2025 QUEENSLAND Nov 5-29

  See the Trip as documented from WikiCamps

Canada 2025 The East & Laguna Beach CA

Canada Trip Part 2

We flew to Toronto and then to Hamilton by bus where we visited Bobbie's sister Naomi and her husband Rick. We spent 2 nights at their cottage north of Huntsville Ontario. We went swimming in Clear Lake and enjoyed walks along the nearby stream. They kindly lent us their car for the rest of our time in Ontario.

Small stream in Summer

While with them in Hamilton we also attended the 2025 Winger family reunion next to the backyard pool of David Winger. Cousin Janet created a family history picture book for the occasion.

Our next stop was Bill's sister's place in London Ontario where Bill went golfing with his brother John, sister Elizabeth and her husband Al at St Thomas golf course.
We had some fun outings visiting antique stores in London and St Marys with Elizabeth, and Bobbie had a swim in St Marys Quarry. We also tried Mennonite "frye pies". a sort of very tasty deep-fried donut with various sweet fillings.  Bill's nephew Matthew and partner Stacie joined us for a BBQ dinner one night and regaled us with the story of their trip to Legoland in Denmark. Just when you think you have heard everything, you find another fascinating place to travel to that you have never even thought of.

We also had a magnificent dinner and evening with Bill's cousin David. His wife, Eileen, cooked an Indian banquet for us that was better than anything we ever had in an Indian restaurant. That evening was the only rain we got during the whole trip. We also visited with Bobbie's niece Natasha and her husband John and had a tasty Italian dinner with them in London. (Notice there do not seem to be any generic Canadian restaurants on our trip.)  Next stop was Sharbot Lake (north of Kingston Ont) visiting Bobbie's cousin Janet and husband Jim, who have visited us a couple of times in Australia. Bill drove an ATV for the first time down some of the snowmobile trails through the bush. (Note: no snow at the time) Bobbie held on tightly. We also went for a small cruise on their private lake where Bill managed to catch a fish. Our stay concluded with dinner and a visit to the scenic River House Vineyard and Winery. 

Bill and fish

River House Vineyard

Next stop was Ottawa where we stayed with Bill's niece Shannon and her family. We spent a pleasant day cycling along the edge of the Ottawa River and visiting the Canadian Parliament buildings which are under renovation.  We also sampled local pizza, and ice cream rolls that are made on a frozen plate was you watch.  Yummy and very unusual.

Parliament Buildings under restoration

River canal Ottawa Canada

 

Next stop Montreal to visit Bill's cousin Bruce, where we stayed in the in Tadja Hall, the MacGill University Faculty Club on the edge of the St Lawrence River.  We took a day to explore old Montreal and attended two outdoor evening music concerts in local riverside parks with Bruce and his Carole. 

Observation platform Montreal harbour

Montreal from Observation platform

We then travelled back to Toronto to stay with friends Archie and Sandy in the beaches area of Toronto. Pleasant memories wandering through and around the old neighbourhood where Bobbie and Bill met. Bobbie had a short swim at a beach on Lake Ontario near Archie's house. We also caught up with old friends from Rochdale at a downtown pub and had dinner with Neal and Linda, who we had travelled with in Greece and Spain, more than a few years ago. We then went to Port Credit, a suburb of Toronto, and visited Bill's brother John.  He was very generous with his time and treated us to dinner at his Golf Club and lunch at the Caledon Hills Fishing Club north of Toronto.

 We spent a day walking along the edge of the Lake Ontario watching the birds and enjoying summer weather in the park. We also spent most of a day at the large shopping centre in Mississauga and managed to boost the Canadian economy.

Following that we attended the 2025 Grainger family reunion in Wroxeter Ontario and went on a hayride after the lunch. We visited more friends Sandie and Brian in Bayfield on the way back to Hamilton to return Naomi and Rick's car. Brother John kindly picked us up and put us up in Port Credit before taking us to the airport for our flight to Los Angeles. 

