SO much goodness today! Good balcony to watch people & their various modes of transportation. Good low tide for a beach walk all the way south to Burleigh Heads. Good afternoon stroll along the Marine Parade footpath with good friends. Good fun on the beach with funky lights and watching the early NYE fireworks sparkle at beach communities all the way from Runaway Bay to Tweed Heads!
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Important information is posted at each patrolled surf lifesaving station for all who care to look. Water conditions & hazards.. Sweeps. Rips. Water temperature. High & low tide times.
I use the SLS towers as beach mileage markers. Today I walked north to tower 25. This used to be one of my frequent beach access points when we lived in Mermaid Waters. And, yes, all you good boys & girls, the big grocery stores do have hot cross buns already! Here we are again, doing beachy things, and watching vehicles compete for a very limited supply of beachfront parking stalls.
When the cats are away, us mice will dutifully take care of their new beach-side apartment! We told Barry & Vi that we would use their balcony while they are away, so here we are. Back where it all began - sort of. Ten years ago, when Jan was in art college and & I was a rookie volunteer at CWS, the stretch of beach communities called Mermaid, Nobby, & Miami were our home turf (figuratively, as dune grasses don't quite make the cut!). We celebrated our 10 years of retirement with a drink of soda-stream bubbly water after a good beach walk! Susan from the Sanctuary invited us to her place at Emerald Lakes for supper - and we found out how into Christmas decorating she is. Food & company were excellent! Today was the day to drive Barry & Vi to board their cruise ship at the Port of Brisbane located on Fisherman Island. We left with lots of time to take the slow route and have a very nice lunch at Sea Vibes in Manly marina.
We have not explored this area, so we will have to come back at a less hectic time of year. No, it is not Groundhog day. We are not caught in a time loop, so the exact same day is NOT actually repeating. It's just that yesterday was so fine we decided to repeat some elements of it. That, and Barry & Vi needed some help with the leftovers! The street & beach scenes are so similar that I could not tell the difference in pictures, except for the date stamps on the jpgs.
Carakello Koala was a perfect little treat to start a festive day. We went to Barry & Violet's beach-side balcony for lunch with a view. Crazy busy on the street, but Barry let us into his underground parking.
Supper was up the hill with Barbara & John slow-cooked roast & oven baked veg - yum! Natural entertainment was provided by a Pacific Baza flying back & forth across the valley in front of the balcony. My first time ever seeing one in the wild. I do love the Aussie/Gold Coast urban wildlife! Segment 1 - Gold Coast to Murwillumbah John & Barb picked us up at our gate, and gave me the front passenger seat so & could help navigate, take pictures through the car windows, and play with the AC temperature controls. We went up Currumbin Creek Road to Tomewin Rd, past Freeman's farm and on to M'bah for their farmers market. Uki, NSW Cute little town. Very creative. Nimbin, NSW Used to be fun, but not so much any more. Old hippy town. Lismore, NSW We went for pies, but the pie cart closed early. Bummer! We wandered around a few downtown blocks and ate at a diner that had been in business since 1928. We also explored Tucki Tucki, a park of planted koala food trees in search of koalas, but had no success. We also failed to find any koalas at the Lismore Botanic Garden.
So we came home! Hi Gold Coast drivers. If you have never seen a sign like this, try not exceeding the posted speed limit for a change!!
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March 2024
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