McCloskeys Travels: 2011

Yeppoon to Emerald

Our first major stop on the road was at Emu Park in Yeppoon. We had a lovely campsite on the beach nestled amongst 6 grey nomads who spend the winter months in the north each year. Most of them were missing their grandchildren badly so the girls provided a fix (and entertainment) for them while we were there. Happy hour amongst these grey nomads started at 5pm and finished at 6pm sharp so our afternoons were very busy trying to get the kids organised and fed before 5pm, hence we only made the last 10 minutes most of the time. Fortunately most of the grey nomads we met since Yeppoon have happy "hours & hours" and we have often gone to bed in the wee hours of the morning after a "happy hour" by the fire. From Yeppoon we headed up to the Capricorn Caves in Rockhampton. The caves were absolutely amazing, and a little scary too. There is even a cathedral within the caves where weddings are held and we were fortunate enough to experience the music and candlelights used at weddings as there had been one the day before.

From Rockhampton we headed into the outback, leaving the coast for quite some time. Our first major stop was in Emerald where we quickly learned about the inescapable "outback suntan" from the endless red dirt that we have experienced since leaving Rocky.

Coconut lessons from Dad

The entrance to the Capricorn Caves Rockhampton

Jorji & Lil were a little nervous about being inside the caves

Jade & Lil having a moment together

Homeschooling Lily

De-husking the coconut

Inside the Capricorn Caves cathedral

The girls providing the entertainments - Cats!

Jorji sharing her toast with a couple of the locals at Higher Ground Homestay

The girls earning their keep

The start of a huge trek into Carnarvon Gorge

Carnarvon Gorge

Ward's Canyon Carnarvon Gorge

Ward's Canyon

Ward's Canyon was spectacular

One of the many creek crossings

A well earned drink at the end of the walk

Lily stopping to play in the freezing water at Carnarvon Gorge

Jade playing Uno with one of our neighbours (within 15 mins of arriving at camp)

Jorji finding a surrogate grandmother

June 2011 Farewell to family & friends

After a longer than expected wait to get on the road we finally set off from Hastings Point on 11th June where we had the extremely hard job of saying goodbye to family & friends. We didn't get far though as our first stop was to say farewell to our gorgeous Gold Coast friends Nat, Neil, Ben, Kaylee & Kyle who are also looking after our much loved and missed dog, Ruby. Thanks to Nat's quick wit and charm and Dion's innocent face we narrowly avoided getting fined by the Council for parking on their front lawn after about an hour long set-up and managed to enjoy a lovely couple of days with them after that. From there we made yet another very short trip to Brisbane and stayed with Rae, Raeles, Takara, Bryce & Alyssa. We spent a few great nights catching up over the mandatory wine or two...or three, and had a lot of trouble peeling the kids away from their Aunty, Uncle and cousins when we left. Whilst at Rae's we went on a marathon 1 day drive from the far West of Brisbane to the far East of Brisbane to say farewell to the rest of our family (parents, brothers, sisters, half sisters etc).

As much as we would have loved to stay at Rae's longer, we had tickets to see the Dalai Lama up on the Sunshine Coast (a fantastic experience!). While at the Dalai Lama our beautiful friend Linda took the girls on a "big day out" and went shopping for many "special" presents for mummy's birthday (I especially loved the bunches of brightly coloured plastic flowers, which just wont die - thanks Linda!). We settled back into the Sunshine Coast very easily with our friends Ange, Phil, Ben & Maddi and had a fantastic week together - just like old times. It was even harder to say goodbye to them than when we moved away a year earlier.

Harvey Bay was the next stop where we spent about a week with Mum & Dad and their wallaby, Sassy. Jade loved being Nanna's little helper and spent many hours feeding and carrying Sassy on her back - we couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Many a night was spent chatting by the bonfire with an ale or two (which was well needed due to the freezing weather). Dad found a very soft spot for Jorja who followed him around chatting constantly and even managed to get him involved in a few make believe games like fairy hunting. With 42 acres to move around on, Lily had lots of room to run, skip, twirl, spin and move around non-stop as she loves to do. From Mum & Dads we finally started our journey around Oz...