Yamba

We left the Gold Coast and travelled south to visit our fabulous friends the Joneses who we met while living in London and travelled through Africa with fourteen years ago. After a great lunch and a catch up we drove onwards to Yamba, 2 hours south of the border. We were told Yamba was only 20 minutes south of Byron Bay. For the record that is Ballina and Yamba is another 1 hour 40 minutes further south of Byron! Usually Mel ‘the Co-pilot’ checks these things but instead took some one elses opinion on this so we passed beer-o-clock and were not happy! To top it off Mel who is usually organised and writes everything in her little camping notebook had written down the wrong van park we were staying at. When we called them on the road to inform them we would arrive after reception closed they told her they had no booking. Mel panicked and started calling every van park in Yamba to see if they had any accommodation at late notice in the school holidays (bahahahaha). 

Glen pulled over on the side of the road and tried to talk to Mel who lost the plot and told everyone not to talk for one minute. As the awkward silence ticked by in the car Mel had a 'brain wave' and checked the bank account and realised we had a paid a deposit at the Salt Water Big 4. So, off we drove, set up under dark rainy clouds and had our first early night in over a week.

Yamba is a hidden gem and we were told by Glen's brother that if they moved anywhere in Australia, it would be Yamba. Being school holidays we had to choose a town for the next 5 days as most van parks will only let you book for a week. So Yamba was great for our "Theme Park Hangovers" as you could do as little or as much as you wanted. Yamba has 3 main beaches close to the decent size shopping precinct, 1 with no waves and 2 with good waves, a fun skate park and plenty of fishing spots off rocks, from the beach, in channels or the river, but since we are no good at fishing we have no idea where to actually catch them but we could see plenty of people trying!

Beach option 1, no waves

Looking over beach option 2, where the surfers enter the water

Beach option 3, the main beach with rock pools

About 5 minutes south of Yamba is a tiny town called Angourie. It has a "spooky beach" and two fresh water pools 100 metres from the beach created by mining the rocks for the towns breakwall, when in 1899 fresh water began to seep into the deep pits causing the mine to be abandoned. Despite the signs warning of high levels of algae, it was too good an opportunity not to jump off the various size rock ledges. 100 other people couldn't all be that silly could they?

Angourie Pool No 1

Mel took the opportunity to get a decent massage (from somebody other than Glen) while the kids and Glen checked out the skate park, pools and beaches, then took Mel to the best spots the next day. After Taylah cracked it and wanted to stay in the car, she had a great time at the pools because all of her friends from the van park were there swimming as well!

The kids mixing it with the locals

The van park was great, although 10 minutes out of town, had some great time killers for the kids (as it was school holidays) like "sand art" "scratch art" "movie night", "scavenger hunt" as well as a pool and pirate splash park, flying fox and jumping pillow which Cam and Taylah enjoyed. They also organised a lazer skirmish for the older teens. It had heaps of room, fire pits, boat ramp, free canoe hire, but it did have a few bogans who obviously don't get out much and let their kids yell and scream from 6am and turn their tape player up at night singing the Eagles Greatest Hits until their goon bags run out. Maybe that's the Theme Park Hangover still lingering or maybe we are just over caravan parks a little bit.

Cam and Taylah enjoying Sand Art

We did enjoy some good company here again! Its great to meet like minded families from different parts of the country and share stories around the firepits, eating crackers and cheese, prawns from the local fish market and letting our kids entertain each other. This park was perfect for a few games of "walkie talkie hide and seek" as well.

Fun for the whole 3 families

The last destination on our stevozsafari is back up to Coolangatta for the MGP reunion so we took the coast road through Ballina and Byron Bay. It rained the whole trip so I guess we were lucky not to be setting up in the rain. Along the way we called into bunnings at Ballina where they have restored the big prawn. We had to pick up some sealant for a leaky sunroof as well.

