THE WRIGHTS COME FOR A VISIT....

 Our good friends, Peter and Leanne Wright came for a visit this week.  We worked out that it is probably a good six years since we have spent any time with them..

They have just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with an overnight stay up on Hardy Reef in the Reef Suite..

Looked and sounded amazing....

Great Barrier Ref Hotel

They had booked into the reef suite which was below the surface of the water and were able to see the fish swimming around whilst they lay in their bed... Pretty cool and pretty expensive, but one of those awesome once in a life time experience..

their underwater suite

 

View from their bed....

Once the day visitors had left, the 4 couples who were spending the night on the reef were then taken on a tour led snorkle on the edge of the reef.  It was a real highlight..

For dinner that night, they had a 5 star meal under the stars on the top deck of the pontoon..

The following morning they did a helicopter ride over the reef where they got to see heart reef..

Peter up in the air flying over the reef

Views from the helicopter...

Quite a special way to celebrate your 40th wedding anniversary.

It was like reliving the past.  They actually headed north for their honeymoon 40 years ago and then stopped into Rocky on their way home and had a few days with us, so it was quite fitting that they should drop in and spend a few days with us 40 years later....

It was so good to catch up and hear all their family news.  Whilst Leanne has retired, Pete is still making his way there, although we were very supportive of Leanne who is trying to convince him that there is more to life than work...

We had a few prior appointments in the morning, like getting the car taken in for a service, Steve then had a physio appointment and then a massage....

The weather wasn't the best, quite overcast with intermittent showers, but we still decided that we would drive to the beach for lunch.  We headed to the Keppel Bay Sailing Club and were fortunate to get a window seat which overlooked the ocean.

Out for lunch with Pete and Leanne Wright

The view from our table...

Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best today, so we didn't get to see the ocean in all it's glorious blue glory..  However, it was still a lovely view to look out on.

Since we had had a cooked breakfast, none of us felt like a big lunch time meal, so we ordered a few different entree's for us to all share for lunch...

We decided to order the Salt & Pepper Calamari with Aioli, 2 lots of Korean Fried Sticky Wings, the Crumbed Haloumi sticks with peppered beetroot jam, and the Chef's marinated mushrooms with danish feta.  All very delicious...

Salt and Pepper Calamari with Aoili

Korean Fried Sticky Wings

Chef's Marinated Mushrooms with Danish Feta

Crumbed Haloumi Sticks with Peppered beetroot jam.

We had a lovely relaxing lunch with plenty of talk, laughter and reminiscing.  After lunch we decided to walk off my meal by walking up to the Yeppoon Lagoon for an ice cream and to just check it out...

It has changed since we were last there with the palm tree being removed from the island in the middle of the lagoon and also with the addition of three pelican statues now firmed in place in the pool..

Steve snapping a photo of me taking a photo of these guys...

Taking a photo of Leanne, Steve and Pete

This photo above pretty much sums up our time together... Lots and lots of laughs reliving wonderful memories of the past 40 odd years or more...

 

 

  

 

 After wandering around the Lagoon we headed back to the car via the parkland where we stopped to admire the wonderful street art on the public toilets and also the work painted on the Keppel Bay Sailing Club walls as well...

From here we headed down along the coast to check out the marina and the rocks around the marina.  I had explored this area on one of my adventures last year when Steve was still working, so I thought that it would be nice to show Steve and the others as I remember being pretty impressed with the wonderful cave formations I had found here previously.  Also it really is a photographer's paradise.

I also remember being very impressed with the volcanic lava columns when I was in Iceland a few years back without ever really being aware that we have these same sort of columns right on our own doorsteps.  After seeing them overseas it really has made me appreciate my own back yard so much more....

It was a pity that neither Leanne and I had shoes on suitable to explore the rocks.  You could have easily spent a whole afternoon on them with a camera.  So many little caves and amazing rock formations..

From here we wandered back over to the Marina itself to check out some of the boats...

By now it was after 4pm and we still had way too many places I would have like to have taken them before heading home.  Unfortunately, we needed to be back in town before 5pm as we had to pick up our car from the garage.  We will have to leave exploring Emu Park until the next time these guys come to visit us...

Even though the weather wasn't the best, we had a great day out exploring and enjoying each other's company.  So pleased that these guys have dropped in to pay us a visit...