Bill's friend Dolores from College days now lives in Laguna Beach California.  She kindly picked us up at the airport and put us up for 4 days in Laguna Beach. Her house was within walking distance of the beach and has a community swimming pool where Bobbie was able to get in the water again. We spent a day there using the free trolley that runs up and down the coast of Laguna Beach and attended a local arts fair called Sawdust. The last day in California was spent on the beach with Dolores and partner Tom. Friday fish and chips at the beach front could not have been better.

Sawdust Art festival

Fish and Chips

We left the warm weather of North America to return to Yamba where it has rained for the next 2 days. The sun finally came out yesterday and it is nice to be home and in familiar surroundings and in your own bed.

Our thanks to all of our extremely generous friends and relatives who put up with us, fed us, acted as exemplary tour guides and drivers.  We were so busy that we did not post this last blog until after we got home to Yamba.  You are all welcome to visit us in Yamba so can repay all of the favours. 

Canada 2025 The West

Canada Trip Part 1

This is going to be a bit of an unusual trip as we are doing a lot of visiting of friends and relatives. Scenery and excursions are necessarily taking a back seat to time spent with old friends. And those activites are probably of interest only to those involved. However, here goes. We landed in Vancouver and went directly to the ferry dock in Horseshoe Bay. On a previous trip we left too little time between the airport and the Ferry, and missed it. This time we had so much time we walked around Horseshoe Bay and had lunch. Horseshoe Bay is mainly a ferry dock and loading ramps. There is a pleasant park by the waterfront where we watched the myriads of Canada Geese. The geese are very prolific as they love to eat the tender shoots of grass on any lawn. They forage all through the parks, breeding and shitting, annoying all the locals and being photographed by tourists. They are a protected species, so they are not hunted but they can be real pests. 

Leaving the geese behind, we caught the 20:30 ferry to Naniamo, then drove north on Vancouver Island to Courtenay and the home of friends Helen and Glyn. They seemed happy to see us despite our arrival about 23:00. We were all very happy to cut reminiscences short and get some sleep. During the following three days, Helen and Glyn were exemplary hosts, wining and dining us, helping us run errands (getting a Canadian e-SIM) and giving tours of the local sites. We did pretty walks along a stoney beach on the strait, a hike around the verdant alpine meadows of Mount Washinton where the wildflowers were in bloom, and a stroll along the river to Nymph Falls. The weather was overcast at first, but we also had some cool, sunny days. 

Vancouver Island beach

We returned to Vancouver, where we visited our old neighbourhood. The area is much busier and more upmarket now. We mourned the loss of Joe's espresso bar, a relic of the old Italian neighbourhood of the 60s. Walking by our old house, we chanced on the new owner, raking leaves out front. Seems she is about the third owner since we sold it, and she converted it back into two flats. We did the opposite when we bought it, turning two flats into one house! We also had dinner with some of Bill's college friends. He and Ira calculated that it had been 51 years since they had seen each other. 

Old Vancouver house 

Our next stop was Vernon, about a five hour drive from Vancouver. Most of the trip was through the Rocky Mountains. I had forgotten how monumentally big they are, in height, and extent. None of my photographs really capture the overwhleming impact of the mountains and the incredible roads and rail lines that go through them. We had dinner with Bill's friend Mike and his wife. He had just retired from his business as an apiarist. We spent an enjoyable evening sampling wine and chatting over old times. We drove on to major tourist spots Banff and Lake Louise. Banff is a centre of skiing and hiking, and a general tourist town for the beauty of the mountain area. We explored a local arts and crafts market, and tried funnel cake, a sort of warm waffle cone filled with ice cream and toppings. As you can guess, it will be a miracle if we are still able to do up all our buttons by the time we head home. Lake Louise is famed for the beauty of its green, glacial water surrounded by towering, snow capped mountains. All well and good, if you can get anywhere close enough to see it. The lake and surrounding town are being loved to death by tourists. Parking spaces were rare and expensive. We paid $37.00 for a spot. You had to pay the full day rate no matter how long you stayed. With luck, you could get a photo of the lake without tourists, but highly unlikely.

