Ahhhh, such good memories of the gold coast. Currumbin sanctuary was a good visit. We stayed at First Sun holiday park right at Main Beach at Byron, but from looking at satellite images it looks like it went from a campground to a semi-permanent RV/trailer park. We were only paying $15/nt in 2004 I suspect it’s 5x that now.
Noosa, SW Rocks were all stunners but nothing compared to the Kingfisher on Fraser Island, or the Whitsundays by boat. Those memories keep me going someday. Want to take my wife/kid there.
Finally I can update you on our ill fated trip. There has been a clamour for information since I last reported which has now reached fever pitch.
We were last seen hunkering down in South West Rocks (I think) waiting for the cyclone to hit. We ran away to Port Macquarie, but the storm was making itself known there too, so we made the decision to cut our losses and head inland to Orange .
What a great move! Orange is a lovely little town in rolling hills surrounded by vineyards. It’s a foodie heaven and, of course, the wine is fantastic. Great place for a getaway from Sydney, better than Hunter Valley in my opinion.
Strongly recommended.
Awesome stuff. It sounded like carnage everywhere south of Brisbane. Not so much the wind but the rain.
We got nothing. Heavy flooding north of us in the Mary River catchment and many places south but Noosa barely got a breath of wind and 1 day of medium rain (by Queensland standards).
Glad to hear it GK. Luckily it seemed to run out of steam when it made landfall, but yeah, there was a lot of rain.
Have you been to Orange? Very good wines
I get up to Orange every couple of years for golf, food and wine. Love Heifer Station and De Salis (Bordeaux blends) amongst others. Now is the best time before the winter freeze sets in.
Agree better than the Hunter but also worth a trip across to the Mudgee vineyards.
I might now turn off the tv and radio and socials for 5 weeks - unless it’s sport.
Here come the predictable embarrassment of false promises, petty personal attacks and cringeworthy pollie visits to workplaces.
So I will tip it early….Albo is returned thanks to green preferences, not enough senate numbers and the legislation comes down to deals with the imbecile greens, teals and independents who no one knows.
Then Burke, Marles and Plebesik circle Albo before he fucks off to the Central Coast mansion before the following election.
So long as Dutton and his bunch of retards are kept out. Would be great if Albo left the scene though. Australia needs a Hawke/Keating to make some hard decisions and reposition the economy which is far too in hoc to tradies, hospo and the property sector.
Reminds me of my experience of Queensland in 1991. Townsville was cut off by floods and supplies had to be helicoptered in by the army.
I got stranded on a farm surrounded by mile after mile of floodwater. The farm itself was surrounded by snakes escaping the floods. The farmer was the brother of the guy I was travelling with and he turned out to be a complete arsehole. We chose to wade through the snake and centipede infested floodwater to get away from his brother and pushed the truck we had abandoned until the damn thing started. Got covered in mud in the process. Drove to the nearest town (Julia Creek), pulled up outside the first pub and walked straight in covered in the by now drying mud. The first two beers didn’t touch the sides.
We were stuck in Julia Creek for about a week as the only road in or out was cut by floods in both directions. Some people camped by the roadside and shot and barbecued passing kangaroos. I stayed in one of the bungalows behind the pub and experienced the room getting invaded by a swarm of stink bugs coming from the dustbin full of beer cans outside.
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Excellent
