Conway beach, 22-26 May

We stayed at a peaceful caravan park at Conway beach, about half an hour away from busy Airlie beach. Nina and Annabelle had fun with the waterslide and we had fun with the big BBQ that was organised for everyone on the campsite and the mozzies had loads of fun as well.
The weather was beautiful so we decided to book at day cruise to Hamilton Island and Whitehaven beach.


We got married 5 years ago on Hamilton so it was nice to be back (and this time with the girls) and take a few pictures in front of the chapel.

We spent the morning on the island and ventured out to beautiful Whitehaven beach in the afternoon.

Mackay-Bucasia, 19-22 May

While the caravan was at the garage for repair we drove to Sarina beach and had a look at Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminals. Those two terminals are the largest coal export facilities in the world. There is a viewing platform where the impressive handling and export activity can be viewed.

Next day we had a nice picnic and walk at the Finch Hatton gorge, where a Kookaburra stole a sandwich out of our neighbors hand and left him with a bleeding finger. Great bushwalking at Finch Hatton Gorge and Manfred took a quick dip in one of the water holes, cold..... Next stop was Broken river in the Eungella national park to try and spot some platypus. And lucky us saw a few of them pretty easily. We even spotted two water snakes, definitely not a swimming spot.

Our kiddies enjoyed the camping spot at Bucasia Beach where Annabelle fed the Lorikeets and the 2 had fun in the bath - sink.

Yeppoon, 12-19 May

We had a very nice and relaxing week in Yeppoon and again had a great spot on a beachfront campsite with views to Great Keppel island.
We caught up with a friend who moved from Sydney to Yeppoon a few years ago. Was very nice to catch up with her!


Nina kept talking about her Grandma's little white hamster and our friend offered Nina and Annabelle a fantastic little present, two little hamsters that run around the caravan and make funny noises. The kids love them and keep racing the hamsters around the van, inside and out.

The girls loved the many crabs on the beach and the shells. They enjoyed painting a few shells one morning.






We went to a cute little wildlife park near Yeppoon, Cooberrie,  and the girls enjoyed feeding the kangaroos.

The Capricorn resort welcomes day guests and they have great resort pools, the girls liked the jacuzzy the most! (so did Manfred)
If you drive to the Yeppoon Marina you'll find some amazing views. The drive to Emu Park along the coast is fantastic.

We spent an afternoon at Stony Creek and had a nice picnic there after a little bushwalk.

Bundaberg, 6-8 May & Seventeen Seventy, 8-12 May

Bundaberg

Absolute sugar cane land!  Or sugar grass as Annabelle calls them!
We had 2 relaxing days. A bit of a wander in town to do a bit of shopping.

Seventeen Seventy

We spent 4 relaxing days at a beachfront campsite of Seventeen Seventy. The views, the sunset were amazing. It is the place that put us in a holiday mood.
We went on a few bike rides: to Agnes Water, the town next to 1770; to a local market ; and to a beach nearby.

Funnily we already knew the people next to us in the campsite: (we met them on Fraser island).
We had a mini party for Ninas 4th birthday so we invited their kids over to share the cake. Nina was happy.

The next day we went on a day cruise to Lady Musgrave island on the southern great barrier reef. Unfortunately both girls got very sea sick on the way to the island! But the rest of the day was very enjoyable: snorkelling (Manfred saw many turtles), coral viewing from a glass bottom boat, semi submarine tour, guided island walk.

Tin Can bay, 4-6 May

Not to be missed: the feeding of the dolphins! The first day we had to wait for a few hours  for them to come. Only one dolphin came and we fed him.
The next day we went back to the bay and were very lucky: 2 of them this time had just come in. Nina was very happy to feed one of them again.
The girls also loved the playground by the sea!

Rainbow beach and Fraser Island, April, 25 –May, 4

The first few days at Rainbow beach were spent  getting ready for tent camping on Fraser. Manfred had to dig all our camping gear out of the caravan first then unpack the car, and repack it.
Then we were off to beautiful Fraser!

On Fraser, we stayed in the bush at the Central station campsite, very nice spot. We setup the tent to sleep and a little flyscreen tent next to it where we used to eat, away from the mozzies. Nina and Annabelle liked the tent a lot.
And then just imagine...It was dark outside, the moon is out, and suddenly you hear a dingo howl that seemed pretty close!  Luckily the campsite was fenced in.

Lake McKenzie was closed  unfortunately but we found another lake (Lake Birrabeen) that was as nice. Nice clear water. Annabelle happily swam in it. I think she thought she was in the Fiji pool again!

We were most impressed by the girls the next day when they walked about 2.5 kms return to the Lake Wabby! It was well worth it. Amazing dune by the lake.

The girls didn’t mind the slow bumpy drive through the forest at all. But I think the Toyota was happy to have a bit of a rest and drive along the beach sometimes.  On the coast we saw a few things: the Maheno shipwreck, the colourful sands,  Eli creek (Nina will long remember it as she tried to catch tiny baby frogs with her hands, she loved it!).
One evening we were lucky as we saw a dingo on the beach.

Those 4 days on Fraser were very enjoyable. The weather was very nice too, so that helped too.

Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, April 20-25

The Dietrichs are now on the Sunshine Coast!
We stayed at Mooloolaba, cute little town with great waterfront esplanade.

The next day was very rainy unfortunately so we decided to bring the girls to an indoor play center.  They had lots of fun. First center we went to since we left Sydney.

 We spent a day at the Australia zoo but we were a bit disappointed. The zoo in general didn’t have anything special to offer and the croc and bird show wasn’t very impressive.
In the evening we drove to a lookout to see the Glasshouse mountains. Beautiful! Captain Cook named them glasshouse mountains as they reminded him of the mountains from his hometown.

Memorable was the next day when we saw a koala while walking along the beautiful coastal track at the Noosa national park. How lucky! It was a nice sunny day and many surfers were out. Seemed like the perfect spot to surf! If you don’t mind being close to the rocks though...

We made it to the Saturday Eumundi market, apparently the biggest market in Australia. Great markets they were, with clothing, craft, gourmet food and fresh farm produce.  Just a pity that it rained! You should have seen the size of the parking!