OUR WEEK IN EMERALD

Early in the week, I took the kids to the botanic gardens in Emerald. I was told it was worth a visit, but I was really amazed. It covers a huge area and is a little like travelling through Australia, with many different natural environments represented. We walked through rainforest, wetlands, grasslands, eucalyptus forest, and desert. There was even a hedge maze.

Today we all went to a town called Sapphire. We went to the Sunday markets there, and then went fossicking for gemstones. You can buy a bucket of rocks for $20 and then they show you how to wash them and sift them. Then you pick through them trying to spot pieces that look like coloured glass or the bright blue of sapphire. We found quite a lot, but they were all very small. We didn't make our fortune, but we had fun.

After Sapphire, we went to Rubyvale. We were going to have lunch at the pub there, but it's a very popular spot and was so busy we couldn't get a table. We decided to have a drink before we headed back, so we sat outside on the grass.

At the Rubyvale Hotel - My brother Russell and his wife Jodie
on the right, and their friends Heather and Bomber in the middle.

The kids with their cousins Aiden and Emily. They've had a great time catching up with them this week and will miss them so much - so will I.

TRIP TO EMERALD

Our next main destination was Emerald, where my brother Russell and his family live. It's 267km inland from Rockhampton. On the way, we decided to drive into Gladstone and have a quick look around. At the Port of Gladstone we saw some huge coal ships being loaded up, and on the way out of town we passed the Gladstone Power Station - the largest coal-fired power station in Queensland. We could tell we were heading into coal mining country with all the trains we passed laden with coal. We counted the carriages on one of the trains - 98!

We stopped the night at a free camp spot in the town of Duaringa, about 160km east of Emerald. It was a large area, with plenty of room for the kids to ride their bikes around, and we were right next to a playground. By nightfall, there was around 20 other vans parked there. As you can see, the dirt is getting redder as we head inland.

The next morning we stopped at Blackwater. There is a beautiful Japanese garden there, right next to the Blackwater International Coal Centre. We didn't go into the centre, but this truck was parked out the front. It is similar to the ones my brother drives in the mines. Just after lunch last Saturday, we arrived in Emerald and parked the van on Russell's front lawn. We will probably be here until Monday.

And I just had to make mention.......what a great, historic day! A woman is Prime Minister of Australia!

FROM SUNNY COAST TO LAKE AWOONGA

We went for a day trip to visit Darren's cousin Matt on his farm at Kandanga. It's beautiful country. Matt took Darren and the boys for a tour around the farm in the car pictured above. The boys sat in the back and hung on tight as they went up and down some very big hills. They thought it was awesome! Tara jumped in for the last leg back to the house.

Before we left the Sunshine Coast, Heather and I had a girls' day together. We ate and shopped our way around the Eudlo markets and Maleny. It was so much fun and will keep me going for a while! Then on our last day, Heather and I took the kids to the Ginger Factory. There was a kids' boat ride set up a little like the Bermuda Triangle ride at Seaworld. Tara was a little wary because the Seaworld ride had totally freaked her out, but we assured her this one was not scary at all. It had over 600 puppets in settings of different countries, and we had to spot the Gingerbread Man in each one. All the kids loved it.

The next morning was a very sad farewell.

Our next stop was a little town called Tiaro - chosen because it was mentioned in our camps book as having a really nice free campsite by the Mary River. It was really nice, but we couldn't find a flat spot (we are waiting on levelling blocks we ordered). One of the other campers told us there was another spot in town, so we went there instead. It wasn't anything special, but it was right next to the skate park! The kids were beside themselves! We stayed there one night, then headed north to the next camp spot we had picked from our camps book - near the town of 1770. Unfortunately, we discovered when we were almost there that it was closed. (Pays to ring ahead!) We sat in the car and tried to find other caravan parks in the area, but they were too expensive, so we turned back toward the highway. After a lovely (and late) lunch at Miriam Vale, we drove toward Gladstone, with the thought we would look for a half decent rest stop for the night. On the way we saw signs for Lake Awoonga caravan park and decided to go there. I was in desperate need of a washing machine! What a great spot! The lake itself was stocked with barramundi so we thought we'd go fishing in the hope we'd actually catch something. We got heaps of nibbles right from the start, but then Brodie had a major meltdown because he wanted to hire a boat to go out to the middle of the lake. He kept whining, saying, "We're never going to catch anything standing here!" After a while he decided to have another go....and guess who was the only one to catch a fish.....Brodie, of course! In fact, he caught two. They were very small and we had to throw them back, but Brodie hasn't stopped saying to us all, "I can't believe I caught a fish!"

SUNSHINE COAST

You know you have really good friends when they let you park your caravan right across their front door for a week! We're here at Mooloolah on the Sunshine Coast with my beautiful friend Heather and her family.

Connor has started BMX racing, so on our first night we went to watch him at training and Casey and Brodie got to have a go. Needless to say, they now want to start BMX racing when we stop travelling!

We also went to the local strawberry farm and the kids picked their own strawberries.

Then we stopped at the Ettamogah Pub just for a couple of photos. The kids are getting used to me taking photos everywhere we go!

BACK TO THE GOLD COAST

What a huge week! We were going to stop at a couple more places up the north coast of NSW on our way back to the Gold Coast, but everywhere we looked at was so expensive. We decided we'd just keep going and arrived on the Gold Coast at 7pm. We've been here a week, staying with Darren's mum and dad. It was very hectic, trying to get around and visit as many people as we could. We had many late nights, and we're all exhausted, but it was so nice to see family and friends again. We know it may be a long time before we get back again.
To all of you who we didn't get around to seeing, I'm so sorry. We would have loved to have seen everybody, but obviously that just wasn't possible.
Thanks to all those beautiful friends who had us over for dinner, took me out to the movies, shared your day off with me, made the time for playdates with the kids. And thankyou Katie for letting us watch you play netball. We will miss you all so much.