Strapping the Big Prawn to the roof: Ballina

Mel and Taylah got to see a house they saw getting built for $7.1 million on the show "Grand Designs". The owner kept changing his mind, blowing the budget out by $2 million, and ended up selling for $5.6 million and moving back to Sydney. A cool $1.5 million loss!!

At the "Grand Designs house" Byron Bay"

A 'theme park hangover' consists of the following symptoms;

* Kids thinking that every minute of your day is about pleasing them,

* Kids struggling to sit down, even while eating, wanting the next adrenaline rush to be presented to them,

* Kids wanting an ice cream, roll up or packet of chips straight after saying they are full and can't eat anymore sandwich,

* Parents hitting the wall and wanting to sleep,

* Parents letting kids wander off to the jumping pillow or splash park to avoid throttling them.

* Parents buying a different box of beer which tastes like the water from the pools.

* Theme Park Hangaover is a serious condition with major symptoms such as fatigue, sore feet, red eyes, grumpiness, head ache, dehydration and feeling lethargic.

TIP: Do Not underestimate your theme park stamina, if you go for a 28 day theme park pass you are at risk of TPH! Write down the van park's name as soon as you book it or risk driving to the wrong one. For the record "Hahn Premium Dry 3.5 cans" is the beer in question.

Gold Coast Part 1: THEME PARKS

Gold Coast

After arriving at the Gold Coast Holiday Park we quickly set up the van and headed over to Movie World (literally 5 minutes drive away) and rode on some great rides for a couple of hours before it closed. This was the start of an exhausting and thrilling week of roller coasters, water slides, Super Hero’s and dress ups. Mel’s family (Mum, step-dad, Sister, Bro-in-law and nephew) also met us there and enjoyed their time with us at Movie World, Sea World and Wet & Wild and were as equally exhausted by the end of the week but when you holiday with the Stevo’s you gotta keep up! On our second day our family friends The Thompsons surprised us. They had secretly planned their holiday to QLD to coincide with our stay which was brilliant as our kids had a ball being doted on from their daughter Ruby and the adults had more laughs and people to drink with! During our downtime from the theme parks we sat poolside, ate, drank and relaxed. Thanks Dave, Liz and Ruby for a great week.

For anyone wanting accommodation close to Movie World, Wet & Wild and Dreamworld we would recommend the Gold Coast Holiday Park (Big 4 for those of you who are members). As we mentioned before it’s a very close drive to all three parks and is an easy 22 minute drive to Sea World. For the shoppers, there is a Harbour Town DFO only 17 minutes away and the surf brand factory outlets only 11 minutes away (according to google maps). The facilities are great with two pools and a waterslide, jumping pillow, farm animals to feed, a poolside café and Cabanas with sun lounges surrounding the pool (which we are hoping to replicate when we get back home). Oh and the amenities have a massive aquarium which is so mesmerising that you forget that you were on your way to the toilet! There is a variety of accommodation ranging from unpowered sites to villas. It’s expensive but worth it if you want to be close to the theme park action all week.

There are a few options to buying theme park tickets and we opted for 28 day passes (excluding Dream World) for $89 where we could visit as many times as we wanted in a month and boy did we get our monies worth. We visited all three parks Ten times, going early morning and late afternoon rather than all day. Movie World is full of Super Hero’s and Mel and Camo were in their element. The rides were fantastic especially the Stunt show, Superman and Scooby Doo ride (which we got Nan Nan and Grandpa on as well). Camo was a maniac with the rides and wanted to go on anything and everything and threw a ‘Harry Crumpet’ when he was told he was too short for some of the rides. He even asked Mel if he had grown taller overnight so that he could go on the rides the next day. The kids were spoilt by the family and were bought some capes and masks which made them stand out in the crowd especially when the Super Heros were out and about as they stopped to have photos and high five them. An absolute highlight for the kids and some extra eye candy for the adults. Some of the rides were Hell scary and had Mel screaming but brave Camo kept his cool and just smiled all the way down! Wet & Wild was fun but the water was cool and some of the rides were closed but Sea World was a winner with Taylah. For her upcoming birthday her grandparents paid for a dolphin experience. We couldn’t stop Taylah’s beaming smile and she learnt a lot from the experience. She was able to pat and feed “RB”, the dolphin and it was something she will never forget.

