Whale Watching

Quick Update

On Saturday 13th September 2008,  Maria and I went whale watching off Moreton Island with Maria's Parents and work colleages. Some photos of the day can be seen in the gallery. 

Many pods of Humpback Whales were around us but we stayed with one pod for the whole day. The whales weren't very active initially an d spent most of the submerged for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, but as the day went on they did seem to get more active and spent more time on the surface.

Gallery, Slide Show. 

Mt Maroon Hike, 6th September

We (Nick, Dionne, Trent and the two of us) all headed down to Mt Maroon (near Rathdowney/Beaudesert) early Saturday morning, all squeezing into Dionne’s Car from Nick’s place.

Mt Maroon from the car park

Now this walk was much different to Mt Warning last month, and you could tell that straight away, just by the only other solitary car in the parking lot (there were about 40 cars at Mt Warning).

The last couple of days we had had some heavy down pours of rain, which worked to our advantage, as it is normally very dry and dusty. It was a beautiful day except for being a bit windy.

The first section of the walk was mainly straight up the mountain, no real track or signage (glad it wasn’t Nick’s first time), we had wonderful views no matter where we were.

The next section was a plateau, going around the outcrop, where we got to appreciate our surroundings.

Then next was the straight up rock scramble, then we had a little break where we got to appreciate the view and the tiny white wild flowers.

Then a 10 minute walk up the granite and we were at the top – it was blowy, but the view was magnificent, we sheltered on one side and had lunch for 30minutes.

Finally at the top, Mt Barney in the distance

We then did it all in reverse, the best hike we have done so far – highly enjoyable – just don’t do in the rain. Took us 2 and half hours up, 2 hours down.

We finished off the day with a beer and a massive serve of chips and gravy at the Rathdowney Pub




Gallery, Slide Show

24th Aug 08 – Mt Warning Hike

Mt Warning is located about 45minutes south of the Tweed Coast, so New South Wales Territory.

We picked a perfect day for a hike, it was lovely and clear and warm.

We picked up Mark and Sue on the way through at Oxenford.

Nick, Dionne, Phil, “super calves” Rob and a hung over Trent all joined us at the carpark. Which was very busy.

The Warning path is very well maintained, all the way up. Most of the walk is under the canopy of tree’s so not much danger of sunburn (except at the top).

Mt Warning is approx 1200m high, so you need some fitness. 1/3 of the track is mainly steps. 1/3 of the track is warn pathway and the last 1/3 is a scrambling up granite rock, there is a chaint o help – thankfully.

  

It takes about 2 hours to get up to the top, we all had lunch for about 30 minutes in the viewing area. It then takes about 1.30hrs to get back down.

Looking South

 

View Towards Byron Bay (needed my camera filters)

We all stopped off at the “Budda Belly” coffee shop, we had seen on the way, we crawled in for a coffee and cake.

Then home for a nice bath!!!

Gallery, Slide Show

2008 Stanthorpe Trip

Friday 8th August
We had a nice drive in via Aratulla and Warwick and had a quick look around the op Shop while Mikey had his KFC for lunch. We arrived at Applegrove, Dionne and Nick were already relaxing in front of the fire, with a beer and snack.

We unloaded the card at the school house then went and joined them for a drink.
Mark & Sue arrived and they unloaded. We all then headed to the Balladean Tavern for the traditional Friday night pub dinner. Back to Applegrove for a few more drinks and a catch up, waiting for Phil to arrive. It was going to be a cold night it was 4 degree's at 10pm!

Saturday 9th Aug
Well, last night did get very cold -8 degree's, So the water pipes at the Farm house had frozen, so no toilet flushing or coffee!!!! At some point last night amongst the drinking of the hard stuff (west coast coolers-may I add the boys only!!!) they all decided it that it would be a good idea for them to do a semi nudie run at 6am around the property (shoes, undies and hat optional???)It was -4 degree's!!!

Once we all had breakfast and the pipes had defrosted. We headed out in Dionne's Dad's 4x4 that fit all 7 of us in (no tour for us this year) for our own private wine tour at 10am.

1st stop the Pyramids Roads Wines for the Musketella that everyone loves.

