Day 203 - The Big Pineapple & Happy Easter

• Yaroomba
• 28°c

The Easter Bunny found us! Ella & Oscar discovered that very early this morning! So it was chocolate & a dvd for breakfast and a cup of tea & back to sleep for Mummy & Daddy!

Once we awoke at a much more reasonable hour we decided that a great way to spend the day would be a visit to the infamous "Big Pineapple"!

A couple of years ago it apparently closed down :( but new owners were found and they are slowly resurrecting it to it's former glory.  Mama told us that a pineapple split was a must, she used to bring Skipper & Lou Lou here every weekend when they lived on the Sunshine Coast. According to Steve, Ella & Oscar it was well worth it, I had pineapple sorbet which was delicious.

We of course went inside the Big Pineapple and I think the displays are the originals from when I was a kiddo, the Spc processing plant & trucks, very nostalgic!

 We visited the Animal Farm and met some lovely animals, they were all very interested in the feed bags Ella & Occy had, one goat in particular!

Across the carpark was The Big Macadamia which was closed and very neglected, hopefully that too will be restored one day...

A trip to the beach was a perfect way to spend our Easter afternoon

Day 202 - Happy Birthday to Bec!

• Yaroomba
• 25°c

I was woken with a big Happy Birthday from my beautiful Children & Hubby, 35 today WOW!

Ella & Aliyah had organised an Easter Egg Hunt for some friends, so it was a busy morning with lots of people popping over for morning tea, we met some lovely friends of Lizette & Neales. The kids had a great time hunting for the eggs (bought by Ella & Aliyah!) that Neale had hidden around the garden, a few went missing by way of Bush Turkeys & Brothers!!

After a fun morning I left camp behind and headed off to Peregian for an hour long massage - my birthday pressie, it was absolutely divine, I think it should be a monthly event, that way my birthday can last all year!!

On return to camp I found Lizette & the big boys in the "Sewing cave", I could lock myself away down there for weeks, just look at all those vintage sheets & chenille just begging to be cut up and sewn back together! Lizette was just putting the finishing touches on a skirt she had just whipped up for my birthday - Love it

Birthday dinner was a yummy soup I whipped up and some fresh homemade bread! Doesn't get much better than this, great food, family & friends.

Day 201 - How bout the Beach!

• Yaroomba
• 28°c

Today was another relaxing day at the beach! Ella & Oscar are both practicing duck diving under the waves and are getting really good at it! We had the most super yummy lunch of a raw summer slaw, it was absolutely delicious, no leftovers here!

Day 200 - Hippie Hippie Milk Shake!

• Yaroomba
• 27°c

Yes I am now making my own milk (what's your superpower?!) Almond Milk that is! It's much better for me (or anyone) than soy milk, it's super yummy and I love the little routine we have of making it daily.

Ella & Occy were keen to try out their Solar Oven again and made themselves some cheese on toast for lunch, they are so clever!

Lizette and Aliyah headed down to Brisbane to the Ballet, leaving Neale & Bodhi in charge of Co-Op duties, Steve joined them to see what it was all about. A big thumbs up was Steve's response on returning home, everyone prints off the order they placed the Sunday before and picks out their own groceries & any leftovers are divided up. Steve picked Kath's order, a friend of theirs that's just had a baby. What a great way to do the grocery shopping, knowing it's organic and has been picked that morning.

Day 199 - Eumundi Market

• Eumundi
• 27°c

Our destination this morning was Eumundi Market, we'd heard it is one of the best markets in Australia? I don't know if it's the best but it's certainly up there for the honours! We sampled some of the local food on offer and enjoyed the live music, so much so Steve bought me a cd for my birthday.

As part of our study on the Sun, Ella & Oscar made a Solar Oven and they tested it with cheese on toast. The verdict: Good enough to eat!

Of course the afternoon was spent at the beach and once again another dam wall was built, Bodhi came prepared this time with a shovel!

Day 198 - Beautiful Day

• Yaroomba
• 28°c

Today Ella & Aliyah chose to make and complete a beauty course! We happily agreed to be their guinea pigs/ paying customers!

Of course the day wouldn't be complete without a show! Ella , Aliyah & Maia performed a couple of dance numbers for us, love the costumes!