We are finally here!!!

With Green Lantern, Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Flash

Stunt Riders Show (Movie World)

Mammoth Falls (Wet n Wild)

You don't get the opportunity to take many pictures at Wet n Wild because you are not allowed to take cameras on the rides, and obviously your phone will not be in your pocket. Usually they will be kept in a bag or in a locker if you don't have anyone to watch them.

We spent our 10th anniversary at Wet n Wild, not the romantic balloon ride we had always talked about but nevertheless we spent the day having fun with loved ones and watching our kids have an awesome time (yes we had fun as well!) so it was definitely a memorable anniversary. Any babysitting offers when we get home would be appreciated.

Watching the Penguins (Sea World)

Cuddly Polar Bears (Sea World)

Riding the Skyrail (Sea World)

Taylah's Dolphin Experience (Sea World)

It was a little disappointing that Movie World and Wet n Wild were apparently doing maintenance on some of the rides in preparation for school holidays. A massive kids section was fenced off at Wet n Wild which would have tripled the things for Camo to do. Then all of a sudden Movie World has extra carriages running on roller coasters running in the school holidays cutting the waiting time in half. We are not sure if going in the school holidays would have been any busier.

Overall, the week was an adrenaline filled fantastic week and it was great catching up with family and friends but it is time to move further south and see more of OZ. We are on our way to Yamba to recover from our Theme Park overdose.

TIP: BYO your own lunch to the theme parks. Don’t make it and forget it like we did on one of the days. It cost us $48. Ouch! Get on the rides when the parades or shows are on as there are no line-ups for the rides. 

Buy some prawns from the "Co-op" which is 1 roundabout away from Sea World. At $25 per kilo for medium size prawns straight off the boat, you can't go wrong.

The crew

Rainbow Beach

On the way out of Hervey Bay, Glen noticed that the bike rack was leaning about 1/2 degree more than it should so upon inspecting the nuts and bolts he found that one of the uprights (out of two) was cracked almost all the way through. Luckily we were in a major city and after a quick detour to autobarn and 30 minutes later we were back on the road, hopefully this one will last all the way home.

We got to Rainbow Beach at lunchtime and checked out the beach (not very inviting) and the park (for toddlers) the shops and the pool (19 degrees) but the kids still had a swim until they went blue.
The weather wasn't great while we were in Rainbow Beach, and they say your impressions of a place can be totally dependent on the weather so I guess Rainbow Beach "wasn't that great for us". However we did manage to catch up on a bit of homework and washing when the weather was ordinary. During our three days there we did manage to go for a walk to the Carlo Sand Blow, which was quite impressive. Sand Blow's are common in this part of Australia and are the result of sand being constantly blown up through the vegetation, literally swallowing it. We also splashed out at a nice cafe for fathers day lunch, then again for dinner because happy hour went for a bit too long watching the footy finals. Rainbow Beach is probably the cheapest town to access Fraser Island. If you are looking for a day trip to Fraser Island then come to Rainbow Beach on a weekend. It costs $80 for the ferry crossing and $47 for a permit to drive over there. Wish we had done this but you can't do everything.

Friends for five minutes while bushwalking to the Carlo Sandblow

View of Rainbow Beach from a sand dune

We went for a couple of little drives along the beach (just to say that we have done it) and to see the many different colours of sands that make Rainbow Beach live up to its name. The sand dunes are very steep and very high with colours ranging from yellows, oranges, reds, grey and black. All the way along this stretch are fantastic formations and patterns which have been eroded in the sand over time. Mel through it would be lovely to wind the window down and film us driving down the beach navigating around the rocks at low tide. Glen thought it would be hilarious to drive through a washout. You can guess the rest. We all got wet! Hilarious guy that Glenno! Rainbow beach can be tricky if people don't take particular notice of the tide. Throughout the year many people take a drive along the colourful sand dunes only to realise on their way back they can no longer drive past the rocks again as the tide has quickly changed. To their horror they can only bail out of their car, climb up the rocks and sand dunes to safety and watch as their car is bashed against the rocks and taken by the ocean. The drive took us 30 minutes, the queue up for the under body car wash to get rid of all of the sand took 2 hours, so we are a bit hesitant to take Bruce back onto the beach.

