This has been a relaxing, but wet week. We had planned to go camping this week, just for a few days, to use the camping trailer again (we have had it since March and have only used it once so far), but the weather was not in our favour. The forecast was for rain all week with much of it coming Monday and Tuesday. We decided that it would not be fun to camp in the rain for the three days we would be gone, so we decided to do an Airbnb instead. We had to go down to Brisbane to drop off a couple of things at Dad's work and also wanted to drop something off in a geocache down that way, so that's why we were doing an Airbnb.
We headed out Tuesday morning with our first stop being Dad's work - we were hoping to find out if they had any more work for Dad during October and November, but the schedule had not been finalized and so we still have no clue what is happening. After a short stop there, we met up with Niles (another instructor for QAC) at a local coffee shop. Dad and I had purchased a sub from 'Subway' for lunch, but decided to get a drink and a treat from the coffee shop. I chose an iced chocolate (what else? :-) and Dad chose a Cherry Ripe bar (cherries and coconut). Both were delicious! Niles is a really nice guy and we always enjoy catching up with him!
Niles, me and Dad
Our final stop was the Airbnb we had booked for two nights. This Airbnb had received really good reviews on Airbnb, so we were really looking forward to staying there. This Airbnb was on a 5 acre property with lots of animals - it was out in the country and was really nice and quiet. The hosts were really nice and welcoming and we especially enjoyed the eggs, bacon and toast breakfasts which were prepared for us each morning. The downside was that the mattress was terrible (old) and Dad's back was hurting both mornings. Also, the house was not clean and we were not happy about that. It's our first negative experience with Airbnb, but it's hard to know when the 7 reviews given were so positive (and 2 of them even mentioned how clean the house was!).
Me relaxing on the front porch of the Airbnb in Witheren, Queensland
The hosts have three dogs, four horses, chickens and a rooster
Our primary reason for choosing that location for the Airbnb was that it was close to where we wanted to go geocaching. A little story behind this geocache trek..............When Dad was in Canada, he and Ron went geocaching and found a travel bug in one of the caches. It had been placed there by a woman whose young Aussie daughter (Casey) is engaged to a young man (Ian) who has dual citizenship (Australia and Canada). They are getting married in Queensland next year and the woman thought it would be cool to place two travel bugs (one for the girl and one for the guy) into a cache in Ontario and try to get both of them to a certain cache in Queensland and back again before the wedding. The cache the woman chose was in the church yard of the church she got married in in 1979. So, Dad and I decided we would travel to the church (in a place called Tamrookum - a farming area with one general store which also doubles as the gas station) to place the travel bug in the cache.
So, on Wednesday morning, (after our big hot breakfast) we set out to find the church where the cache was. The church was easy to find, but not so the cache. We read the hints and knew we were looking in the right place, but still couldn't find it. We didn't want to give up, so we kept looking and then a woman came up to us and asked us what we were looking for - I asked her if she was Margaret as someone on the geocache site had said they had found the cache thanks to Margaret. She said she was and we told her that we were looking for a geocache which we were told was not on the property, but was near this white fence post. She told us that the cache was on the property (about a foot inside the fence we were standing at) - hooray, we found it. After that, Margaret told us that there was another cache on the site (which we also found) and then offered to give us a tour through the beautiful church and adjoining cemetery. The church is 102 years old and was built in memory of Robert Martin Collins by his widow, his sister and his children. The workmanship, especially inside the church, is incredible! Margaret spent over half an hour with us sharing with us the history of the church - it was so nice of her to spend so much time with us.
