15th July 2026: pending
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July 14th: Up early for cricket at Palmwood cricket ground against northern Rivers Victorian team. Nic bowled an over and scored a wicket. The Northern Rivers team was a strong one with younger players than in our team and beat the ACT team who were all out after 35 overs. Meanwhile Barb Preston organised an AllTrails walk along the Buderim Palmwoods Heritage Tramway Walk- a 4 km walk along an old tramway track used for goods and people until 1935, through rainforest. Jennifer and Karen came along with Barb and I. In the evening we went back to the Surfclub for dinner with the gang- battered whiting and chips and salad for Nic & I
13th July 2026: up early for cricket at Yandina, 45 overs a side. It was cold in the morning but warmed up to a sunny day. The > 70’s started well, with George Preston and Peter Gunning playing particularly well. Went walking with Jenny and Karen around both ovals 4 times. Nic stayed in for quite a while supporting 2 high scoring batsmen. He also bowled several overs. However the Queensland Muddies team got the better of us after their 35 overs. They were actually a younger team. We had dinner at Cotton Tree, Namory Eatery, with Nic’s very old friend Pip and Rosie Welch . Nic has known Pip since 1968. Nic had Mussaman curry beef cheeks and I had a wonderful seafood laksa.
12th July 2026: Apologies for being such a total wimp and mentioning my foot in yesterday’s blog! Today it is fine except for some bruising, attributable to the ice application I’m sure! We travelled to Caloundra for cricket today- a social match combining the >60 and >70 teams playing the Trundlers.Nic batted and bowled. The other team were too good for ACT. We had curious grey butcher birds surrounding us during the day! We went back to Mooloolaba Surf Club for dinner where we sat with Billy Rowe and Karen Curtis, who saved a table for us in a crowded restaurant! They were great company! We had Whiting fish fish & chips all round. Yandina for both teams tomorrow! Nic’s team fielding in the far distance in this photo!! ?what bird
11th July 2026: left Hervey Bay heading for Maroochydore via Maryborough. We drove past the airport, much as I remember it as a field with a small shed, where I landed in a Piper Cherokee, one of 5 passengers and a pilot going to Proserpine for a Melbourne University Underwater Club diving holiday out of Shute Harbour. We had to make an unscheduled landing because suddenly we had limited visibility through the windscreen. This turned out to be due to a faulty grease nipple, and I was dispatched to walk to the nearest petrol station to try to get a new one, which I was able to do! We camped that night on the airfield. Maryborough is a very spread out town full of old run down high rise on stilts weatherboard houses. The Bruce was once again stressful driving due to the single lane status. Finally we hit dual carriageway! We stopped about 3/4 hour short of Maroochydore at a huge new service G’s where we had crab sushi and a coffee, We got to the Maroochy River Caravan Park at ...
10th July 2026: rained all night but actually the day didn't turn out to be too bad! We went out for coffee at Salt, after searching for the units on the Esplanade we stayed in in 1995. We were even contemplating investing in one, but decided against it then, but there was no evidence left of them so perhaps they were pulled down in the intervening 30 years or else modified beyond recognition! We then did a grocery shop. Nic attended to matters relating to Tilba AGM and I thoroughly cleaned the refrigerator and bathroom! We then walked to the Botanic gardens, the long way around as we found! There was a wetlands area and a small lake with turtles, and at least 80 memorial plaques attached to trees celebrating Hervey Bayite’s 100th birthdays! We circumnavigated the gardens and came home to find more Cotton Pygmy Geese near the caravan! Strange when I’ve never seen them before to see them in two different habitats! We are off to Sangrini’s for dinner as it’s too bleak to...
9th July 2026:We awoke to sunshine! Left. Mt Larcom and drove to Auckland Hill, Gladstone walking up 120 steps to a viewing point over 2 coal shipping terminals: Wiggins Island and RG Tanna terminals, and over to Curtis Is where there are 3 LNG terminals- Santos, Australian Pacific LNG, Queensland Curtis LNG, and over the grain silos, the petrol and the diesel storage tanks, and the alumina terminal- Queensland Alumina 85% owned by RioTinto. We then proceed down the Bruce Highway- single laned with lots of roadworks happening with intermittent overtaking lanes. The speed limit was 100 km/hr but only safe to drive a caravan at about 80 to 85 km/ hr so Nic was constantly having to let trucks in particular pass us.. We stopped for a coffee at Gin Gin then proceeded over the Burchell River and travelled the next 60 km into Hervey Bay, hugely developed since our visit in 1995, and to the Hervey Bay Caravan Park, where we chose the far more private unpowered site over the cramped ...