As the tent was going away for a few days, of course it rained throughout the night. We packed up the wet tent anyway. Had coleslaw, banana and crushed cheese dorito wraps – a well know culinary delight that all the top chefs use.  There was a strange loud,  squeaking, baby cry coming from the trees in the woods.  We tried to investigate,  but by the time we got there the noise had stopped.  Could this have been the elusive koalas?

Holding noses, one last visit to the disgusting toilets, checking for snakes and spiders as entering and checking under the seats.  Teeth cleaned with our bottled water and we were off.

Snakes and ladders camp

Nearly all of the other campers deep in the national parks had pickup trucks with popup tents that went above their vehicles.  These could only be accessed via a ladder,  so we coined these the snakes and ladders camps.  There were only a few other hardened campers (fools like us), that had ground level tents.  We said goodbye to our last snakes and ladder camp.

Gold Coast here we come

It would have been lovely to take the scenic coastal road but we had friends to see and places to go.

So we headed up the M1 and M3.

We called into Hope Island for a comfort break and made cream cheese on fig and olive crackers for lunch.  Another stop at Coles for the WiFi and toilets before we were once again on our way.

We passed a sign for the koala sanctuary at Daisy Hills. Other campers had told us about this so we popped in. 

Koalas are asleep 16-22hrs a day, no wonder we can’t see them. Usually they’re are active at dawn or dusk, just when all the other animals are out hunting.  They also played the sound of baby and adult koalas. The baby sound was identical to the crying we heard this morning.

Don’t want a pair of these crocs on my feet.

Oh, who is this on the sign. It looks like when we go into the bush and the everglades we have different eyes to look out for. The only problem is that these ones have big sharp teeth and can swim or lurk in any water source. 

Big city bright lights

As we approached the skyscrapers and the city outline of Brisbane, we talked about the contrast of this glass and concrete jungle to the lush greens of the rainforest we’d left behind. Although Brisbane has some impressive bridges and architecture, the hustle and bustle of city life isn’t for us. We also noticed we had gained an hour as Brisbane and Sydney are on different time zones half the year.

Held up by a crash on the motorway we decided to detour and at least keep moving.  Then the railway crossing closed just behind us – our first bit of luck all day with the roads.

We approach North Lakes and pulled up at out next destination.

Greetings and meetings

It’s hard to imagine it’s 26 years since I’ve seen Georgie, or Chilli as he’s now known. Sometimes time can drift people apart but with true friends it feels like no time has passed since you’ve last met. It was also the first time we met Jo. What a lovely warm welcome we received.

Tea time

To Georgie and few very close friends from my younger days, I’m always known as T.  Now we’re in Queensland that would be my name for the next 48hrs. Why T? It was a nickname given to me at 16 when working at a holiday camp.  The nickname was Tufty, like the squirrel, due to a tuft of hair at the front of my head.  Well, as we had five of us that were really tight mates and four of us were Daves. Then we became Georgie, Aylsie, Millsie, T and we had a Simon aka Lovett. Pretty simple really. The last time the 4Ds met was 26 years ago in Brisbane. The idea was to meet every two years as Simon was in Texas, Georgie was in Oz and the other 3Ds were scattered around the UK. But it seemed to be breeding season in a few countries and those plans went by the wayside. But 2Ds are better than one so we’ll make the most of it.

Forgotten home comforts

OMG,  a porcelain toilet and a hot shower. We had forgotten just how good this felt.  We felt like a king and queen putting on our clean robes.  Dressed to impress and after what seemed like the world’s best coffee we were ready to head out for some food other than wraps, noodles, rice, beans or porridge which had been our staple diet for what seemed an eternity but was in reality just two weeks. We also pitched the wet tent in the garden to dry it out.

All you can eat

Georgie & Jo’s treat. They recommend this place highly and we can see why. As we arrive there is already a queue to get in. Not too long stood outside and we’re in. Georgie’s advice “pace yourselves”.

The never ending buffet. There are so many choices.  Fresh veg, salads, a host of succulent meats, food from Asia, we’ll have it all.

2 large plates of food (each),  a bowl of fruit, banana frittas and a couple of marshmallows with choc sauce. More food than we’ve had for two weeks combined.

The one thing we can say is that absolutely everything we tried was 5-star. Our resident chef Georgie had informed us the food was excellent and yes it was top notch.

Makers Mark leaves it’s mark

On route back to the house we stopped for a wee tipple to take home, help us reminisce old times and have a good old catch up.  Makers Mark was the choice.  Sarah was having red wine or as Georgie calls it engine oil.

 

Toad on the road

Jo and Sarah took Bindi, the cute dog, for a walk and were trying to find toads. They couldn’t see any, so when they returned Georgie took Sarah to see one. Not to be messed with though, as they are poisonous.

Sarah had had her usual one glass of oil and the 2Ds were making their mark, as the contents were going down fast. 

The ladies went off to their bed then before we knew it the clock said 02:30, time to get the slow cooker going for tomorrow ‘s dinner and the washing on.  Somewhere,  somehow,  we’d all agreed to go to the markets early so we called it an evening.  What a great evening it was.