2nd a new one for us, Bald Mountain for a tasting.

3rd on to Symphony Hill, one of our favourites, with Merlot the dog, who took a serious liking to a lotus in the driveway :)

4th Heavenly Chocolates for our chocolate fix.

5th Lunch at Gardino's (which we found out later had only just reopended with new owners) nice food, but a bit slow.

6th Granite Belt Dairy Farmhouse Cheese for some very strong cheese.

7th Old Caves Winery, that is right next to McDonald's and the Shell servo, was a nice surprise. Lots of different liquors and some great ports. This is where Mike our old tour guide use to get his complimentary armchair port - great stuff.

8th Banca Ridge (which is now the Qld College of wine tourism), now by this point some of us where truly wined out, and ended up staying outside and kicking the footy around - now they really missed out on this great experience. This is a great winery, clean, modern with still the country charm. The service was great and the wine to our surprise was great, had the best ever fortified Shiraz for drinking with chocolate - now that's my sort of drink!!!! Gerard behind the bar was very open and insightful about all of the wines and how they are made. They also have a restaurant, so we all agreed to come back for lunch next year. The Menu looked great!

9th and final stop Severn Brae Estate, more ball kicking and just 3 tasters left, not including Phil who was tasting the scones and cream!

A quick embarrassing stop at the drivethru for more westcoast for the boys...I just don't get it!
The girls got a platter of cheeses, dips, nut, fruit and crackers and a couple of bottles of wine and sat around the fire and chatted.
Whilst the boys played night Frisbee (a light up Frisbee, with light up headbands) out in the cold.

10th Sunday
We were prepared for the frozen pipes this time and had filled up some saucepans with water the night before. We had also figured out the old wood fire oven and stoked that up to keep the chill out.

Mark and Sue had a bit of a jam then went to Ballendean Winery to stock up. Whilst Nick, Dionne, Mikey and I went to Stanthorpe for supplies and the Jam Works and the Bramble Patch, to get our chutneys and jams for the next couple of months.

We then went back to Applegrove grabbed Phil, who was trying to have a nap, and went outside in the yard and played soft ball with my new bat (which we manged to crack pretty quickly). We played for about an hour and we were all totally buggered afterwards. Mark and Sue were back so we all had a small lunch and Mark got his guitar out again and had a little sing along. The girls started to prepare the food for the evening dinner and the boys rearranged the lounge for the Sunday nights entertainment/skits.

We drew numbers out of a hat and Dionne was first up.
An amazing effort with the costume, which she made herself.She never missed a beat to the "Love Song" by McGregor & Kidman from Moulon Rouge. Excellent performance!!!

Second was Sue singing "Stuff like that, there" performing in a fat suit, much to everyones surprise (especially Mark). She did a great job. We saw a whole new side of Sue that night!

Third up was me ripping of the Carlton Brewery Flashbeer commerical. It was way more energetic than it looks.

Next up was Mikey dressed as a Nun for "How do you solve a problem like Maria". Very cute, mind you I haven't seen too many Nuns wear fishnet stockings!!!

Mark then played and sand a love song "flowers" by Kevin Bloody Wilson - Go the Mullet!

Nick performed his prized morrow song. Where he prerecorded his music and back up vocals and sang along. He even made his own costume. Great Stuff!

Phil was last with about 10 different impressions, who knew a white bowl and a toilet plunger could mean so much!!!

Then outside for a couple of group photo's, before sitting down for a Roast Lamb, Veg and oven backed potatoes.

We sat down infront of the fire with a few drinks and reviewed the photo's and footage followed by desert.

Monday
Packed up the houses, Mark and Sue then headed home.
Then the rest of us braved the freezing cold winds, and headed to the National Park to climb the Pyrmids. It is a really large exposed granite rock, very steep. but we managed it! A quick stop at Maccas for lunch then the 3 hour drive home.

Gallery can be found here
Slide Show can be found here

Adventure Parc

Just a quick update.

Some pictures from Adventure Parc at Mt Tamborine

The Wrong Stuff

Full Gallery can be found here.
Slide Show can be found here.