Airlie Beach - The Whitsunday Islands - Day #3 Friday

Well here it is - sky diving day and and I haven't really had any anxiety to speak of. As the time approached however, I did get some nervous moments but I just kept talking to myself to stay calm.

We got picked up from Maccas at 9.30 and whizzed off to the airport. I did pages and pages and pages of paperwork....mostly letting them off the hook if I fell to my death or the plane fell out of the sky :)

The plane was small.....very, very small. There was only room for three jumpers and their tandem partners but I still felt reasonably calm as we climbed to 14,000 feet.

As the first couple left the plane and my tandem partner, Kevin and I  started to edge towards the bloody big gaping hole in the side of a perfectly good plane I did feel some anxiety but stayed calm and went with the flow. It's too hard to describe the feelings as you free fall and then the jolt as the shute opens and you float earthwards. It is mind blowing and I loved it.

We celebrated my jump with a great lunch at The Shipwreck Bar & Grill - and the view was just as good as the oysters and prawns and Moreton Bay Bugs

Excellent restaurant.........

.....with an excellent view

Virgin Pina Colada

3 different kinds of oysters

Garlic prawns and Moreton Bay Bugs

   Went for another stroll around town and along the beach and felt quite exhausted after all the excitement so I finished the day with a nap and then a long spa....bliss

Airlie Beach - The Whitsunday Islands - Day #2 Thursday.....

We were picked up at 9 am to go Ocean Rafting for the day. I wasn't sure exactly what that entailed but it turned out to be a wonderful day. Thank you Dylan and Tim and Paulie. They certainly put these rubber duckies through their paces and I had to hold on for grim death a couple of times - exhilarating. We stopped for a snorkelling break and a beach hike up to the look out over Whitehaven Beach. Just the most beautiful place and glorious colours. Lunch was perfect, followed by a long walk along the beach checking out all the rich peoples' planes and boats and helicopters.

 I recommend this outing if you ever go to Airlie Beach. Worth every penny.

Snorkelling time at Hook Island

People arrive at the beach by boat and helicopter and.......

....sea plane

Wonderful lunch

Airlie Beach - The Whitsunday Islands - Day #1 Wednesday

Lee and I  had an early Wednesday morning flight on  a plane that was a bit smaller than I would have liked - had a bit of a claustrophobic feeling sitting in the window seat. Luckily the nice young man in the aisle seat was happy to change.  The flight was good and we arrived in Proserpine about midday and then it was just a 30 minute bus trip into Airlie Beach.

Lee - on the bus - sight seeing lol

 We got dropped off at our apartment and were very pleasantly surprised with our unit.

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Spa on balcony

We went through the booklets to see what excitement we could partake in while we were there. Lee has just had surgery so she was limited as to how energetic she could get but we rang up and booked a full day of Ocean Rafting. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Airlie Beach - as it's just a small seaside town and a tropical beach it didn't take long. Lee found the shops and we had a little shopping frenzy and then ended up in a touristy place where you could book fishing trips or boat rides or....sky diving. Not quite sure why but I booked the sky diving for the Friday.

This is the man made lagoon for swimming - October to May is out of the question for
 swimming in the ocean due to the Stingers

Stopped at the Down Under Bar for lunch and then  made our way back to our apartment and received a huge goodie basket from my sister for my birthday and made a meal of the abundant foods therein.

Labour Day Long weekend..yay!!

Saturday........usual chores followed by a haircut then a  trip to Chermside Shopping Centre.

Westfield Chermside

 I'm going to Airlie Beach for a mini break in a few weeks and need to purchase a pair of swimming bathers. What a soul destroying experience that turned out to be....lol....come to think of it buying bathers has always been a torture. Needless to say I am still bather-less .

As commiseration I hit the movies and saw "Annabelle". I got my usual Choc Top and popcorn and scared myself silly for the next two hours. I felt the need to go home and dispose of all dolls, teddy bears and any other inanimate object with eyes...even a couple of potatoes. I didn't of course but I have been eyeing all of  them with increasing suspicion.

I hit the shops after the movie and got rid of at least 3 million chores that have been hanging over me for ages.

Later picked Lee up from her babysitting gig and stayed up way too late talking and TVing.

