Saturday 06/06/09

Our flights were pretty much non events apart from arriving 40 minutes late. We picked up our campervan, our home for the next 7 days. The lady who assisted us was in a hurry so went through all the workings of the van at a speed that had Lorraine saying “I wish we were staying in motels!!!”

“You push this and pull this and then this will happen, to clean the toilet you need to close this, open that, pull at this knob, whack the hose in here, put the other hose here, rinse and put this solution in and it is all done.” Yeah right. I think we will use the campsite toilets instead. Thank god there are some written instructions as there are a lot of things that needed to be done before we drive off.

The next week will be interesting as there is very little room in the van. We will need to coordinate any movement otherwise will be stepping on each others toes constantly. We have all the modern cons, LCD TV, DVD, CD, Microwave and even a shower so we will be quite self sufficient.

Got to Noleen’s about 1.30 pm and spent the next couple of hours in conversation. Boy can she talk. Went for a drive around town, looked at few shops and generally just wasted time until dinner. Steak, veges, two bottles of wine and a packet of Smith Chrisps kept us going through the night. With a few wines in her Noleen is quite a character, and if I thought she was a talker earlier, she surpassed this once the alcohol began its lubrication of the tongue. She is a real sweetie and we enjoyed our evening with her. It was early to bed ‘Queensland’ time but we were both stuffed.

Lorraine was a bit jealous that I got the better of the two bedrooms. Her room was just a few screens whacked up in the middle of a room. No door for privacy or any real room to move. I, on the other hand, had a door, polished floors, mirror etc. Just shows who is the important one here eh?

Having trouble with our cellphone. It has only let us send one text so far. All the other attempts have resulted in a “try again later” screen. I will get in touch with Telecom sometime tomorrow.

Sunday 07 June

An early start to the day, with both of us well awake by 6.00 am but stayed in bed not wanting to wake anyone else. Seems Noleen was doing the same. Generally a good sleep but the house has possums in the roof and throughout the night they were scuffling around and on occasions fighting with each other.

Got on the road about 8.30 am heading towards the Sunshine Coast. Temperature was already 19 degrees with a expected high in the mid 20s. It is so nice to have the warm sun beating down on us.

Had brief stop in Coloundra and lunch in Mooloolaba. Lunch was great, fish ‘n chips at a very popular but very basic outlet. We asked for chips for one person but got enough to feed the whole Donnelly Clan and the fish was beautiful.

We are now in a caravan park at Coolum Beach enjoying the sun and peace and quiet. Apart from me parking the van in the wrong part of the site and having to move it three times to get it right it was easy to get us set up.

Will be spending the rest of the day here, doing absolutely nothing except maybe a walk along the beach and a quick swim.