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| Coffs Harbour |
From
Sidney we have a day’s drive up to Coffs Harbor where we have our eyes set on
one last camping day. Both Coffs harbour and the Holiday park we selected Park
Beach Holiday park did not disappoint. The weather was perfect to the point of
being very warm into the late evening.
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| Ocean Beach |
Coffs
Harbour is a smaller town situated on the east coast of Australia and Coffs
Creek creates a beautiful backwater entry into the ocean with a sandspit that
Park Beach and the Holiday park and surroundings sit on. It is such a beautiful
spot with warm shallow water and the holiday park sparkled it was so clean and
well outfitted, and, it was one of the last low season days so prices were reasonable
and there were few people there.
The
RV park desk recommended the Parks Beach Bowls Club ( https://pbbc.com.au) for supper as we were tired
of the day’s drive and wanted to maximize our stay there similar to Kiama.
While it did not have the elevated view that Kiama had, it was 100 meters from
the RV park, right off the beach, and had excellent dark ale! I ordered the
pork roast and Sandra a shrimp, Chorizo and pasta dish and both were excellent
and reasonable in price, and, given the temperatures of 34C, air conditioned!
Did I mention the excellent dark ale?
Then
on to Brisbane which has become our home away from home on this trip. This is
still a 375 kms drive from Coffs Harbour but we get an early start, kept
exactly to the speed limit, and enjoyed gaining 1 hr. due to a time zone
change.
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| The Back yard is full of birds every morning |
Our
first couple of days back allowed us to spend time with Abbey as the rest of
the family went to N. Stradbrooke Island with another family for the weekend. It
was a great opportunity to focus on Abbey, the pool, and prepping for
Christmas.
I
got in a mountain bike ride on Jim’s Giant Fathom 29er; a 5:45am start on the
Saturday morning up at Daisy Hill Park. First I was shocked to find the parking
lot full before 6:00am. You see Queensland doesn’t adjust with Daylight Savings
Time (DST) like other states on the east coast, so sunrise is before 5:00 am at
this time of year. My reason for being
there was likely the same as all of theirs,
it’s the coolest part of the day at around 23-26C on days that are now getting
into the mid to hi -30’s C. One side benefit is that I picked a track in the
park that had 2 Kangaroos on it, so I actually get to see them in the wild!
They hopped away as I rode in their general direction.
Later,
together we all made perogies for Christmas dinner.
Shannon had had Sandra try a dress from a
local shop. It looked great and we were able to do some Christmas shopping and
I bought a beautiful dress for Sandra for Christmas from that same shop. My
gift was the America’s Cup sailing experience back in November!
Sandra wears it
Christmas eve while playing Bocchi!
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| Sandra and I win at Bocchi, must be the distraction! |
Once
they returned from the weekend getaway and we waited for Blair and Sandie to
return from Cairns, we spent an evening in downtown Brisbane watching the
Christmas Parade and light show. They were both excellent and something we
haven’t seen before even in larger centres.
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| Waiting for the Start |
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| First Marchers! |
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| Beautiful Angels |
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| Close Up |
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| Actual Camels and they do this every night for 10 days |
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| Astronauts? |
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| Amazing Movie Projections |
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| And more, they tell a Christmas story! |
Next,
we all headed to the Gold Coast for 3 days at a beautiful resort (Xanadu) just
across from Main Beach on the coast. The rooms and view
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| North Main Beach from room |
were exceptional and Shannon had
been able to get, again, some great off season pricing so we all laid back,
enjoyed some bike riding,
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| Riding to the Spit on the Gold Coast |
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Little Nippers in Training,
Young life guards put through their paces. |
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Look at the beach foot traffic, all before 7:00 am! and the training!
|
long walks on a beautiful beach, and a wonderful pool
and tennis court. Jim picked a nice Italian restaurant for one great dinner
out, and we returned to the Surf Club for an excellent lunch as well.
Our
final 3 ½ days are spent back at Shannon and Jim’s with their great pool and
surroundings.
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| Just Relaxing! |
The weather is sunny and hot and we spend virtually as much time
in and around the pool as possible.
For
Christmas eve, in addition to potato, onion and cheese perogies, and sauerkraut
ones Sandra decides to take on baking her first Pavlova,
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| Amazing Pavlova! |
a traditional
Christmas dessert in Australia due to the bounty of fruit available at this
time of year. I will let the photo speak for itself. Truly a talented baker
among other things!
Later
on our drive Boxing day to the airport I comment that it is the 1st
day in nearly two months that I haven’t bathed in SPF 50 sun screen.
Sandra wears it
Christmas eve while playing Bocchi!
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