Sunday....the plan was to return Lee to her apartment and head off to the Gold Coast to visit and lunch with my sister. The best laid plans fell apart when she took ill so Lee and I visited yet another Westfield......this time at Carindale.. New plan was lunch and movies. I had my first Sushi train experience. Little yummy thing going past on a conveyor belt....all looking delicious but really having no idea what was in anything. I started off safe with spring rolls and got more adventurous as I went along. Made some lucky choices and one really bad one but overall it was great.

We had some time to kill so went to the library and poked around for a while and then to the movie. Saw "Gone Girl"...a book I read a couple of years back. It was very good....and very convoluted....and the main character made Annabelle's wickedness look as benign as a Barbie doll.

An early night and nine hours sleep finished a good couple of days.......and still Monday to go....double yay!!

A Saturday in Brisbane...Riverfire!

A slow start to a beautiful day....my first sleep in for a while because life has been busy and lots of overtime before work for the last couple of weeks. The sleep in  was only till 8am but seemed later lol. After the obligatory housework etc etc I caught the midday train into the city....no good driving as there is too much on there today and there is no way I'd get a park.

I had lunch at the Pig and Whistle....a yummy steak sandwich with chips and a lemon lime & soda....... I watched the world go by for a while...so amazing that we come in so many different shapes and sizes and colours....I do think I was the only female not wearing a tiara...what is that about?

Pig and Whistle British Pub

Yummy streak sandwich

During the course of the afternoon there were several fly overs by a couple of  F/18 Hornet Fighters. Absolutely amazing machines and scared the hell out of me....by the time you hear them they have already whizzed by. AND....they fly so low and are soooo loud. Made the hairs on my arm stand up.......just cannot imagine a war situation if they were dropping bombs or missiles as well.

F/18 Hornets

I walked and walked....and window shopped and finally found myself a good vantage spot to watch the parade of 100 horses from the Australian Light Horse Association. This is the centenary of World War 1 and the ride is part of the Commemorations. Can't help comparing the jets above and the horsemen below - two extremes of warfare a century apart

Australian Light Horsemen 1918

Beautiful

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After the ride Brisbane had its annual Riverfire celebrations where huge amounts of pyrotechnics are set off in many different sites around the CBD

Story Bridge

Along the River

Spectacular

This made me giggle - if you cant speak English how would you know what it said.

I had  great day but was totally exhausted by the time I caught the train home

Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers

Every year I've lived in Brisbane I've promised myself that I would go to  the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers and I was determined that this year I would make it .....and I did!

Toowoomba is about 130 kms  west of Brisbane and has a population of about 160,000 people. It's perched on top of The Great Dividing Range and the surrounding Lockyer Valley is among the top ten most fertile places in the world......I do believe they are talking about agriculture and not the people lol.

Lee and Nicky and I set off early with the compulsory stop at Micky D's.........followed by the equally compulsory stop a half hour later at the first toilet we could find.....we must really rethink breakfast when we go tripping.lol

It's a beautiful drive and the sights from the top overlooking the valley are quite amazing. Toowoomba is a lovely town with great architecture and and just has a really good feel about it.

We started at Margaret Street markets and fell in love with this little guy.

Need a really big bread roll and some tomato sauce

Cute - don't know if I want goat goo on my lips though.

Not having had enough to eat at Macca's we headed to the Toowoomba Sports Club for lunch. Had a  Fisherman's Basket - yummy.  I must say everyone we met seemed really nice and friendly.......certainly a place to re visit.

Now at this point I have to say we hadn't seen a flower and after asking for directions we got a few vague."there are displays in all different spots" but it was a bit hard to pinpoint exactly where those spots were....and being strangers we really didn't know where to start. The answer was to get in the car and drive around....we eventually spotted tents and carnival paraphernlia and car parking people so headed that way. No flowers but they did have carnival rides and ice cream. Lee decided to risk her life on the ride below but Nicky and I decided we were food or rides people....definitely couldn't do both. To do both would court disaster....for all within throwing up distance.

Yes...those are legs in the air...like a giant Bamix.

By this time it had clouded over and we were freezing...still no flowers......so we took off again....in despair. Suddenly we saw them....flowers everywhere. Gorgeous, colourful and definitely worth the trip.

We even became flowers ourselves

Good trip home and hopefully I won't be hearing from any of the many police speed traps I saw.........counted about 8........how many didn't I see? Gulp!.