After Lake Louise, we drove on to Okotoks, a community just south of Calgary. Mike and Rhonda, old friends from Toronto, are now living there and enjoying their retirement. There were superb hosts, despite us dropping in while Mike was undergoing extensive dental surgery. Rhonda gave us a tour of Okotoks including the big rocks that are a remnant of ancient glacial activity. Our visit to Calgary coincided with the Stampede, and Mike and Rhonda treated us to ringside seats. The entire city gets involved, and cowboy boots and hats are everywhere. We enjoyed a sunny afternoon of watching bronco riding, bull riding, barrel races and calf roping. Riding bucking animals looks like a very painful way to make a living. We also attended a Stampede breakfast, where local businesses or organizations provide a "free" pancake breakfast. (You are usually asked to give a donation to a charity.) The homeless in Calgary eat well during Stampede week. At this point, we will pause our blog, so something gets posted before we get home and continue with another instalment soon.

End of Year Report 2024 from Yamba

Queensland Trip July 2023

The weather in Yamba having been unseasonably cool this year, we decided to head north for a short camping trip. Our start in late June was not auspicious. We headed north to Maroochydore, but we had been having trouble with the van battery, and spent half a day running around to auto repair shops before we could check into our caravan park. We stayed for about 5 days at Rivershore Resort in Diddillibah. We relaxed, took a free two our cruise on Petrie Creek and the mouth of the Maroochy River, courtesy of the caravan park. the cruise was pleasant, but the only wildlife we saw were some Brahminy Kites. The mate on the cruise got talking to us and he used to live in Yamba and was involved in the Yacht Club in its early days. Talk about a small world. The next day we took a long bike ride down the river to Maroochydore and on past Cotton Tree and Alexandra Headland to where the Mooloola River runs out to the sea at Point Cartwright. I had a beautiful swim near Cotton Tree. the water was clear, flat and about 22 degrees. I later managed a swim in the campground pool and another beautiful swim at Mooloolabah, while Bill went to a YES rally. 

 We headed north to Tin Can Bay, which is a pretty little town, popular with fishermen, but not so good for swimming as there are a lot of mangroves and beaches that have big tides and are shallow for a long way out. We did the town circuit walk and checked out the bakery for coffee. Checking out the local bakery became a feature of our trip. Our next stop was Burrum Point Campground in Burrum Coast National Park. The road in was a deeply rutted sand road, at one point partially blocked by a fallen tree which we partially cleared with the help of some other campers behind us on the road. The campground itself was lovely and quiet, with big, treed sites near the beach. We did a pleasant circuit track of about 8 km to a bird hide, and saw an Australasian figbird, a new one to me. 

 We left Burrum Point by driving out the beach at low tide to the little town of Woodgate. Much the better way to reach the campsite, flat easy driving along mostly hard sand. In the centre of town, we found the shopping area -- the caravan park that had petrol pumps, accommodation, a cafe and a restaurant. They practically own the town, I guess. Very pretty place and we had a good coffee and sat and watched the dolphins jump and display. 

 We headed further north to Bundaberg, where we had lunch at the Baldwin Swamp Environmental Park. It was a lovely urban reserve with many ponds and Ibis, Dusky Moorhens, and a pair of stately black swans with an impossible fluffy grey cygnet almost half their size. That evening we stayed at a permaculture farm, camped in a field near the sheep, goats, donkey and geese, and a friendly enough Maremma Dog, but he never stopped barking. It was an interesting stop, but I think the farm and "glamping" facilities need a bit more development. We kept going north and tried to meet up with friends Jan and Helmut at Kurrimine Beach, but just missed them. We keep heading north as the nights have been very cold; we have the heater on at times. Not quite what I was expecting in tropical Queensland.

We camped at a council campsite in Ball Bay, as we could not get a spot in Cape Hillsborough National Park which is close by. The Ball Bay site was small and nearly full, but it was only $15 a night and good value. The curlews or Murdering birds as some people call them, kept us awake part of the night with their eerie calls. We went hiking over some beautiful rocky headlands in the national park, and along the beaches. A few of the trails were partially closed due to damage from heavy rain earlier this year, but we got good views from the lookouts. 