Fantastic patterns in the sand dunes eroded of time

The highlight of Rainbow beach had to be the massive sandhill 50 metres from the caravan park. Where all of us got a buzz out of sliding down the hill on the boogie boards. There was a small 20 metre slide and a rather long 80 metre slide towards the beach. The climb up to the top of both was pretty steep so most of us slept well that night.

We stayed at the only caravan park there, which was again pretty ordinary, squeezed in like sardines, even tighter than Hervey Bay. Most vans needed a tractor to get them in and out of their sites, however I'm sure that if the weather was great we wouldn't be spending a lot of time at the van park. Next stop, Noosa.

TIP: Take notice of the tide charts when driving along the beach. Apparently you can feed dolphins at Tin Can Bay which is reasonably close to Rainbow beach, the only drama is that you have to be there by 7:15am and it is about 40 minutes away, so that counted the Stevos out who have come accustomed to sleeping in until 8.00am these days! Always move your car away from your van and poles before you start pulling them down as sometimes (well once) poles can just fall onto it. If you don't want to get your car sandy, take a trip to Fraser Island on one of the big day tour buses. It costs a fair bit but if you shop around you will be able to find a price that suits.

Hervey Bay

Another 2 and a half hours down the road is Hervey Bay, the main connection between the mainland and Fraser Island, also well known for its whale watching tours. It was once eight small fishing villages but grew into one larger city. We spent a couple of quiet days here riding along the esplanade, sightseeing, going to the Cinemas to watch Rio 2, shopping and playing at the parks. During our time at Hervey Bay our funny little guy Camo turned 5. We celebrated by doing all the things he loves starting with pancakes for breakfast, opening presents that were Spiderman and Batman orientated, ten-pin bowling, playing at the park and making his favourite dinner Pasta and Green (pesto) followed by chocolate cake!

Ten Pin Bowling

The birthday boy with his girlfriends Lily and Amy and Taylah and Oliver on the ends

Happy Birthday to you Camo

All day he kept telling everyone that he was now five and that he was a big boy, although when talking about seagulls and cheeseballs he is still calling them ‘Sea girls and Cheese boys’ and we think it’s so damn cute that we don’t want to correct him! We also met another lovely family who like us had travelled overseas BK (before kids) and were on a three month pilgrimage to see some of the best things that OZ has to offer. They too, kindly spoilt Camo with birthday gifts but not before Camo had fallen in love with their two older girls. At every opportunity he had he would put his arms around them and call them ‘my beautiful and my lovely one’. Looks like we will have a ‘player’ on our hands when he is older or possibly next year when he starts school!

Our friendly humpback whale

While Camo’s biggest highlight was falling in love again, Glen, Mel and Taylah’s highlight was of course going on a whale watching cruise. It had been cold and windy when we first arrived so we put the whale watching tour off for three days and we were glad we did. Mel took her sea sick tablet ready to brace the swell but she needn’t have as it was calm and sunny all day. We cruised alongside Fraser Island which is magnificent with its silica sand. Just a bit of useless information Fraser Island is 127kms long!

Within forty minutes we had seen two humpback whales cruising quite fast so we followed them for a while taking photos and oohing and aahhing. Although we were within metres of them, they were not really in the mood to play so we cruised on looking for others. We soon found another two who were willing to play around our boat or as we were told, they were mugging our boat, and did so for nearly two hours. Mugging is where whales swim closely around your boat. You are unable to start your boat up or manoeuvre it until they are ready to let You go! They are unbelievably massive and elegant.

