Mainland Meanderings 3

We stayed with Margot and Breck in their Paddington unit and attended a rugby union game across the road at Suncorp Stadium, where Jim's Queensland Reds narrowly lost to the NZ Chiefs.

We exercised by walking into the city and then passed several high-rise office towers in which we had worked. The Pig & Whistle English pub at Riverside (yes, Riverside) was an old favourite so we stopped in for a drink.

We had planned to take the ferry to Dockside Apartments at Kangaroo Point, where we lived for many years, but it seemed the ferries weren't operating (no doubt a result of the floods) so we cabbed over the Story Bridge and wandered around Dockside, remarking on the changes. Then it was back to Paddington and a delicious dinner at local French restaurant Le Coin Bistro.

The next day we drove to Samford, where we lived prior to moving to Tasmania, and caught up with Jim's brother Philip and wife Meridy for a delicious 6 hour brunch at their home. 

We had planned to visit Jim's other brother John and wife Jacky on our way south, but unfortunately John wasn't well. Back in Grafton we spent time with Margot and Breck on their beautiful property and enjoyed a lunch at the Crown Hotel in Grafton and a dinner at the Lawrence Tavern, both great venues.

Sunrise over the Clarence River from 'Maritimo', Margot and Breck's property

Jim spent the next few days on the property accompanying Breck on the quad bike, navigating through post-flood mud.

Penny flew to Sydney and spent a few days walking around the city - 10.5kms on one day!

Inside the beautiful Queen Victoria Building in George Street

From the overseas cruise terminal.... where's our ship?

Street art, George Street

Trams now travel along George Street from Circular Quay to Randwick and Kingsford

Barangaroo and the Crown Casino

Darling Harbour

Penny had prearranged to catch up with her aunts Maree and Pat, and it was a very pleasant surprise to also see cousin Dale who caught the train down from the central coast. Following a late breakfast all four ferried over to Manly for a walk along the Corso on a beautiful day.

with Maree and Pat

with Dale

On the ferry to Manly

Manly Corso

Manly Beach

Dale unfortunately had to leave at lunchtime to attend a function at home, so Penny took Maree and Pat to Eastbank Café on the walk between Circular Quay and the Opera House, for fish and chips. It was a truly wonderful day!

Patrons were warned about swooping seagulls

but didn't at all mind the two stunning Rainbow Lorikeets who joined them

In the meantime, Jim left Grafton and drove south to Tamworth then on to Dubbo. Penny flew from Sydney the next day and they met up at the Dubbo airport.

On to the next chapter...

Mainland Meanderings 2

We have always loved staying in the Hunter Valley - it must have something to do with the millions of rows of grape vines set in the gorgeous undulating landscape. And our favourite place to stay is Harrigan's, which offers very comfortable accommodation and an Irish pub!

Adjacent to Harrigan's is the beautiful Hunter Valley Gardens where we, again, spent several hours meandering through the various themed gardens. This time, however, we arrived to discover a new exhibition running throughout the gardens over the month of April called Mega Creatures. Only Penny could accidentally find dinosaurs... again...

Brachiosaurus

Triceratops

Pterodactyl

and a stack of other giant creatures including spiders, caterpillars, bees and wasps, 

dragons and woolly mammoths

The garden themes are many and varied, from Italian to Chinese to French, etc., but the most impressive is the Oriental (Japanese) Garden, with its stunning layout and colours.

From the Hunter Valley we drove north on the New England Highway to Glen Innes for a night and the next morning discovered the Australian Standing Stones. These 38 stones are the official national Celtic monument, celebrating Celtic contribution to Australian culture, as many Europeans who settled in Glen Innes from 1838 were of Celtic origin.

On the road north we called in on Jim's sister Margot and husband Breck, who own cattle properties on the river at Grafton. The recent floods reached their front steps but fortunately went no higher. And the remnants of the floods are still evident everywhere, with some fields still under water and many damaged roads. We took a car ferry from Southgate across the Clarence River to Ulmarra and headed to the Pacific Highway and the Gold Coast.

Our apartment at Broadbeach afforded us wonderful views, and we were within walking distance of Kurrawa beach, the Oasis, Pacific Fair and The Star (formerly Jupiters) Casino - all very familiar to us.

Inside the Star Casino (formerly Jupiters)

What wasn't familiar was a fancy new light rail system. The spacious modern trams run smoothly up and down the Gold Coast Highway from Broadbeach South to Helensvale. So, following some retail therapy at Pacific Fair, we boarded a tram for Surfers Paradise so that Jim could relive his wayward youth... 

We alighted at Cavill Avenue and walked up to the beach, which was closed due to choppy seas but still looked amazing. Then we enjoyed a casual wander back down the Avenue, past cafes and restaurants, stopping for ice-cream and coffee before walking back to the tram stop. What a fabulous way to travel!

The next morning we drove up to Tamborine Mountain in the Gold Coast hinterland, a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great so after a rather inclement walk through the main tourist area, and lunch at a café we knew, we headed back to Broadbeach via Coolangatta.

Mooloolaba was our next stop and we spent three nights there. We took long walks along the beachside tracks, drove past Penny's parents' homes at Maroochydore and Jim' parents' unit at Alexandra Headland, and spent a couple of hours marvelling at the sheer size of the Sunshine Plaza shopping centre.

We did visit one of our favourite places, Montville, in the hinterland. There we wandered through the tourist area full of interesting little shops and Penny even found two very upmarket op shops! We lunched at the Poet's Café, an old favourite, and reminisced. Each night in Mooloolaba we ate at local restaurants along the foreshore and had some of the best Italian food ever. And with ice-creams in hand we walked to the beach to watch the nightly beach volleyball.

View from our balcony

Penny's parents' house at Maroochydore

Noosa was on our list of locations so we spent a few hours in famous Hastings Street and lunched at Rococo - wonderful salads!

Then it was time to leave the coasts and head to the big smoke - Brisbane.