Day 233 – The Great Sausage Experiment!

• Hervey Bay
• 26°c

Happy Birthday to Lou Lou! 

Today was a late start after a cup of tea whilst porching turned into a somewhat social affair! Our neighbours popped over for a chat, so Ella & Occy happily watched telly for the morning! 

So it was nearly lunch time when we started work, today we learnt more about the Sun, baked some fudge cakes in our solar oven and did a Sausage Science experiment! Most surprisingly we learnt that the best protection from the sun is foil, not sure that will take off down the beach this summer?!!

A lovely afternoon stroll down the beach found us some shells and a sand dollar! That’s two we’ve found now, one in Fiji & one in Hervey Bay.

A yummy sweet potato & leek lasagne inspired by our niece gourmet Emma was delicious, before hours of detangling Rosellas locks!

Day 232 – Sold!

• Hervey Bay
• 26°c 

Steve decided today would be a good day to do some maintenance on the van with his new park friend Leo from NZ. Ella & I had some errands to do and managed to squeeze in a trip to the craft store whilst we were out.

The house is SOLD!

Doesn’t really change much except now we are on the look out for another house project to sink our teeth into upon our return to Melbourne. Celebration dinner at The Wild Lotus, yummo!

Day 231 – To market, To market

• Hervey Bay
• 25°c 

We found another market not too far away and were bummed that we got there late morning as a lot of stalls had or were packing up, as it seemed like a good little market. Oh well, next time…

It was back to WetSide Again! for the afternoon

Day 230 – Splash again!

• Hervey Bay
• 26°c 

We headed to the Torquay foreshore market to check it out & picked up some fruit & veg, it’s only a small market but worth a look. Next stop was the Marina where we took a stroll along the boardwalk.

We had a house inspection for Chan & Adam in Dundowran Beach which was a really lovely house.

The sun was still out so we popped into the van, Ella & Occy grabbed their bathers & it was back to Wet Side for a play until they were nearly turning blue!

Day 229 – Splash

• Hervey Bay
• 27°c 

We took a leisurely drive through Hervey Bay checking out a few areas and short listing a few possible streets for future reference!! We stopped in at Eli Waters for some lunch then headed over to “Wet Side” waterpark located on the foreshore.

It’s an awesome FREE water park with lots of water fountains, small waterslide, dumping bucket, splash area for the littlies and even tables & chairs for mum & dad to have coffee.  

We spent a few hours there and were so impressed with the way all the kids waited their turn for the water slide, which was overseen by a lifeguard! At 1.30 on a Friday afternoon, now that’s what I call family friendly.

Day 228 – Anzac Day

• Hervey Bay
• 27°c 

Quiet day in town, supermarket closed, forgot what the true meaning of public holidays is, they haven’t up here! Almost everything is closed, all shops, I think the only thing open were the pubs.  The footy was on of course & Steve’s Magpies were defeated.

Day 227 - Hervey Bay

• Hervey Bay
• 27°c

Steve’s sunnies broke and it seems he has lost a pair along the way? So a trip to Spec savers where we met some really friendly people and Steve got his eyes tested and much to his delight his eyesight has improved by 25%! After choosing some new specs we headed over to a vintage Super Store and found a few goodies. 

We did a drive by to show Ella & Oscar, Skipper & Charms house and then grabbed slushies for a walk on the beach, which has the softest sand!

Day 226 - On the road again!

• Yaroomba – Hervey Bay
• 200km
• 30°c

Bit sad to be leaving our dear friends but we have to get the Karma Bus back on the road or else we’ll never leave! But before we did Lizette gave me a little haircut, just a snip here & a snip there, for a hair analysis!

 We bid farewell and hit the open road for Hervey Bay, we found a great caravan park and settled in.

Shelly Beach Caravan Park, $29 powered site, pool, clean amenities, great location, friendly people

Day 225 - Last day with our Neighbours!

• Yaroomba
• 24°c

Our last day camped at Lizette & Neales, the girls did a spot of baking and the boys just chilled out and waited for the baked goods!

We took the body board to the Coolum main beach for something a little bit different as it was a bit big out the back beach. Ella & Oscar had a great time catching waves!

Day 224 – Super Steve

• Yaroomba
• 25°c

We spent the day catching up with the gang and hanging out at the beach!

It was another beautiful day on the Yaroomba beach, Oscar had a go at sandboarding! Then decided to join the others in the creek for a bit of drag boarding.

