What? Where? ….huh?
So that’s in Queensland, Australia, just north of Brisbane, on the beautiful Pacific ocean, part of the ‘Sunshine Coast’ area of Australia. And it is gorgeous, with perfect weather and nice people. We visited the Australia Zoo where Evelyn made friends with the kangaroos and koalas. We also went to the Mooloolaba Aquarium where Evelyn fed a seal. We had a great week of swimming and doing lots of fun tourist stuff.
The photos below show the various activities and sites that we enjoyed here.
The Mooloolaba River had some nice marinas and moorings.The outdoor pool was right beside our room. That was nice for early morning hot tubbing but kind of noisy on the weekend.The rocky beach – not where we swam.Mooloolaba from the water. The tallest building is our hotel.The first stop at the Australia Zoo. Definitely one of the nicest zoos we’ve seen.This is a bush turkey that was close to our hotel. They are everywhere and not scared of people.What a cute little koala, cooling off in a tree at the zoo.The Australia Zoo was started by Steve Irvin’s father as a refuge for crocodiles and other reptiles.Evelyn made friends with many kangaroos at the zoo.Love my shades! Evelyn’s new motto.We took a cruise around the harbour and out on the ocean. We saw jellyfish and some rare Australian dolphins called humpback dolphins.Evelyn volunteered to feed this very large fur seal at the Aquarium.Mark and Evelyn try stand up paddle boarding. It’s a lot of work.
Hello from Mark in OZ. Evelyn and I have been recovering from colds acquired in Greece, so it’s been low key for us. As well as exploring Ballarat, we’ve done day trips to the surrounding towns for sightseeing and flea markets (thanks to our great tour guide and driver Matt). We also enjoyed an excellent lentil soup in Daylesford. On Friday, Nov. 11, we spent the day in Melbourne, the large coastal city, and we had nice weather.
November weather here should be like June in Canada, but it won’t warm up to that until Wednesday, the day we fly to Queensland in search of better weather. That’s how it goes. This beach resort type of holiday is new for us. Pina Colada time!
The Beaufort fire department😊We drove up to Beaufort where we found this nice little bandshell.At the top of the tower!What an awesome view from the tower at Bunniyong.A very old gum tree at the Bunniyong tower.First nice day to sit on the deck. Bourne Street Mall, Melbourne, is all decked out for Christmas.One of the many shopping arcades in Melbourne. This one is the Royal arcade.The busy city of Melbourne.Evelyn went tree climbing.Some of the vegetation at Mount Cole.We’re heading up the trail to see the Mount Cole waterfall. Newly planted flowers in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne.These green parrots had lots of parrot friends in the trees in the Treasury Gardens.A lovely walk through the Treasury Gardens, Melbourne.
After about 19 hours of flying (Athens to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to Melbourne), we are relaxing at Matt amd Margie’s lovely home in Ballarat. We had good flights on Abu Dhabi’s airline called Etihad (although our flight information said we were flying by Aegean Airlines – very confusing) and actually arrived at the Melbourne airport about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. We’ve had a nice slow start to our 5 week visit – both Mark and Evelyn have colds and are slowly getting better.
The weather is also slowly improving. Ballarat has had a very wet spring which is great because they really need the water. It’s so amazingly green – flowers are starting to bloom and it looks so different from the winter Australia we’ve visited in the past. Right now we have no plans and are basically just enjoying being at home with Matthew, Margie, Oliver and Jonah.
The newly renovated Skipton Street house – it’s a nice blue now and looks great.Side decking of Matt and Margie’s place.Dinner time!!Lots of blooms along the side of the Skipton St. house.Lovely garden at the front of the Matt and Margie’s house.I think that goes on your neck! It was a long flight. Matt and Jonah got home Thursday morning after staying a few days in Dubai.We visited the Ballarat Art Gallery to see the Archibald Prize finalists.A lovely walk along the “river” behind Matthew’s house.Feeling better after a few days of rest.
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 