Day 197 - Back to Maroochydore

• Yaroomba
• 28°c

So it was another trip to Sunshine Plaza to exchange the blender as it was missing the jug! 

Occy came for a drive and bought himself a pair of cool sunglasses, Ella chose to stay and hang out with Aliyah. 

The afternoon was spent at the beach of course! The creek that runs at the back of their place forms a little river as it come out to meet the ocean & the gang decided that it needed a dam! Such a great place.

Day 196 - Neale The Tour Guide

• Maroochydore
• 29°c

Lizette, Neale, Bodhi & Aliyah are kindly sharing their little piece of paradise with us and what an absolutely beautiful spot it is! Walk out their back gate and you are greeted by a creek running at the back of the houses, follow this down, cross over a little bridge covered with a lush canopy of vines, through the park and you're feet are on the sand!

 Being Sunday, Lizette was at work & Bodhi & Aliyah were at Greg's, so Neale took us on a tour of the area. Heading towards Maroochydore we stopped off at a little beach for a viewing of the little island, as we continued on we came across "Aquaman" jetting out of the water and hovering about! It was very cool, we all would've loved to have a go but doubt they were for hire?

Sunshine Plaza is the big place to shop on the Sunshine Coast and it has a river running through it. As we enjoyed some Japanese at The Cherry Blossom we watched people in the paddle boats cruising about.

Next stop was home and to the beach!

Neale gave Steve an introduction to the world of kite surfing on the beach and more than once I thought he was going to take off!

Day 195 - A day on the farm

• Yaroomba
• 29°c

The alarm blasted me from my slumber at about 7.30 this morning, wasn’t that a shock to the system! But after a little snooze we were up and getting ready to head out to the farm. Lizette and Neale are part of a food co-op on the Sunshine Coast where they source local organic produce and in turn help out on the farms their food comes from. I was very interested in all of this and happily tagged along for the working bee.

There was about 15 or so people that turned up and todays task was pruning the water shoots from off the lime trees and there must have been at 100 lime trees. It was sooo hot out in the sun, we worked for a couple of hours and got them all pruned up. 

The co-op people had all brought something for morning tea and lucky for me there was a delish banana and walnut cake that was vegan!  

Darren the farmer was very kind and loaded the kids in his tractor and took them for a spin around the farm and then it was back to the limes, time to lay some weed mat. By this stage Oscar was over it, hot and bothered as were most of us, but we persevered for about another hour and then called it quits.

Not a lot of movement for the rest of the afternoon, although they did cross the plank to the neighbours house with the intention of going for a swim. Despite Aliyahs assurance that the water was beautiful, only toes were dipped in!

Steve, Neale & Lizette headed out to Maroochydore for the evening to see one of their friends Ziggy playing live. Steve said it was really great music.

Day 194 - Sunshine Coast here we come!

• Coomera – Yaroomba
• 173kms
• 26°c

We were all very excited to be heading up the coast today to camp out at the house of friends we’d made in W.A. We pulled up earlier than anticipated and no one was home, as we went about making ourselves at home and setting up, we commented more than once – sure hope we’ve got the right house! I could just picture Lizette driving past saying whatcha doing there? We’re a couple of houses down!

But thankfully when she did get home we were in the right place. Bodhi & Aliyah weren’t too far behind her and the kids just picked up where they’d left off.

Neale arrived home from work to find our family of squatters set up in his front yard and we spent the evening catching up on the last couple of months since leaving Western Australia and of course the girls entertained us with a show!

Day 193 - Lights, Camera, Action...

• Movie World
• 26°c

A little overcast this morning but we figured we'd take a chance and head out to "Hollywood On The Gold Coast"! We were delighted to find that it wasn't too busy, the car park was filling but not chockers .

We chose to see the Stunt Driver show first thing as it was only on twice a day and the first showing was in 15 minutes.

It was awesome and we were on the edge of our seats, was our favourite thing!

The live street show hadn't changed from the last time we were here a couple of years ago but it was still a must see of course!

Ella was on a mission to get a photo with WonderWoman and thankfully we found her!

Ella & Oscar weren't keen to go on the rides, no thrill seekers here, yet......!

We caught up with Steve's mate Scotty and his son for dinner at the best little back alley place around. Dinner was absolutely delicious and great value, after dinner the kiddos played soccer and kick the can!