We keep looking at each other and grinning. Less than a week ago we faced mountains of laundry, guests for breakfast (we run our own B&B in Canada) and the last minute rush of things. Now we have... nothing to do. It’s an amazing change.
After breakfast we strolled into the small, cute town to have coffee. Making your own meals in a camper is a good way to keep the cost of things down. Eating out seems to be very expensive in Australia.
In the afternoon Kees took a long walk on the beach while I swam and played in the strong surf. Tonight we’re bbq-ing smokies while the birds are chattering away.
What I Learned Today: is how to order coffee in Australia. A ‘short black’ is a very strong espresso. A ‘tall black’ is regular black coffee, but not necessarily a large size. A tall black can come in a cup or in a mug.
A ‘short white’ is steamed milk with espresso....
Woolgoolga to Surfers Paradise: Left early to drive north. First it was flat, lots of green farm fields with cows and a wide river. Had coffee on the river at a little pie shop. Then the landscape changed to much more hilly, but still very green. We had planned to drive north past Brisbane but noticed a smaller road closer to the coast with villages called Miami and Surfers Paradise. So we decided to swing that way in hopes of finding a nice little laid-back campground on the beach. Imagine our utter amazement when the area turned out to have nothing but high rises, casinos and amusement parks. It’s called The Gold Coast and does seem like a gold mine for the operators. No hope of a little campground. Although we did find a nice site, almost on the water, and with a pool just before heading back to the main highway. But the area south of Brisbane is very touristy and crowded, even in the shoulder season.
I love Aussies. If I had to find one word to describe them, it would be ‘jovial’. They always seem laid-back and friendly. Today I asked a man if I could safely swim at the beach in the campground, since no one else was swimming. He said “Oh yeah, sure, no worries. My kids swims here all the time. The bull sharks usually stay where it’s deeper. You’ll probably be just fine.”
And he wasn’t kidding. I did swim. And no, I did not meet any bull sharks.
Feeling adventurous and courageous at the little pie shop I mentioned earlier. It did not have the familiar apple or chocolate pies... We bought... drum roll please... a kangaroo and a crocodile pie! The roo pie wasn’t bad, just like beef pie. But neither one of us liked the croc. Tasted like salt water chicken. But now we know. And I have the urge to email Dennis Lee about his famous aligator pie poem.
Just when I thought the day was over, I heard terrific screeching in a tree. Huge fruit bats landed in the branches to hang upside down and munch on fruit. I managed to get some photos of them. They look like flying monkeys.
What I learned Today: that the spiky fields we saw all day are fields of sugar cane. And that sugar cane fields are burned so that all snakes, rats, and leafs burn and they can simply pick up the left over canes, which are hauled off to the many sugar refineries we saw today.
