Day two

I am now in a much better frame of mind having the battery charged and things seem to be going better now.

Heather’s ramblings

Today we decided to chill out and do what we wanted. Dave likes to tiki tour round streets he doesn’t know, so we decided to do that and ask for directions once we got lost. From Scarborough we drove to Deception Bay. There are all these signs in the suburbs telling you that there are koalas and kangaroos for the next few kilometres. As we drove through the suburb of Rothwell I saw a couple of kangaroo heads poking above the grass on an empty grass area, but there was nowhere to stop, so we kept going.

When we first looked at Deception Bay online we thought it would be a great place to live, but later people told us it was a bit rough. When we first drove in we liked it. The waterfront is beautiful and there are good and bad areas, but there is a large permanent trailer park, and the central part is very run down with narrow streets and unkempt houses very close together. To be fair the area has everything you could want including new gym and sporting facilities, the people are friendly, but not so sure it’s a great family area. We drove through the back and got lost in a beautiful, very expensive area where houses had blocks of land in the bush and stopped to talk to some people. They told us we were in Burpengary East and that somehow we had missed a really big shopping centre yesterday, and we quite liked it there, but it’s not beachside. After that we went bush and Dave will tell you about that.

Sand angels at the pier in Redcliffe

A word about wildlife

We have seen amazing birds. These are every where and are Ibis'. They are so used to humans that they will jump up on your table and eat the

food from your plate if you are not looking. On the ground there are Ibis birds which look really exotic, with long legs and long black beaks, but they are a bloody nuisance at cafes, just like
seagulls.

There are rosellas and parakeets, galahs and other unidentifiable birds we’ve never seen. We’ve seen a number of kookaburras, although we haven’t heard them laugh yet. Today at Bongaree beach on Bribie Isalnd we saw pelicans sitting on the water - beautiful.

Despite the signs, we understand that seeing a koala in the wild is as likely as seeing a kiwi in the wild, especially from a car driving at 100k.

Although we drove all day in bush and grassland we didn’t see a single kangaroo. We were about to conclude that it was all a lie and Australia has no kangaroos, when we arrived at Gympie, and there in the middle of Gympie town, right next to the motorway, on a mown

sports ground we saw two large red roos drinking from a pond. After that we saw a family of smaller grey kangaroos in a paddock and Dave videoed them. They were just staring so he told me to scare them and without thinking I plunged into the long grass at the roadside to scare them. It worked, but I suddenly remembered I was in Australia and there could be snakes in there. Having said that, we haven’t seen one yet.

I have never seen so many pineapples. We even saw a few banana palms, but so much sugar cane it’s unbelievable. We have yet to see a cane toad, but watch this space.

So Dave will tel you about the other stuff.

On the journey north we took, the tourist side road which has been renamed "steve Irwin highway" which runs past Oz zoo. We did not stop. We did stop to climb Mt Beerburrum. Nothing to do with beer though. There is a small town there of about 20 houses and the rail goes into Brisbane 1.25 hours drive away. There was a lookout there which seemed a good idea at the time so we climbed it. The Mt is only 250m high but the walk is 700m and is steeper than 45 degrees in places. The view to die for.

The area around here is due to be flooded (for drinking water) so as we drove though here it was worth a look at a local genuine Queensland heartland town called Mary.
Some very interesting houses.

The security around here is pretty harsh on any intruders.

Beware of the chicken it said on the gate but the dogs were probably more of a worry.