Best Western Great Eastern Mtr Inn Gympie

... Bundaberg and Gin Gin, billed as ‘Australia’s most baffling phenomenon!’ These 35 craters were discovered beneath a layer of sand and silt by a local farmer in 1971. They are part of an unusual natural rock formation with lumps of red ochre evenly distributed throughout the sandstone and siltstone “…as though it were churned in a giant cauldron“. It is believed that the rock formation is over 25 million years old, but no-one is sure how ...

The last 2 days in the Solomons were a real blur - Last minute meetings with people, finding resources and of course a last minute swim in Mamara.Not many photos taken:( Once we landed in Brisbane, we went to Sara and Clacy's house in Gympie then spent the day with them before flying out to Mackay.

Just been doing the catch up thing with the nieces and nephews - only to pack all over again and get ready for the next adventure - USA and Canada! Woohoo!

... the service was as dry and lifeless as I have ever heard. It was followed, however, by a wholesome chat over a cup of tea and a biscuit, which is all I really wanted in the first place. The folks there were only too happy to listen to stories of my traveling around Australia visiting high schools, but as soon as I mentioned my growing apprehension about the affluence of the West and my plans to spend some time in the slums of Rio de ...

... local boats, the anchorages are filled quickly in the busy times. From you boat you can dingy ashore, onto Fraser Island, to explore the wilds or take you dingy up or down stream to enjoy all the waterway wilderness; maybe putting in a line or two and if you are lucky and pick the right spot at the right time of day you may even catch you supper. This happening has eluded us so far; every time MrJ and I have put in our line we come up with "Puffer Fish", an ugly green back and yellow ...

... to be inland. No problems, we head left and are soon on the Bruce, but Pieter is less than impressed with the navigator!!! Concerned that we will miss the train as we are supposed to be there by 9:30, and it is 10 past 9 with still 46kms to go! Fortunately the train does not depart until 10:00, so we still have plenty of time!!! (Thank goodness!) Gympie station has been totally renovated to its previous glory and takes our minds ...

... it up. Then we played cards and slept - trying not to get too close to the deadly Rockviler who the owner said would take a limb off if you got close - he as a beast of a dog! In the morning I was awoken by the massive road trains again so now we are heading off - towards the sunshine coast.

Friday 12th Tin Can Bay Marina (25*54'40 S / 153*00'39 E) Alana Rose is allocated a berth on B-Dock (Blue) #22. Thank goodness there is little to no wind, as JJ swings Alana Rose into this berth. It is a tight squeeze and there is another boat on our port side. This other boat, a 36' Voyager power cat, has no fender over the side and there is no one on board. It is early morning, too early for the marina office to be open and no one to help. Boaties are always up and about in the early ...

... the fishermen are heading out. The wives of the fishermen have created a volunteer group which shares the task of providing fish for visitors to feed them each morning and also to control the amount given (10% of their daily needs) so they dont become dependent on it. We were lucky as two came in the morning we were there ...

... hours and then set up camp, wo don't feel like getting dinner ready. The next day we walked around the town to check out the old buildings. It is a very historic town with some beautiful heritage buildings dating back to the 1800's. Then went to "Highbury Mountain" a Swiss restaurant in the mountains. It had beautiful 360 degree views and we could see right back to the Glasshouse Mountains. We had yummy home cooked pastries for lunch and fantastic coffee. The ...

... I took no less than 6,000 pictures of the dolphin. It had poured the night before and rainwater had found its way into our car and everything was wet and moldy. We took a good four hours and cleaned out the car and dried everything. After that we went on to Rainbow Beach and checked into our hostel at 11am.