February 2017

Bucket list item crossed off this morning .... The Bundy Rum Factory!!!!

Really we came so Sally could visit her friends but I backed her up so I could go to the Bundy Factory. We did the tour which was interesting and the best part sampling a few at the end at the end, didn't mind sampling the $180 bottle.

This afternoon we spent by the river with friends who have a ski boat & jet skis such relief after the heat & humidity. Somehow I even got dragged on to the biscuit (photo proof is on the camera not phone) the only way I could cope was to giggle, which was all they could hear on the shore. It was fun until they started doing donuts & we fell off.

Researching tours of Fraser Island & came across the tip that women should wear sports bras...well you know that properly wouldn't have been a bad idea and that was before we even got on to the barge to get to Fraser.

I fell in love with Fraser, it was an amazing day and can not thank the guys at Fraser Island Adventure Tours enough for a great day.

I thought for a while the most exciting wildlife I was going to see was a dead turtle (at least as we bounced past it I think it was a turtle) and a few washed up jelly fish. I was nearly able to say I wasn't eaten by a dingo cause I didn't see one but on our way back to barge there he was ... a dingo!!!! I could deal with missing whales & dolphins but I really wanted to see a dingo.

We took a dip at the stunning (actually the whole island was stunning) Lake Birtabeen. Had the best tour lunch, a BBQ & wine at Central Station. Marvelled at the Maheno shipwreck. Admired the Pinnacles (nothing like the WA ones). And back for a dip at Eli Creek.

By my watch we've done 26534 steps or 18.7km pretty sure I've only done about 6000 steps if I'm lucky.

Now we're winding our way up to Bundy for the weekend

So you can guess where we headed today....Australia Zoo

We headed past the big lawn mower, we tried to make a stop at the Glass House Mountains look out but the drive in was rough & the lookout turned out to be a level 4 hike up a mountain so we talked about 50m enough to say we had done a bit & back down.

Majority of our day was spent at Australia Zoo it's such a big place you do need all day. We just explored the animals & watched the show at the Crocoseum. Made a new friend along the way

Tried to blend in with the locals

(Sorry all the photos are selfie I haven't had time to download the ones on my camera)

We took a quick detour to see the big pineapple....

Before landing in Noosa for the night and what a better way to end the day with a trip to the beach

Fear of heights pushed aside this morning as some stupid idiot (me again) thought it would be cool to climb the Story Bridge "everyone climbs the Sydney Harbour Bridge..." we donned prison like suits and trekked up the bridge. The worst part was the walkway underneath as soon as we were up at car level nerves were overtaken by adrenaline. We climbed over 1,000 steps & rose 80m above sea level and you know what I loved it!!!! It really did look like it was made of Meccano, not sure how I felt about the guys tightening the screws while we were up there.

Fish & chips by the Brisbane River was well I've had better F&C but it was nice sitting by the river. We explored South Bank and even stuck our feet on the 'beach'. Such a nice green space, plenty of playgrounds, grass areas & massive trees but the bit that got me was the number of lizards!!!

Over a pedestrian bridge & into the City Botanical gardens we four went, it was nice & cool and you guessed it more lizards.

• * credit to Ali for saying the bridge looked like it was made from Meccano

Well our day started great, some idiot (me) left the lights on on the car (what car doesn't have auto lights or beeps when you leave them on & it's a well lite garage) thankfully the lovely lady at reception drove us to super cheap & im the proud owner of a new set of jumper leads. We did finally make it to the Gold Coast, first stop was a Wal through the 'rainforest' it wasn't a rain Forest but we did fin a nice beach to hang out at for a bit

A quick lunch before exploring the beach at Surfers. Is it wrong to say I was disappointed no one needed rescuing but we did watch the lifeguard tell people to stay in the flags so I guess that'll do

We decided to drive back via Mt Tamborine the views were pretty impressive but the roads were windy & not too many places to stop.

We did take a small hike to Curtis Falls it looked bigger on the brochure but a nice walk through real rainforest