So after our nine day road trip camping all the way from Canberra to Brisbane we finally arrived at Teeny and Rowan's house, in a small town called Mooloolah, around 80kms north of Brisbane.
This part of the world is called the Sunshine Coast and compared to the monstrosity further south, the Gold Coast, it seemed beautiful. We'd gone past the Gold Coast on our way back which surely lays claim to having the highest number of bogans per square mile than any other place on earth. 'Bogan' being the Aussie equivalent of chavvy, maybe more wide-reaching though. It is interesting to witness how such a term of insult can be used in so many different ways, especially in a country that claims to live above the old English class stereotype. Over here bogan encapsulates a whole section of people but most notably the singlet (vest) wearing, rugby league supporting blokes. The Sunshine Coast, it seems, has a lack of them.
We've been here about a week and a half now and have loved every minute. The weather has been slightly tempestuous but where hasn't in Australia! The area we are in, The Sunshine Coast, even made national headlines last Friday after flash foods hit the area after a few days of squalid rain. And boy did it rain.
Despite the rain in our first week here we managed to do and see a lot. We went sea fishing down on Caloundra beach, Caloundra being the nearest beachside town, where I managed to catch a huge crab that flatly refused to let go of the fishing rod. After much persuasion he gave me his entire claw instead, something we were told they can do, all before they grow a replacement!
We've also been lucky enough to borrow Rowan and Teeny's huge 4x4 and go out and explore some of the amazing countryside to the west. This is prime wine producing territory so we managed to have our first wine-tasting experience and due to the weather managed to have the whole place to ourselves. The lady who talked us through the process was actually English and due to the time of year and the weather, was clearly happy for the company. We tasted two whites, an unoaked Chardonnay, another that was a close relative of the Sauvignon blanc, a sweet and fruity Rose, my favourite a good punchy Shriraz and then to finish, a fortified wine that isn't allowed to be called Port. They were beautiful wines and clearly very different to the mass produced variety in the supermarket. We were actually supposed to pay a fee for the tasting but I think she took a bit of a shine to us! Before we left we bought a bottle of the unoaked Chardonnay which, after drinking it that night with the others, was unanimously confirmed as amazing.
I think, again, one of the weirdest things to get your head around are the distances. At home, when we say 'I'm just going down the road to pick up some milk', it literally means what it says. Here, down the road can mean anything upto twenty miles away. Put it like this. Mooloolah, the small town we are staying in is pretty much classed as Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast, but then we are fifteen miles away from the coast. Look on a local map and it is so far you think they would need to take provisions with them, just in case, but then scale that back to a State map or even a national one and they merge into the same dizzying place. It will never ever cease to amaze me.
At the weekend we made the most of our last weekend in Australia. On the Saturday we drove about 45 minutes north to a local (hmmm) Market at a place called Eumundi. It was a beautiful place full of unique items and more importantly, gourmet food. We wandered around for a while before grabbing some food, shell went for paella, Rowan the tapas, I went for the Malaysian roti and lentil daal and Harry the savoury crepe. I wanted to tell you what we all had to get a sense of the variety on offer, it was beautiful stuff. We ended the morning in one of the local bookshops. As far as bookshops go this one was the best. The four of us were in there for well over an hour. It really was one of those places you could get lost in or choke on the mounds of dust collected in old books.
From there we hopped down to the beach to take in the last of the days sun before scrambling back home to get ready to drive down to Brisbane for a big night out. Unfortunately it would have been a big night out, if Shell and I had remembered our ID's! How stupid! Turns out, even if you are 55 and look 55 they would still ask you for ID. Bloody Australians. In the end we went back to Rowan and Teeny's friend's house, not far from the centre, where we entertained ourselves by making nuclear cocktails, both in look and potency.
The next day we explored Brisbane city. This would be our fourth major Australian city and in a way, one of the prettiest. Don't get me wrong, they all have their merits, but Brisbane seemed to retain that sense of a large town, even if it's skyline and obvious mining riches suggested otherwise. Although it was a Sunday it was so peaceful. We ventured around the Southbank, complete with 'Brisbane eye' and art gallery and fantastic Sunday markets. I may have said this before about other cities but the resemblance to London was simply staggering. The fact it is on a river and not a bay or harbour gives this even more levity, compared to other Aussie cities. Brisbane also has some fantastically old buildings that seem stuck there in limbo compared to the skyscrapers surrounding them, continually in battle to retain their former glories. It is a horrific reality that the Brisbane authorities, both past and present, seem intent on destroying everything that makes Brisbane great. It's almost as if Brisbane suffers from third city syndrome, where people continually prefer to move to Sydney or Melbourne in search of culture when in a way, they have everything and more right here.
Anyway, we leave for NZ tomorrow. Although the thought of spending 56 nights in a van might make us slightly worried and apprehensive, the adventure, I am sure, will be simply outstanding. A lot has happened over the past seven weeks, in a way we never really thought about what we were going to do in Australia as all we thought about, naturally, was how little we could afford to do! In the end, we have simply had the time of our lives. I don't think we could have seen more if we tried. We have seen the country's four biggest cities, swam in two Oceans and one Sea. We have eaten some incredible food from the four corners of the world in a country that is the world's most sparsely populated. We have made some exceptional new friends and more importantly cemented friends for life with people we already knew. The weather hasn't been amazing but then who cares, it's made things greener, more interesting and you know what, you find out more about a place when things aren't how they are supposed to be. It has problems, lots of them in fact. We know so many people who have made the move out here and I'm sure lots of people will continue to do in the future. If you come out here, you live in the cities, make only British friends and essentially live the life you did in the UK, why bother?? Just move to Milton Keynes.
So on we go, literally to the other side of the world. Time to get all Ray Mears, albeit with a DVD player and comfy shoes....
Much love, Tommo & Shello xxxxx
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