Underestimated Brisbane ! And more....

G'day Mates!

Welcome to the new year of 2019! My hubby Fred and I hope you all have a great year with lots of laughter, joy and good health!

As you know for us it will be an very exciting year, the big move! Well actually its not that big as all our stuff, what supposed to be moved to Australia and stayed in a container for 10 years, now has been delivered in our house!

At last the Harley came out....

Anyway, that's all waiting for us to unpack, should be hilarious to see what's in there! One thing is for sure, its all shining clean as that's the rules for shipping it to Australia and its all been packed very well so no dirt could come to it!

OK, lets go back to the Gold  Coast.....

We have been several times to Burleigh Heads, a lovely beach and also a great park to walk in...

Beautiful view on Surfers Paradise....

Together with all the free things Australia already provided for its inhabitants, like electric  BBQ's, toilets, etc etc, they now also have boiling water...... 

And now......

(sorry for the tight picture, of course it says Brisbane)

Speaking of inhabitants, this creature we saw in the Botanical Garden in the middle of Brisbane....

Amazing, isn't it?

This is the first time we really have been exploring Brisbane and that's why I think it's underestimated because it's just beautiful and smaller then f.i. Melbourne and Sydney so easier to go around!  

The Brisbane river meanders through Brisbane which makes it extra comfortable as it feels a bit cooler because of that! 

We went to the New Farm Park with the FREE (there it is again; its free) city hopper of which you will see a picture in a minute....

There were all sorts of games to do and hundreds of people were just having a picnic in the park....

And look at these Jacaranda's, so beautiful ...... 

From the park we walked back along the river, they made a great boardwalk with several places to stop and take a seat to rest....

And here it is, the free City Hopper. There are more boats and ferries but for them you have to pay, but they are quicker as well.....

In the middle of South Bank you can find the Street Beach, again; swimming there is free!

That was Brisbane guys, no pictures of the shopping malls as they're all the same isn't it!

On the 8th of December we went to New Zealand of which we are back already, so.....

What's next?

You have to watch because New Zealand is amazing!

Cheers!

Kings day celebration, on our way to Cairns, some great overnight stops!

G'day Mates!

So, now you all know that we are going back to The Netherlands I can continue with our adventures here. As I said Danny was here on holidays for 5 weeks, he came end of April and left beginning of June.

We had a marvellous time, started at my Aunts place in the hinterlands of the Gold Coast. After a first good night sleep he was relaxed and started to prepare himself for the coming trip to the far North.

Having had a long flight from Europe a jet lag is inevitable so we planned some hard labour for Danny to keep him awake.

Not only Danny had to work.....

We also had a celebration day on the 27 th of April as that is the Kings (of the Netherlands) birthday,

 Totally dressed in orange we went to the Gold Coast to spent some time there. We had some nice comments about our outfit haha, there were more Dutchies there!

The tradition on that particular day is to drink "Oranje Bitter", in the Netherlands you can buy a bottle in the liquor shop but not here of course so Danny tried to make it himself. It wasn't quite the same taste, actually it was much nicer but also much stronger in alcohol.

 It was so nice that we drank it not only that day but also the next days as long as we were at my Aunts.
Of course we didn't only drink, we also had to cook.....

A huge hamburger.....

And of course we did the same trip with him as we did with Sheila, except for Springbrook as we had done that with him already, I think about 5 or 6 years ago. So it was only Natural Bridge...

Looks like a trumpet....

Having lunch somewhere is standard, unfortunately it was a bit cool and it rained.....

Leaving Auntie behind we started the long trip north and our first stop was at Yandina, a very nice spot with amazing plants and wildlife.

First time putting up the tent again....

 Look at these leafs, never seen them so big!

Very nice spot; its called Hidden Valley from you camp!

 From Yandina we did a day trip to Coolum, there we had a nice walk along the beach ...

and after Coolum we went to the ginger factory in Yandina. I love ginger and it is very healthy as well!

Our next stop was in Torbanlea, on the Racecourse; also a good overnight camp spot....

And with the sun about to set I leave you to it.....

That's it for now folks! Till next time.

Cheers!