SETTLING IN FOR THE WEEK

We have arrived at our destination for the next week.  We come here yearly to visit family but never have the time to check out the sights around this beautiful city.  It was where we met and grew up and spending a lot of our early years together, so we decided to come back and explore and revisit and see the changes that the last thirty years or so have brought.  What a difference.

We are staying at a quaint little caravan park right on the ocean.  it is small only 18 sites, old but clean and  the owner is very friendly.  It is quiet and peaceful and we are enjoying the break.  Initially we were going to be camped right on the beach but it is very blowy here at the moment so we moved sites in behind the amenities block, just so that we have a ittle protection from the wind.  We can still see the ocean from the door of our van though out to the side...

We arrived Monday afternoon.... The thing I like about holiday in a van is that it doesn't take long to set it all up.  We were set up in less than an hour....  Nice and simple this time,  decided not to worry about the annex, and even that would only take us an hour or so to put up.  Just don't need it for a week.

Beautiful spot under a shady tree

Time for a cuppa

 We had a pretty easy evening, settled in and then headed off to do a small grocery shop.  I didn't do it before we left because I knew there was a supermarket close at hand, and also because I had very little time from the time I arrived home from Brissie until we left.  Mind you my time in Brisbane feels like it was ages ago...

Yesterday we had a pretty low key day,  we had a leisurely breakfast of this

Fresh Fruits in season

 followed by some savory ones of these

Savory Croissants

 and a nice hot cup of tea....

Our morning Breakfast

Finally able to sit down and relax

 Just a few shots from the park....

The view from our van.... the ocean is just through the picket fence.

View in front of the cabins

Peaceful spot to sit

Happy Hour spot near the ocean

Looking back towards Kelly's Beach

Views in front of our van... no sand.

Closeness of cabins to the water

 Our setup

Moved in for the week.

 Yesterday afteroon we went for a drive into town.... we need to do a little maintenance on the van so went in to buy some seals as some of ours have aged and need replacing.   Whilst Steve checked out BCF, I got to go check Spotlight out which is situated next door.  They had 50% off all things Christmas, so I scored a few bargains.

Later in the afternoon we went for a little drive to explore some of the other beaches.  I particularly wanted to go to Innes Park as I had spent quite a few holidays there as a child in a little cottage.  At the time it was all pretty primitive down there with about 5 hours and they were more shacks than houses.  The road ended right at the creek.   Steve and I also spent many a day down there when we were going out before we were married so it was nice to go back and visit.  My goodness what a shock.  All the little cottages and shacks are now gone and it has been opened right up with land and houses built right along the ocean front.  It is now called "Coral Coast".... the park area there though is still the same only better and the creek is still the same.  As kids we would wander across to what we thought was an island and explore it at low tide....   It's not an island,  it is just that the road didn't go far enough when we were kids, and there was always bush or water separating it from us.

As we were driving along we came across these little fellows.  Of course I had to take shots....

They are obviously very tame...

A close up

 We were able to drive up along side of them to get these photos,  The locals obviously feed them daily.
 There were kilometers of beachfront like this...

Love these palm trees that are scattered along the coast line

Are how well I remember this swimming hole.  We used to swim here daily when we were young. 

This part of Innes Park hasn't changed... the natural beauty is still there. 

Picnicking at the Mouth

The old boat ramp

Some things don't change.... the old boat ramp is still there, although there is a real drop off at the end of the ramp....  It probably has a little more bitumen on it now...
 There is  a lovely family developed park here now.  Beach Volley ball court, and a game was in full swing when we drove past.  Lovely children's playground, and beautiful amenities block which these lovely paintings on their side walls. 

Native Australian animals

This next photo I took for our Chloe.... as a small child she LOVED frogs, and so every time we see a gree tree frog it brings back special memories of our little girl who has now all but grown up. 

The old green tree frog.

From Innes Park we drove around to Elliott Heads... Another lovely coastal community area, although we will have to go back and explore it some more.  We had friends that lived here when we were younger.  We hadn't seen them for well over a decade and wondered whether they still lived down here.  We noticed that John's parent's house had gone and it was just farm land now.
We pulled up at a house we thought was theirs ( it turned out it was built by his brother) and that wasn't the right place, and the new owner had just moved up from down south, so he had no idea whether our friends lived in the area or not).

Anyway we drove down the street and the very next house looked familiar, so we braved a second door knock.  This time no one came to the front door but Steve could see a guy bent over some tools in the back yard so he decided to go ask.  It turned out it was our friend,  he didn't recognize Steve to start with, only when I walked up.... mind you we barely recognized him either.

They were really pleased to see us and we spent a couple of hours catching up.  We are getting together for dinner on Friday night again so it was nice to catch up and hear about each other's kids.  They reminded us that the last time we were down there was when our children were young and their kids and our kids were all playing down in the cane paddocks together.   Apparently Steve dropped in and saw them when he was down just after his brother passed away but even that was 11 years ago.

It was lovely to catch up.  We had a quiet evening in last night listening to the rain on the roof.
Looking forward to more relaxation.  Really wander why we haven't packed the van and taken off for six weeks rather than just the one..