahdelah in heavy traffic that moved at a reasonable speed. While driving through Bulahdelah we saw a light truck in front of us run into the car in front, which suffered a crushed back-end due to the truck’s bull bar. The traffic arises from all the travellers returning to Sydney on the last day of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
So, here I am late afternoon finalising this blog entry. I’ve put out the rubbish and am aiming to go to bed early to be refreshed for chemo round 6 tomorrow!
As usual I have the underlying feeling of queasiness and, I confess, it has bugged me a bit this time. But I remind myself of how the chemo bad effects are being minimised and the good effects maximised. I find it important to talk to myself about how well I am as I undergo chemotherapy. Many people experience great discomfort. I do not. So, keeping things in perspective is a very important part of my coping.
Good choice of holiday location! - when I was growing up Caloundra was my second home town, my family would spend time there every year. Pumicestone Passage had great fishing - we would always catch a feast. We fished standing in shallow water - you had to watch out for the abundant sting rays.
ReplyDeleteBrian Wixted said. Love Caloundra, great location. It was our annual family holiday destination when I was growing up. There was a drive in cinema just before Golden Beach. Haven't been back much but what I saw a few years ago really impressed me. Its got bigger but hasn't lost that small beach charm.
ReplyDelete