Sorry, we had to add a video as well

A very happy Taylah up close and personal

We watched as they twisted and turned their enormous bodies in the water within an arm’s length of the boat so that we could see their bulk. We were in awe when they waved to us or slapped their tails on the water and laughed when we were spurted with water or heard them communicating with one another. At times they would bob their huge heads out of the water and you could see their eyes looking right at you. We turned Japanese and literally took 500 photos so our apologies for putting our best three in the blog (or seven). Our tour guide said ‘it doesn’t get any better than this’.We all felt so fortunate to have experienced such a majestic moment and the kids learnt a considerable amount from the experience as they were taught about conservation as well such as why they are harpooned and why we should save them. For a family who were not planning on going on a Whale Watching cruise we are so glad we changed our minds and would recommend this for anyone travelling up this way.

TIP: Apparently it’s best to go on the Whale Watching Tour when the conditions are calm as the whales are more playful. We cruised with Tasman Ventures, a three tiered vessel that costs a family $300. At that price you get morning and afternoon tea and all the tea/coffee/hot choc you can drink and a free DVD on whales. As you can imagine, Mel basically drank their supply tea dry!

Agnes Water and 1770

                                             

Only three and a half hours further south is Agnes Water and 1770. Like many coastal places in Australia, both are hidden little bays and off the main highway but are definitely worth the trip. We stayed at Agnes Water, a township which is currently expanding with new holiday and housing developments. Our van park was situated right on the beach so we only had to stroll down each morning and sit on the golden sand and watch the waves rolls on in. Mel was excited to see waves and have a crack at surfing so off to the local surf shop we went. 

 

Chillin at the beach

We hired a long board and spent that time closely watching others surf and trying to use the same techniques. We were able to casually eavesdrop on a few surfing lessons to get more tips and Glenno the country boy was quite the surfer and stood up more times than Mel the North Wollongong Beach city chick! The surf at Agnes Waters is perfect for learning. The sets roll in slowly and are small and slow enough for a learner to ride a perfect wave. We spent two whole days relaxing under our beach tent, swimming, making more sand castles and surfing and it was bliss. And without being biased we’ve gotta say, Bruce looked quite good with the surfboard on the roof!

Action shots! Obviously before we got any good at it!

Cam's first wave!

We ventured to the town of 1770 a couple of times (only five minutes away). 1770 in particular has a significant history for Australia as it was named in honour of Captain Cook's landing at the location in 1770 when he arrived on the HM Bark Endeavour in May 1770. It was his second landing on the Australian continent, after his first landing in Botany Bay, Sydney. Every May the town of 1770 re-enact Captain Cook’s landing which would be fantastic to watch. 1770 is also the gateway to Lady Musgrove Island. Unfortunately we did not go but heard it was great for snorkelling. The area is apparently great for fishing (although we tried and failed) and fabulous for families with little kids as there are no waves. Apparently it is also the only western facing location on the east coast that you can watch a sun set. And trust us when we say it’s a magical sunset each night. It slowly melts down over the water and behind the mountains and was worth visiting just for that!

Snagging lures

Sunset at 1770

We would never have known about these places had we not been told by Glen’s brother and family. They had visited this beautiful place last year when they were on their Australian camping pilgrimage. They had also buried a treasure for us somewhere at 1770 so we had a date with a shovel and the pirate treasure map they drew for us. We carefully followed the directions which were perfect and AHHH ME HEARTYS we were able to unearth the treasure that had been buried and untouched for a year! There was a treasure chest full of toys, two soggy artworks and lollies. A big thank you to Pirates Darren, Miffy, Archie and Rosie for the awesome treasure hunt!

TIPS: Definitely stay at Agnes Water if you are looking for some surf. Book early at the Caravan Park as it is small and very popular. It has clean facilities and a coffee shop. Otherwise if you are staying at 177 there is no surf but has a few good spots for fishing.

The treasure hunt

The lookout at 1770