Sitting on the beach chatting with Lizette & Neale whilst watching Bodhi & Louis body surfing and Ella, Occy & Aliyah playing. The day before Bodhi had bought a Go-Pro like camera and he and Louis were filming their moves on the boards when they shouted that the strap had broken and it was gone. We were all looking out to sea hoping to see it when a glint caught my eye, it was out in front of where Steve & I were and had caught the waves quite a bit further down the beach from the others. It was a bit rough but Steve threw me his phone and raced out to where I was pointing, the others realising Steve had found it joined me and boy oh boy were they happy!

Bodhi & Louis hugged their hero, so grateful to Steve. We had a laugh later when we watched the film  showing it bobbing away in the water and then this hand comes out of no where and grabs it!

We all headed out to Tandoori Flames in Coolum for dinner, the food, service and people are fantastic, before a lovely evening walk found us at the ice cream shop!

Day 223 – Time flies

• Edithvale 
• 17°c

We were up some what early (by our standards!), this worked out well as there was an open house just up the street that we were interested in, lots of potential (work) but we know it won’t be on the market very long.

Grandad kindly picked us up from Niks and drove us to the airport as our return airport shuttle had skipped town bahaha! We had checked in online so it was straight through to the gate, or so we thought… As our bags & ourelves are going through the x ray scanner, the airport guy keeps sending one of our bags back and forth, Steve and I looked at each other “Drill”! Steve had a drill posted to Rye and as it was only the shell with no bits or battery we thought it would be ok to take on as carry on, apparently not, in hindsight that makes sense! So now we had the choice of either purchasing a checked bag for $70, post it somewhere or call Grandad, whom was halfway through the city and very, very kindly turned around and met us out the front. With the drill sorted it was back through and onto the gate. The flight was fine and only a few bumps. Taraa picked us up at Brisbane airport and we had a quick chat with her and Paul before loading ourselves in the car and making our way back to our “Van Sweet Van” in Yaroomba!

Day 222 – Friday night funnies

• Edithvale 
• 16°c

We headed up to Nik & Steves and stopped in at the house for one last look and to say our goodbyes! Steve, Ella & Occy went to visit with The Freshys whilst I hung out with Grayden & Gav and got dinner started. Mama & Bapa popped in for a bite on their way to the airport. Niks and I thought about sewing but didn’t get a lot done on account of not being able to see through the tears of laughter! The boys watched some Rugby and Berge had us in stitches explaining the rugby term Mal Maninger!

Day 221 – Last day at the Beach House

• Rye
• 18°c

Mama passing on the addiction that is Candy Crush! and teaching Steve the tricks! I had grabbed a couple of jigsaws for Ella & Oscar yesterday thinking they may like to do them, I was right they had them done in no time. I stitched up a special cushion for Gav and he loved it! Mama & Bapa are heading off to Malaysia tomorrow on a bit of a whim! so they were getting themselves all packed and organised.

Day 220 – Mouse Trap!

• Rye
• 18°c

So apparently theres a mouse in the house, Mama saw one run under the fridge, so the traps were set but the only thing they caught was Oscar! Being his fathers son, Oscar wanted to see how they work, so what better way than to set it off.

Dinner at Gran & Grandads, it was lovely to catch up again and they too seem to have a mouse in the house.

Day 219 – Beach House Day

• Rye 
• 18°c

A bit of rain put to rest our plans to take a walk down the beach or park.

We had a chill out day at the beach house and finished the evening with cards with Mama and a bit more stitchin for me.

Day 218 – Meeting Ashton

• Rye
• 17°c

Whilst we’ve been travelling, my cousin Mel had a baby boy and came down to visit. He is adorable, must take after his big brother Aiyden!

It was wonderful to meet her little man and just catch up in general, Mama Peggy came over, she wasn’t missing the chance to meet her newest great grandchild – not sure what number he is? 

Aiyden had us in stitches, he is such a funny fellow, asking Mel on the way over; will there be food? and that night at home after seeing an ad for Mrs Browns Boys, commenting: that looks like your 

Grandma!

I packed up the kiddos and we headed down to pick Steve up from Phils and then it was onto Gran & Grandads for dinner, with them and Bec & Brad. Ella & Oscar love snuggling with Sam & Sally especially when Grandad gives them the Big Telly remote control!

I was privileged to be given a look at some of the wedding details, it is going to be an absolutely beautiful day.