 As we headed north of Proserpine, we drove deeper into the sugar cane area. The here are huge fields of cane, with small-scale railways running along the fields, taking the cane directly to local sugar mill. In many of the fields, the cane was topped with large "blooms" like pampas grass, something I have not noticed in the cane fields near us. We also saw huge mango orchards. 

 We stopped in Townsville for a couple of nights and noticed the military camps and presence in the area. There is a large base at Townsville, and we also saw tanks being moved up the highway on transport trucks. We spent an afternoon walking along The Strand, which is a waterfront walkway in town, with many interesting sculptures along the path. There is also a huge Tobruk Memorial Simming Pool complex. Unfortunately, I did not have my swimsuit with me. 

 We did spend one night at Kurrimine Beach, and ran into rain and cloudy weather. One woman staying there said they had 16 days in a row with rain, and she was thinking of head back to NSW. on the way into Kurrimine Beach we stopped at the Murdering Point Tropical Fruit Winery and did a tasting. It has some of them more unusual wines that we have tasted, although I did buy a (dry) passionfruit wine and Bill bought a Black Sapote Port. I will leave you to speculate on these interesting vintages. The beaches in this area were all unappealing to me. They were choppy, rough and frequently very windy. The shoreline was usually churned up and muddy looking, and there were usually signs warning of possible crocodiles and stingers, even though this is not the season for stingers. Kurrimine Beach seemed to be popular for fishing, with big houses, and very large tractors to move fishing boats on and off the beach.

North of Townsville we ran into frequent stretches of roadwork on the Bruce Highway. I heard a radio commentator say that the housing shortage in Australia is partly due to all of the major infrastructure works tying up construction workers, and seeing the amount of roadwork in Queensland I think he may be right. 

We moved on to Port Douglas, where we stayed for a few days. The road from Cairns to Port Douglas is spectacular; a twisty, hilly snake that runs along the sea cliffs for about 20 kilometres. We explored the town with all the expensive dress shops and had dinner at a tasty Tapas Bar Called Sea Bean. We also booked a "sunset sail" on a huge catamaran, but the sea was very rough and there was a lot of cloud and squally rain about. An exciting sail but not much sunset. 

We Left Port Douglas and drove back to Palm Cove, where we caught up with friends Gaynor and Ashley who used to live in Sydney. We had a beautiful lunch at Vivo, a large restaurant on the beachfront with high ceilings and wide verandas. The food was excellent, and we retired back to Gaynor and Ashleys for coffee and cheese. So much fun to catch up with friends you have not seen in probably 10 years.

Hawaii Kauai & Oahu (Honolulu)

Kauai is the most varied natural environment in the Hawaiian isles. We went out on the ocean here to see the Nã Pali coast.

Spectacular cliffs on the ocean edge with volcanic caves and numerous water falls due to the high annual rainfall these peaks experience. Despite the rough seas we enjoyed the 6-hour voyage.  We also saw dolphins and Humpback whales with a calf.

The following day we drove around the island to Anini Beach, where we snorkelled with turtles, then on to Hanalei Bay and watched people leaning to surf.

The next day was hiking along the ocean edge seeing more turtles as well as a large golf course and rocky beaches. 

We also got some good photos of Nene, the native Hawaiian goose that is closely related to the Canada Goose.

Monk Seals in swim area (note Rescue Board!)

In Kauai we also enjoyed snorkelling at nearby Poipu Beach where a monk seal took up residence in the human swimming area and some turtles also decided that that it was a good place to sleep. This was the best beach we found on Kauai for seeing fish while snorkelling.

Another highlight of the trip to Kauai and indeed all of the Hawaiian Islands was the enjoyment of Shave Ice. This comes with options: choice of flavoured syrups over the ice (i.e. Root Beer and Mango), a scoop of ice cream in the middle, sweet azuki beans underneath, condensed milk or coconut milk drizzled on top. My favourite!