Ian, one of our hosts, cooking us our bacon and egg breakfast on the bbq - their stove had conked out just days before we arrived
Dad ready to tuck into his hot breakfast - the bacon was amazing - best we have had in Australia
Scenery on the way to the geocache in Tamrookum
All Saints (Anglican) Church, Tamrookum, Queensland
Inside All Saints Church
Dad showing Casey's travel bug inside the church where her mother was married
Beautiful stained glass windows inside the church
Cemetery on the grounds of All Saints Church
View across the road from the church
Where we found the geocache where we had to put Casey's travel bug
We found two more geocaches in a place called Beaudesert before heading back for lunch in a little place called Canungra (about 5 minutes from our Airbnb) - I had read some really good reviews about a restaurant called the Metz Cafe there. We got there after 2pm and they closing at 3pm, so we were told that they only would be serving food which was in the heated display cabinet. We were disappointed at that as we were hoping to try something else on the menu, but we chose the quiche and salad plate and shared that - we also ordered two iced chocolates. Note: don't order things which have been in a heated cabinet all day - the quiche was so dry - almost like a frittata (which we don't like), but the iced chocolates were yummy. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing back at the Airbnb. We had thought about going swimming, but the water was too cold, so I sat on the edge of the pool reading a book while Dad sat in a chair on the porch where I joined him later to continue reading and also knitting.
Old railway station where we found a geocache
Me with yet another iced chocolate :-)
Our (non-fluffy) quiche for lunch
Me relaxing with my feet in the pool
Dad checking out some geocache sites while relaxing on the porch
Me reading and knitting on the porch
On Thursday, on our way to Curtis Falls, we stopped at a lookout where a bunch of hang gliders were setting up - it looked like it may have been a club meet. We had an amazing view from there - and the bonus was that there was a geocache there as well. Curtis Falls is in Tamborine National Park and it was a beautiful walk down to the falls. After that, we were off to Tamborine Mountain which is a cute little village with a number of quaint (and expensive) stores. Dad and I walked up one side of the main street and down the other stickybeaking in a number of the stores (but didn't buy anything). When we got back to the start, we searched and found another geocache hidden in a bus shelter. After a morning snack (iced chocolate) and buying some fudge (one slice to share), we started the drive home as it was going to be about 4 hours. We made a stop for one geocache which was hidden just off the road (we found it, too!) and arrived home about 6:30pm.
On our way Thursday morning - the scenery was beautiful along the way
Hang gliders setting up
Dad beside stone sculpture at lookout point
Views from lookout (doesn't do them justice)
Dad sitting on stump on the way down to Curtis Falls (in Tamborine National Park)
Interesting tree in the forest (Tamborine National Park)
The roots of this tree were above ground and had grown around in an interesting formation - I am standing inside the circle formed by the roots
More vegetation in the forest
I have never seen roots of a tree growing like this - it actually looks like worms - so gross 😉
Curtis Falls - not too spectacular after seeing Niagara Falls, but still pretty :-)
If you look carefully, you can see a lizard, just to the left of the centre of the photo, sunning him/herself on the rocks
Lizard close up
Very hard to see (you will have to click on this photo), but there is a turtle on a rock in the middle of this photo
Winery in Tamborine Mountain
Wine bottle wire sculpture in front of winery
Dad following the duck feet painted on the footpath down to one of the shops in Tamborine Mountain
Beautiful tree in the middle of a roundabout in Tamborine Mountain
Bus stop where we found a geocache
Where we found the geocache on the way home to Hervey Bay - can you spot it?
Another hint.....look closely............see that little piece of bark on the tree - it's hidden under that
See the little key-holder peeking out from under the little piece of bark
The other side of the bark showing the key-holder
If you look closely near the middle of the photo, you will see two screws screwed into the bark of the tree and the key-holder magnetizes to those screws (pretty clever, eh) - I was very pleased with myself that I was able to see that that piece of bark did not fit on the tree - it was a slightly different colour than the rest of the bark - Dad says that likely happened because the tree is living and the piece of bark would be dead now, so over time the colour of the bark of the tree will change, but the colour of the dead piece won't change
Friday was back to the doctor's to get our stitches out and get the results of the tests - all clear - phew! Dad was able to get his stitches out, but the doctor thought that mine needed to stay in a few more days. This has meant that we have had to put off our camping trip (we were hoping to leave yesterday) until Tuesday when he will take my stitches out.
This weekend has been all about relaxing and it's been lovely just tinkering around the house and getting caught up on emails, geocaches, researching about where we will be camping, etc.
