Deception Bay to Goombungee - 28th July

See photo - Big Pineapple - closed :(

See photo - Strawberry picking.

After getting back to the mainland we headed for the nearest Pressure Cleaning bay to remove what was left of Fraser Island from the Prado, we then picked up the van and headed for Deception Bay to stay with Red and Simone for a night. On the way we dropped in to see the Big Pineapple which was closed :-[  But still got a photo!  then visit the Ettamogah pub (original one is at Lot 1 Burma Rd Table top NSW just off the Hume HWY )....so we need to go there also!

We had to make the most of the Strawberry farm and had a go hand picking our own selection, this also includes seeing how many you can eat before you've filled the punnet!.....they really should weigh everyone who enters and leaves the farm as well!

See photo - Chris, Red, Simone, Riley, Aiden, Sara.

It was brilliant catching up with Red, Simone and Sarah over a Chinese meal, it seems that all of us have very hectic lives and are still working flat out, Red was off to work at 4am the next morning to continue commissioning the next inflight refuelling tanker soon to be handed over to the RAAF. The boys spent hours playing with all of Sara's great lego and truly were in their element.

 

See photo - Aiden first horse ride with Michelle.

See photo - Riley first horse ride with Emma.

 On 29th July we headed to Col and Shells in good old Goombungee (yes this is the correct spelling) a little country town north of Toowoomba for a few nights.

We headed out to dinner at the local pub which was great, and met some of their new friends along the way. Col and Shell have 5 acres, 3 dogs, 2 horses, 1 Tractor and of course 2 lovely girls Ashley and Emma, both of whom we only remember as nippers younger than our boys.

It was brilliant catching up with the Partridge family and having a relaxing break. With heaps of chatter day and night, it was like we had only just parted yesterday from Saudi. Lets hope we can do this again soon....

See photo - Emma, Ashleigh, Riley, Aiden, Col, Michelle, Chris, Bell at Picnic Point.

Next day Col took Chris and the boys to the Okey Army Aviation Museum for a visit near where Col is currently working ( Black Hawks and Kiowa's for Boeing Aviation ). Later that arvo Shell and the girls had Riley and Bell on Billy the horse, meanwhile Col and Chris managed to get Col's old "David Brown" tractor going much to Aidens delight who got to have a drive around the farm!
Next morning it was off into Toowoomba and the local markets then up Picnic Point to take in the views of the surrounding area before heading down to Queens Park for lunch. Our last day found us heading up to the Bunya Mountains for some bush walking, on the way back for a BBQ lunch under an old Canberra Bomber to the boys delight. It was beautiful during the day and cool at night, so we enjoyed the evenings indoors catching up over drinks........ it had been over 8 years after all! Thanks for having us crew, we loved it :)

See photo - Bunya Mountains.

Tuesday morning we hooked up the van and headed for Ipswich for the Shard / Somers wedding of the year. Our route took us back via Esk and the Ivanhoe Dam, however first we had more pressing problems like getting Diesel. We headed for Hampton about 15 min from Goombungee as there was no diesel in town, only to find their pump wasn't working also, so another 10 minutes on the opposite direction to Crows Nest found us coasting into town on fumes, 160 Lt later and we were on our way!

We continued our lovely scenic drive through the Deongwar State Forrest which took us over 700 Mt above sea level then down to the Ivanhoe Dam but unfortunately after all the recent flooding all viewing vantage points were closed so we continued into Ipswich to stay with Andrew, Toni and Joshua much to the boys delight! ......... finally some cousin play time!


Stay tuned and checkout our latest youtube video!