We also visited a craft market on Kauai which had some very good prices compared to the tourist shops.  Bobbie was very impressed with the quality of many of the craftspeople and the professionalism of their presentation.  She bought some carved bone jewellery, and Bill bought her a dichroic glass pendant.  Naomi and Tash also succumbed to the lure of the crafts.

With Naomi and Tash returning home to Canada we decided to go to Oahu - Honolulu where we stayed at Waikiki Beach

Here Bobbie enjoyed her usual daily swim. 

During the stay we climbed Diamond Head, visited a WW2 submarine at Pearl Harbor 
and went to the Hawaiian Art Museum
as well as the Aquarium.

 

Finally, we took a bus tour around the complete island seeing the northern surfing beaches and again the volcanic cliffs.

Honolulu was also where we enjoyed all of the US Shops and spent some of our last US dollars before coming home.

Feeling very fortunate to spend 5 weeks touring and simply enjoying ourselves. We hope our friends also have the strength and resources to do the same.

Regards, Bobbie and Bill

Hawaii 2023 - Islands of Hawaii & Maui

We started out our trip to Hawaii by flying from Ballina to Sydney then from Sydney to Honolulu then to Hawaii (Big Island) arriving before we left. We stayed the first 4 nights in a little place north of the airport up the coast at Kameula in a new tiny house - wonderful . The next day we drove up the coast to a Lapakahi Historical National park and saw the remains of an early Hawaiian fishing village. We drove on through Hawi town and hiked down a volcanic canyon to the Polulu Valley and the ocean. Very scenic. 

The second day we drove across the island and visited the highlands of Hawaii and explored the high country a bit and visited the scenic Akaka Falls.  The following day we  visited a petroglyph reserve and saw ancient rock carvings, and then had our first swim and snorkel at Puako Beach. We also sampled malasadas, deep fried filled donuts fresh out of the fryer, yummy and fattening.

Thursday we drove across the island to visit  the beautiful Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve and Gardens, north of Hilo on the west side of the island.

We continued on to to a little village called Volcano which was on the edge of the active volcanic areas in Hawaii.  There were eruptions only 6 months ago but they ceased before we arrived. We hiked around the Kilauea Iki  crater in Volcano National Park, down into the crater itself, and also walked through a lava tube which was formed during an earlier eruption. We did see some evidence of volcanic activity, which was steam and sulfur gas being released through cracks in the ground.

 The next day in the area we attended a lecture at the Kahuku area of Volcano National Park on the 'Ohi'a tree - a native Hawaiian tree that lives up to 1000 years and hence has cultural significance. We also took a short hike through this new National Park area, assumed from a large ranch where they are renaturalizing (word?) the land.

It was then time to move on to Bobbie's week long Swim Faster camp activity and moved into the main  town called Kona. Here we planned to use the public transport (a free trolley bus that ran the length of the town) but found that it did not stick to its hourly schedule and was either a half an hour behind schedule or 15 minutes ahead of schedule and very difficult to meet unless you had a lot of patience. We broke down and rented a car so that we could get around Kona and visit the many beautiful snorkeling beaches and meet the swim camp schedule. This also allowed Bill to visit his friends Walter and Suzanne who he hadn't seen for almost 35 years.

The swim camp exceeded expectations, and Bill even managed to tag along to a couple of very nice ocean swimming and coral and fish viewing experiences. 

It was then time to move on to Maui after a short one hour flight and spend some time with Bobbie's sister Naomi and her daughter Tash. This involved swimming and touring the sights of Maui.

This island is very much a tourist Island and we managed to go snorkeling in a different spot almost every day. The beaches were always quiet and calm in the morning but in the afternoon tended to cloud over and the chop and waves at the beaches quite rough. 

Here we also managed to visit the volcanic highlands. Bobbie and Bill participated in an organized cycle down Haleakala Mountain. Needless to say, the bicycles had very good disc brakes but only one gear because you never had to pedal!

 Another day we drove up above the clouds to the top of the volcano and did some hiking on the Volcano's slope. Swimming with turtles was another highlight on Maui. 

Next, we move on to Kuwai Island continuing our visit with Naomi and Tash.